Torpedo Bay

1963 Italian film

30 June 1963 (1963-06-30) (France)

Running time

99 minutesCountriesItaly
FranceLanguageEnglish

Torpedo Bay is a 1963 war film directed by Charles Frend and Bruno Vailati and starring James Mason.^[1] The story is based on events that took place at Betasom, a submarine base established at Bordeaux by the Italian Navy during World War II.^[2]

The film was released as Beta Som, the Italian language acronym meaning Bordeaux Sommergibile.^[3] Phonetically B (for Bordeaux) is Beta and SOM is an abbreviation for 'Sommergibile' which is the Italian for submarine.^[4] In the United States American International Pictures released it as a double feature with Commando (1964).^[5]

Plot

An Italian submarine captain (Gabriele Ferzetti) tries to navigate his sub through enemy waters whilst being stalked by a British commander (James Mason). The Italian sub manages to make it into the neutral port of Tangiers, Morocco followed by the British commander. During their stay, the two captains agree not to fight. They come to respect each other. Eventually the Italian sub leaves port after the Captain accuses his lover (Lilli Palmer) of spying. The British commander follows, but ends up losing his ship to the Italian's torpedoes.

Cast

James Mason - Captain Blayne
Gabriele Ferzetti - Leonardi
Lilli Palmer - Lygia da Silva
Alberto Lupo - Magri
Valeria Fabrizi - Susanne
Renato De Carmine - Ghedini
Daniele Vargas - Brauzzi
Andrew Keir - O'Brien
Paul Muller - Police Commander

References

^ "FINCHÈ DURA LA TEMPESTA (1963)". BFI. Archived from the original on December 29, 2018.
^ "The Submarine Mission Storyline - Titles A-Z Page". www.storyline-features.co.uk.
^ "Beta Som (1963) - Bruno Vailati, Charles Frend | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related". AllMovie.
^ "BETASOM". www.libro.at.
^ Craig, Rob (February 7, 2019). American International Pictures: A Comprehensive Filmography. McFarland. ISBN 9781476666310 – via Google Books.