and calls the ship for fire support. Frenchy is forced to kill a Japanese soldier shooting at them when Alec cannot bring himself to fire his own weapon. As Frenchy openly pities his friend, four enemy soldiers emerge and Frenchy is wounded. Alec kills them to protect his friend and is also wounded, but Frenchy dies before they make it back to the ship. Soon after, Alec returns to Susan with Frenchy's completed portrait to deliver to his daughter. Cast Alan Ladd as Alexander 'Alec' Austen Dianne Foster as Susan Cahill William Bendix as 'Frenchy' Shapiro Keenan Wynn as Lt. Comdr. Mike Edge James Whitmore as Comdr. Warren Meredith Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Lieut. Blanchard Joey Bishop as Ski Krokowski Peter Hansen as Lieutenant Dooley Jerry Mathers as Steve Innes (uncredited) Production Development The novel was published in 1953 and became a bestseller. Rights to the novel were bought by Ladd's Jaguar Productions in 1955. The film was always envisioned as a starring vehicle for Ladd; possible co-stars included Fredric March and Edward G. Robinson. Eventually, William Bendix was cast in the role. At one point, Doris Day was announced as the film's female lead as part of a three- picture deal to be made over three years; she and Ladd would co-star in two films. This did not happen, however, and Dianne Foster was cast instead. The Deep Six was to be the first of a ten-picture deal between Jaguar and Warner Bros. to be made over three years. Ladd wanted to use Jaguar to develop new talent and hoped to showcase them in the film. Screenplay The screenplay incorporated several subplots (primarily the portraits created by Austen) and characters/back stories from Dibner's 1953 novel, but the plot of the film largely focused on Alec Austen's spiritual crisis of pacifism versus duty, which in the novel did not occur. Likewise the screenplay, except for the issue of abuse of authority by some officers, did not address the major themes of the novel: the clinging by the regular navy chain of command early in the war to archaic customs and traditions that proved detrimental to morale and endangered ships in combat; racial discrimination; sadistic criminal acts, including homosexual rape, by officers and sailors who served in the pre-war Navy; and the assignment in a hurriedly expanded wartime navy of incompetent or marginally qualified regular officers to positions of trust and