Lt. Rip Crandall (Jack Lemmon) is a naval officer during WWII who is given command of the USS Echo (an old sailing scow) to undertake a very important mission – to transport an Australian agent into enemy waters so he can spy on the Japanese.
However, he finds the old schooner is falling apart at the seams and is manned by a crew that does not know how to sail her.
The use of CinemaScope is exemplary and the supporting cast is full of welcome faces, but, overall, even though it later spawned a TV series, the film simply doesn’t work.
Teen idol Ricky Nelson shows that underplaying is no real substitute for acting ability.
Lt. Rip Crandall
Jack Lemmon
Ens. Tommy J. Hanson
Ricky Nelson
Lt. Cmdr. Wilbur F. Vandewater
John Lund
Patterson
Chips Rafferty
Captain McClung
Tom Tully
Josh Davidson
Joby Baker
Radioman 2nd Class A.J. ‘Sparks’ Sparks
Warren Berlinger
Maggie
Patricia Driscoll
Chief Mate Jack MacCarthy
Mike Kellin
Lt. Dennis M. Foster
Richard Anderson
Seaman J. Johnson
Alvy Moore
Major Samada
Teru Shimada
Captain Shigetsu
George Shibata
Director
Richard Murphy