Operation Pacific

Operation Pacific (1951)

10 mistakes

(1 vote)

Continuity mistake: When the Japanese ship is about to be torpedoed, there are no numbers or letters on its side. In the next shot, when the ship explodes, a large white "265" is visible on the port side of the ship.

keiko

Revealing mistake: When the torpedo is fired at a Japanese ship, the underwater shot of the torpedo cruising reveals it being pulled by a long wire. It is also apparent that it was filmed in a tank with the reflection of the sun on the tank wall.

Continuity mistake: Sometimes when they are looking through the periscope, the sub view is going the opposite direction than the periscope view is.

terry s

Continuity mistake: When the sub is being strafed by the Japanese fighter, John Wayne is wounded as he enters the doorway with his back toward the fighter. Yet, when he is taken to his quarters, it is his chest that is wounded and his back is untouched.

bnemirow

Revealing mistake: In this scene we see John Wayne talking to the deck gunner who is manning his post. There are also some sailors who are scanning the horizon for enemy shipping. It is obvious the background scenery of a cloudy night is a stage prop. You can also see a dark line coming down, meaning it was put together in panels. The fact that the clouds don't move or change shape also suggests the use of a stage prop. (01:14:20)

keiko

Factual error: The Thunderfish is closing on the Japanese I-boat, at under 6000 yards, Duke orders flank speed. The hydrophone operator on the I-boat would have to be deaf not to pick up the noise of Thunderfish's propellers at flank speed. For those pundits who claim that their sonar might be down, hydrophones are a passive listening system.

goofyfoot

Continuity mistake: When Thunderfish engages the Japanese I-boat, the first range and bearing indicates that the sub is some 6000 yards distant. Less than a minute later, the range has dropped to 900 yards. That would mean that even if both vessels were on directly opposite courses, their combined closing speed would have to be in excess of 250 nautical miles per hour, impossibly.

goofyfoot

Continuity mistake: Towards the end, John Wayne says to run silent and dive deep, but the outside shots continually show them to only be about 25 feet above the bottom.

terry s

Continuity mistake: As Japanese planes strafe the U.S.S. Thunderfish, the insertion of a brief piece of sub-being-struck-by-gunfire stock footage changes the American submarine into a German U-boat. (01:30:00)

Jean G

Revealing mistake: In this scene we see the underwater shot of the US submarine and the hull of the Japanese ship. It is clear this scene was shot in a tank as the suns reflection appears on the tank wall to the left of the shot.

keiko

Duke E. Gifford: How's the picture?
Lt. Larry: Oh, all right I guess, sir... the things those Hollywood guys can do with a submarine.

More quotes from Operation Pacific

Question: Why did Cmdr. Gifford (John Wayne) give Ens.Caldwell a bad look when he said it was the first time he had seen a sub knocked off?

More questions & answers from Operation Pacific

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