Before Tom Clancy there
was Edward L. Beach Jr. The son of a US Navy captain, Beach Jr. would
go on to join the service himself, serving in – and eventually
commanding – submarines in the Pacific theatre throughout the
Second World War. His naval career lasted into the 1960's, as he
became not only a presidential naval aide but also the commander of
the first ever submerged circumnavigation. He also became a renowned
writer with his series of submarine novels. His most famous novel,
Run Silent, Run Deep (1955), was adapted into a major
Hollywood film only three years later starring Clark Gable, Burt
Lancaster, and Don Rickles. I just recently got around to watching
this film and there's a lot to be said about its resemblance (or lack
thereof) to its source material. So let's take a look at how the Run
Silent, Run Deep movie compares to the book.
This is one of those
instances where the two works' plots are so different that I'm going
to have to recount them separately. First let's go over the book. In
1941 Commander Edward “Rich” Richardson is put in charge of the
aging submarine S-16 with Jim Bledsoe as his executive
officer. They sail her New London, Connecticut, for refitting and
training. There Rich meets Jim's girlfriend Laura and the three
become friends just before the attack on Pearl Harbour. Due to the
expediencies of the war effort Rich recommends the lesser-experienced
Jim for command. Unfortunately Jim loses his composure and performs
poorly on his qualification test, leading Rich to withdraw his
endorsement, leaving Jim and Laura incensed. Rich is given command of
a new sub based in Pearl Harbour, the USS Walrus, and – with
Jim as his XO once again – is tasked with sinking Japanese shipping
in the Pacific. Jim marries Laura before leaving. On its first patrol
the Walrus encounters the Akikaze, a Japanese destroyer
based in the Bungo Suido notorious for sinking numerous US subs,
including one captained by Rich's friend Stocker Kane. Eventually
Rich is ordered to sail to the Bungo Suido where the Walrus
comes under attack from the Akikaze, which is captained by
Tateo Nakame (AKA Bungo Pete). Rich is badly wounded and under Jim's
command the Walrus escapes and returns to Pearl Harbour.
Sidelined for several months with a broken leg, Rich decides to once
again endorse Jim for command of the Walrus which he finally
receives. During his time ashore Rich works on improving the US
Navy's notoriously defective torpedoes. Meanwhile as captain of the
Walrus Jim sinks a multitude of Japanese shipping around
Australia and gains a reputation as an aggressive skipper. He also
starts an affair, much to Rich's dismay. In between patrols, a
drunken Jim confesses to Rich at a party that he despised his captain
when he withdrew support for Jim's promotion and was only pretending
to be a loyal friend, but having seen Rich's demeanour under combat
and after serving as captain himself Jim realized that he was wrong
for ever doubting Rich. It's during Jim's next patrol that Bungo Pete
sinks the Walrus, all hands lost. Rich is placed in command of
the USS Eel and he convinces his superiors to let him go after
Bungo Pete. Finally the Eel finds Bungo Pete's anti-submarine
group. After sinking the Akikaze (and its accompanying
submarine and decoy ship) Rich realizes that after being rescued the
survivors will likely resume attacking Allied shipping. And so he
regretfully rams their lifeboats, dooming them all. Not long after as
the Eel is on patrol around Guam Rich narrowly manages to
rescue three downed American airmen despite the presence of a
Japanese fighter plane, earning him the Medal of Honor and providing
him with some sense of redemption. Rich then returns home and thinks
of starting a relationship with Laura.
The movie begins with
Commander “Rich” Richardson (Clark Gable) surviving his submarine
sinking in the Bungo Straits at the hands of Japanese ace submariner
Bungo Pete. Once recuperated, he's ready for revenge and convinces
the Navy board to give him a new boat and an experienced crew to
command. He's given the USS Nerka and its executive officer
LtCdr Jim Bledsoe is none too pleased as this effectively denies him
of commanding the boat. Jim is also unsure of Rich's single-minded
drive to rigorously train the crew for perfecting the “bow shot”,
a tricky torpedo shot aimed at the bow of an oncoming ship while in
the middle of diving. On patrol, Rich chooses to ignore an easy
target only to attack a different one later with a successful bow
shot. The crew puts it together that Rich has been ignoring select
targets because he's sailing the Nerka towards the infamous
Bungo Straits, directly violating the admiralty's orders. Some of the
officers consider mutiny but Jim refuses to play along. They soon
come upon a Japanese convoy but after sinking a transport the Nerka
is attacked by enemy aircraft that were waiting in ambush. The sub
quickly dives and narrowly avoids being sunk by depth charges in the
escape but in the process three crewmen are killed and Rich suffers a
concussion. With Rich in no shape to command, Jim takes charge and
sets sail back towards Pearl Harbour. The crew catch Tokyo Rose on
the radio proudly announcing the loss of the Nerka and its
crew, leaving them puzzled as to how the Japanese knew specific crew
members' names and the sub's whereabouts. (As with the novel it turns
out that they were sifting through the Nerka's drifting
garbage to extract intelligence.) But having tricked the Japanese
into believing they've all died, Jim decides to take advantage and
returns to the Bungo Straits to take on the Akikaze once and
for all. The two vessels meet and the Nerka comes out on top
only to come under fire from a Japanese submarine which was working
in concert with the Akikaze the whole time. After dodging a
couple torpedoes and forcing her adversary to the surface (with an
ailing Rich's help), the Nerka sinks the enemy sub. Having
exacted revenge, Rich collapses and dies on the bridge and is buried
at sea.
