How can a torpedo be so exciting? It's a dead thing, and still it keeps the whole film constantly growing in suspense and expectation, and whatever you expect, you will not be disappointed. Gene Kelly makes a very unusual role for a change, no dancing and singing here but only totally matter-of-fact science and technical expertise.
They are testing torpedos on a remote base laboratory on an island outside Scotland, and the film begins with a disastrous failure with an irreplaceable casualty, the expert who finished the job and made the new torpedo technically perfect, and then something went wrong, and everything exploded. The expert in charge survived but not for long and took his possible secrets with him. In his place Gene Kelly is procured.
It's a chamber drama only beteen men, but it never gets claustrophobic although they are strictly confined. Instead a very special drama keeps developing concerning the topredo and its increasing problem complex. The Boulting brothers only made extremely interesting films for their concentration on human factors and human imperfections, and although highly specialised and restricted to science and technics, this is no exception. The húman factor takes over the show with a vengeance.
Review of Crest of the Wave
