NAVAL THRILLS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21180, 29 October 1938, Page 11

NAVAL THRILLS

DIFFICULTIES OF PHOTOGRAPHING SUBMARINES

Making a movie with a submarine as the hero of the story and the players more or less incidental to the main theme, requires a lot of technical business that the average audience will never appreciate, but which it would miss if it were not there.

“Submarine D.l’ is that type of production recently completed at Warner Bros.’ studio and brought to New Zealand. It is unique in that the Dolphin, or D.l as it is officially known, is a real personality and turns out to be the hero of the piece. Any’ picture dealing with forces on land or sea requires a lot of negotiation. Naval and army officers cannot see the consistency of barring potential spies from within shooting distance of their latest equipment and then throwing things wide open to a movie studio to “tell all.”

First, the story had to be submitted to the Navy Department for a careful check by the experts who know just what they want to hide. These details being attended to and changes suggested by the Navy Department made, the company went to work. The “Submarine D.l” troupe first went to New London for shots showing the training school there, a submarine in the process of construction and one actually being launched. A crew journeyed to Panama Canal to film two underwater craft negotiating that waterway.

With these tilings out of the way, the entire company went to the San Diego, California, Naval Base, and for more than three weeks went to sea daily on submarines, cruisers, rescue tugs and craft. Even though official permission had been obtained from Washington, extreme care had to be taken in actual shooting as the officers at San Diego were instructed to cooperate only to the point where it did not interfere with regular routine duties. In other words, anyone of half a dozen officers could have stopped the company at any time.

A feature of “Submarine D.l” is the shots of a submarine in rough seas, running submerged and being rammed by a vessel. The audience sees the members of the crew save their lives with artificial lungs, while views of manoeuvring warships and aircraft are just as interesting.