Who in their right mind would think that taking a sunken German submarine and raising it to rob the luxury liner, The Queen Mary, would be a good idea for a caper? That's the whole idea of this extremely silly thriller that in the 1940's would have been a great Universal movie starring the likes of Maria Montez, Jon Hall, Sabu, Lon Chaney Jr. and Turhan Bey. It's all about as realistic as "Cobra Woman", yet the characters in this movie match each of the archetypes the actors I mention would play. In the case of this movie, it is Frank Sinatra, Virni Lisi, Anthony Franciosa and Richard Conte (to name a few),and I was more than surprised that none of them broke into gails of laughter when they had to recite lines in this silly screenplay. Poor Errol John as the only black man involved in the plot becomes the victim of some rather tasteless racial slurs, while Alf Kjellin displays obvious Nazi qualities as he strokes the quickly drying Nazi flag they find aboard the submarine. While the Queen Mary doesn't end up similar fates to the Titanic or the Luisitania, disaster of another kind results.

The former Navy military and friends Mark Brittain (Frank Sinatra) and Linc Langley (Errol John) are hired by the treasure hunters Vic Rossiter (Anthony Franciosa),Rosa Lucchesi (Virna Lisi) and Eric Lauffnauer (Alf Kjellin) to dive seeking a sank boat with a treasure. Mark finds a World War II German submarine instead and they decide to recover the submarine to heist the Queen Mary. The mechanic Tony Moreno (Richard Conte) joins the team and they use the submarine that is partially sailing to lure the Captain of the Queen Mary to steal the safe. Will their plan work?

"Assault on a Queen" is an adventure with a silly premise. The idea of recovering a submarine after twenty years sank in sea waters is stupid and practically impossible. Sailing an old submarine with a small unexperienced crew is also terrible. Last but not the least, the lack of chemistry between Frank Sinatra and Virna Lisi destroys any chance of a successful romantic pair. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Assalto a um Transatlântico" ("Assault on a Transatlantic")

Frank Sinatra is cool and very natural (he also produced the film). Virna Lisi is also cool and of rare beauty. Richard Conte is cool. Same Alf Kjellin, known from all the famous TV series. Anthony Franciosa is not cool, but so does the role. Good music by Duke Ellington. Great cinematography by William H. Daniels. Very original story! So many attributes make viewing imperative.