After an awful 25-minute opening stretch, find a moderately engrossing, 80-minute drama in which Preminger and his actors create unassuming characters that possess the presence of real people with offscreen (emotional) battle scars–an all-too-rare quality in movies. It takes me into the 1930s more effectively than most films, and there are some well-done scenes. Unfortunately, the final, dull stretch of military-related exposition and a long, unexciting naval battle blunt the impact of otherwise promising drama. Someone should make a new cut of In Harm's Way that drops the fluff around its edges.
