Submarine Alert

The Pine-Thomas production of Submarine Alert (1943), directed by Frank McDonald, arrives on DVD from Alpha Video in decent shape, mastered from what looks like a clean 16 mm print. There are vertical scratches here and there but nothing too distracting, and the audio is very strong, pitched at a very high volume. There's some fading and some missing frames (especially in the final minutes), a few shots are slightly darker than they were intended to look, and there's a dupey quality to the print, but it is reasonably watchable. The 67-minute movie, scripted by Maxwell Shane (City Across the River, M Squad), is worth seeing in this version, especially as there's unlikely to be a significantly better one out from anyone else. The usual six chapters on Alpha releases are programmed in at appropriate points, and the disc opens automatically on a simple single-layer menu. The opening and closing credits are also highly attenuated in order to avoid showing the Paramount Pictures logo or name on the otherwise public-domain movie.