Crash Dive
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Cast: Tyrone Power, Anne Baxter, Dana Andrews
Extras:
Rating:
’Crash Dive’ is your typical patriotic propaganda movie from World War II, in which movies were oftentimes used to motivate the masses, to support the troops, and of course, to recruit by creating an adventurous image of the Army. As such, ’Crash Dive’ today is an utterly clichéd film that makes you wince at times, as the movie manages to even romanticize the life in a submarine during war-torn times. Nothing is real in this film, everyone’s slick and clean, no one is breaking a sweat, the food is good, water bombs always miss their target, Germans are hideously insidious and stupid, the men are all heroes…. You get it. It plays like a cnn news reel today.
Despite all the propaganda, however, the movie has a heart as well, as it tells the – clichéd- trianglular love story of two men fighting for the same woman and it is quite entertaining, if only for its sentimental values.
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has prepared a good-looking fullframe transfer of the movie – its original aspect ratio in case you’re wondering – that makes the best of the production. Strong colors, natural skin tones, good definition and deep shadows define the transfer, making it enjoyable to watch. No edge-enhancement is visible and the compression is without artifacts.
The audio on the DVD as stereo language track in English and Spanish, as well as the original mono track. The audio is noticeably limited in its frequency response and makes dialogues and the music sound harsh at times, but the track is never truly distorted. The dynamic range is equally limited, dating the sound audibly. No extras a included on this release.
’Crash Dive’ has its great moments with a few surprises and suspenseful moments, and as long as you’re aware that you’re watching Hollywood selling World War II to the masses in a movie package, you’ll enjoy this film just fine.
