Torpedo Run [1958] [DVD]

Long before the run of submarine movies such as Crimson Tide and The Hunt for Red October (so mercilessly parodied in Down Periscope) there was a similar 1950s vogue, typified by Run Silent, Run Deep, The Enemy Below and this excellent MGM drama. Claustrophobically made in CinemaScope, the film boasts a tense plot as commander Glenn Ford accidentally blows up a Japanese prison ship with his own family on board.

The chase is then on to find the enemy aircraft carrier that used the ship as a shield. This is from the most successful period in Ford's career, between The Blackboard Jungle and the end of his MGM contract, and his nervy, tense performance is mesmerising.

Joseph Pevney, who had made the enjoyable war drama Away All Boats two years earlier, must have seemed like an ideal choice of director at the time, but a stronger hand might have helped as the pacing is a shade too slow.