Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2025 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

Submarine (1928)

This early Frank Capra drama, a film remembered for its gritty portrayal of submarine action, stars Jack Holt, Ralph Graves and Dorothy Revier.

Iron-jawed Holt perpetuates his manly screen persona as Jack Dorgan, a deep-sea diver on a Navy minesweeper. Bob Mason (Graves) is his romantic rival and pal (“Pals, Just Pals”) who is soon transferred to submarine duty. While on leave in San Diego, Dorgan meets nightlife addict Bessie (Revier) and they impulsively marry. Soon dissatisfied with her less-than-thrilling domestic life, and with her husband Jack away on duty, Bessie returns to her old ballroom haunt and meets Bob (no surprise there). In a madcap week, they fall in love (no surprise there, either).

Ashore on leave and reunited, Bob is invited to Jack’s home to meet the new wife and oops!

All of the romantic stuff falls apart. Time to make a left turn and move on to the action part of the show.

While on manœvers, Bob’s submarine is sunk in a collision with another ship. That means, Jack to the rescue!

The cast does an adequate job throughout and there clearly are a few Capra-inspired touches in a film that telegraphs all of its punches. Nonetheless, the film was a financial and critical success for Columbia Pictures and was a big feather in Frank Capra’s cap (who replaced departing director Irving Willat). The underwater photography (exclusively in a tank) is OK and the model work is pretty good given the times.

— Carl Bennett

The Blu-ray Disc fares just about as well as the UHD disc. Film grain is less pronounced rendering a slightly smoother picture.

The film is accompanied by its original synchronized music and effects soundtrack, except for those reels where the original sound discs are missing. To bridge these sections, the film is accompanied by music adapted from the original score by Rodney Sauer and performed by The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.

Supplemental material includes the full-length documentaries, Frank Capra’s American Dream (1997) by Kenneth Bowser, and Frank Capra: Mr. America (2023) by Matthew Wells.

For information regarding other films included in the boxset, see our Frank Capra at Columbia on home video page.

Forget those substandard discs noted below, this is our recommended home video edition of the film.

This Regions ABC UHD / BD edition is available from SONY PICTURES through . . .

The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.

This is our recommended home video edition of the film.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from ALPHA VIDEO through . . .

The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .

The film is likely presented with its original synchronized music score soundtrack.

EMOVIEZ no longer sells home video products and this item is . . .

Other NAUTICAL FILMS of the silent era available on home video.