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     Sensuikan Iti Go
          (Submarine Number One)
             DVD-88
This is Japanese and it means “Submarine Number One”.  Lt. Sakuma is captain of submarine No. 6 and the first victim of Japan’s first submarine accident.  In his hometown of Mikata, a teacher in a primary school tells the pupils about how bravely Lt. Sakuma and his men behaved at the time of the accident; the boys are impressed.

One boy pledges that he will become a naval officer and will command a submarine.  Another boy pledges that he will go to university to be a ship-building engineer and build excellent submarines.  They follow their intended paths and the first boy enters the Naval Academy and becomes an officer.  He then attends the Kure Submarine School (Japan’s version of New London), where Submarine No. 6 has been made into a shrine and is worshipped.

The second boy graduates from the university and joins a shipbuilding firm.  He is worked too hard and gets sick, but the submarine he designed is finally completed.  His friend is appointed as its captain.  One day he parks his submarine on the spot where Lt. Sakuma died in the accident and he salutes the soul of the brave officer.

This film was made in 1941 and released just before the beginning of the American-Japanese phase of the war.  The Japanese combined fleet is shown in full force, although some of the aircraft look a little obsolete.  Submarine No. 6 was scrapped at the end of the war.  Two songs, ‘Sensuikan no uta’ (Song of Submarine) and ‘Umino kesshitai’ (forlorn hopes at sea) are sung in this DVD - powerful music!  Check out how really big the diesels are.

This film too, come to us from the private vault of a Japanese film producer and has never been seen before.

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