The biggest difference
between these two stories is the relationship between Richardson and
Jim Bledsoe. The novel has them start out as friends with Rich in the
more experienced and authoritative role (even though he's not that
much older than Jim) and it's not until Rich rescinds his endorsement
for promotion that Jim takes on a mostly-secret resentment towards
him. This is also the result of the book version of Jim being more
rebellious and impulsive; it's what leads to him both failing his
qualification test and his eventual aggressive stance as skipper.
Unfortunately his success gets to his head, leading to him starting
an affair and later dying at the hands of Bungo Pete. In the film the
tension between Jim and Rich comes from Rich delaying Jim's promotion
to captain as well as his sailing the Nerka to the forbidden
Bungo Straits without telling the officers and crew. I think both
versions of this conflict have their ups and downs. In the book the
rift between the two men is much more personal since (1) they spend
more time together over several years and (2) Rich feels some
attraction towards Laura long before Jim's death. But on the other
hand the movie takes a more two-way approach to the tension between
two professionals disagreeing how their jobs should be done: Rich
puts the crew's lives at risk by disobeying his orders to stay away
from the Bungo Straits whereas Jim – more mature and cool-headed
than his book counterpart – is still ticked off that he didn't get
his command as expected. This differs from the book which portrays
Rich in the right about pretty much everything.
(However it may be
helpful to note that the book is told from Richardson's first-person
perspective. The story is framed as his audio recording transcript
for the Navy to help sell war bonds; the transcript is deemed
unsuitable for a bond drive due to its focus on personal matters.
Readers could argue that Rich was covering his ass and not telling
the whole truth in order to make himself look good, I guess. But
there's not too much evidence to support this theory.)
Another big difference
between the novel and the film is in their scope. Whereas the film
takes place over a few weeks and focuses on a single patrol by the
Nerka the book's events span several years and are set aboard
multiple boats (S-16, Walrus, Eel). Much of the
book's second act is about Rich's recovery ashore and one of the
book's highlights, the S-16's crew observing the devastation
at Pearl Harbour days after the attack, is also left out of the film.
As is normally the case with adaptations, the book goes into much
greater detail about things such as how submarines work and how
undersea warfare is waged. This abundance of detail and education
should come as no surprise given the author's background, and yet it
avoids being overbearing and tedious (like how Clancy novels can
sometimes be. Has it really been 5 years since my Hunt for Red October comparison?).
I suppose the film
somewhat makes up for this by having some scenes filmed inside a real
submarine so at least the viewer gets to see what a sub looks like,
both inside and out. This was accomplished with the cooperation of
the US Navy but as is normally the case with military-endorsed movie
shoots this came with a few caveats. In order to remain in the Navy's
good books the film avoided mentioning the flawed torpedoes that WWII
crews had to work with. Additionally the lifeboat-ramming scene was
also jettisoned: while rare, such incidents did happen during the war
and they're definitely something the Navy wouldn't want showcased to
the general public.
Characters are another
component that saw a change-up during adaptation. As you may have
guessed, Laura is nowhere to be found in the film and (if I recall
correctly) no mention is made of Jim Bledsoe's relationship status.
However we do see one scene of Rich at home with his wife; Rich was a
bachelor in the novel. Similarly ensign Keith Leone, a major
supporting character in the book was left out and replaced with a new
character, ensign Gerald Cartwright, a disloyal officer whom Jim has
to put in his place as an example to the rest of the crew.
Lastly here are some
other differences and oddities that are worth note:
As mentioned
earlier Laura isn't in the film, although interestingly the credits
list Rich's wife's name as Laura Richardson. (Is this movie actually
a sequel to the book? Is this the second Jim Bledsoe to serve with
Richardson in the US Navy during WWII? Do the Japanese have a whole
fleet of Bungo Pete clones at sea?)
Both stories
contain a scene in which Jim almost drowns someone he didn't know
was left on the outer deck as he orders the sub to dive. In the
movie the victim is one of the cook's assistants disposing of some
garbage, in the novel it's Rich.
The film's opening
scene – in which Richardson's sub is sunk in the Bungo Straits by
Pete – never happened in the book. This scene's inclusion in the
film raises a few questions, namely how did Rich avoid capture and
make it back to the USA?
A great deal of
the actors are older than their novel counterparts, most of whom are
presumably in their 20's. In fact Clark Gable, old enough to be an
admiral, is nearly twice as old as the book's Richardson!
Edward Beach was
reportedly not very impressed with Run Silent, Run Deep's film
adaptation when it came out, citing its inaccuracies. And having seen
both versions I can understand where he's coming from. Don't get me
wrong, the movie isn't bad and it
makes for fine entertainment, but its lack of detail and nuance
ensures that it doesn't hold a candle to the source material. I'd say
if you want a condensed, bite-sized impression of Run
Silent, Run Deep – which isn't
excruciatingly long to begin with – then give the film a watch. But
for those of you who want a more intricate, educational, and deeper
(pun intended) look at mid-20th
century submarine warfare then check out the book.
