AllMovie

Recorded sound effects punctuate this silent drama, the first big-budget release from the then-Poverty Row studio Columbia. Navy man Jack Reagon (Jack Holt) falls for dance-hall girl Bessie (Dorothy Revier) and they marry, but she can't adjust to the bonds of matrimony. A love affair starts between Bessie and Reagon's longtime Navy pal Bob Mason (Ralph Graves), who later becomes trapped underwater in a sunken submarine. Bessie admits her unfaithfulness to Reagon but reassures him of Mason's honorableness, and Reagon succeeds in rescuing his best friend. So successful was Submarine that director Frank Capra would reteam with (Jack Holt) and (Ralph Graves) for two more romantic-triangle rescue dramas: his early talkies Flight (1929) and Dirigible (1931), in which the men fought over Lila Lee and Fay Wray, respectively.