Operation Pacific

Operation Pacific (1951) is a classic WWII film you can watch online on iFILM, directed by George Waggner and starring John Wayne as submarine officer Duke Gifford. Set in the months after Pearl Harbor, the story follows the crew of the USS Thunderfish — a sub whose torpedoes keep failing at the worst possible moment.

Gifford has two problems that won't quit: a mechanical defect that's costing lives on every mission, and an ex-wife, a Navy nurse played by Patricia Neal, who has moved on with a flier who happens to be his commander's brother. Waggner keeps both threads alive without letting either swamp the other. Wayne is in his element here — steady and physical — and the film delivers the kind of double-pressure plot, professional crisis at sea, personal mess on shore, that made this style of wartime drama last. Stream Operation Pacific (1951) online on iFILM.