The Atomic Submarine is a 1959 independently made, American black-and-white science-fiction film directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet[3] and starring Arthur Franz, Dick Foran, Brett Halsey, Joi Lansing and Jean Moorhead, with John Hilliard as the voice of the alien.

[4] The storyline of The Atomic Submarine concerns an alien invasion that begins when an underwater UFO (or USO – Unidentified Submerged Object) attacks the world's shipping for unknown reasons.

The film showcases the then-new technology of nuclear submarines, and follows the crew and scientists aboard the atomic-powered USS Tigershark, which has been ordered to hunt down the mysterious underwater saucer and stop its disruption of sea commerce.

Present is Commander Dan Wendover (Dick Foran), the captain of the atomic submarine Tigershark, and Nobel Prize-winning scientist Sir Ian Hunt (Tom Conway).

Lieutenant Commander Richard "Reef" Holloway (Arthur Franz), Tigershark's executive officer, learns that his bunkmate is to be Dr. Carl Neilson Jr. (Brett Halsey), a pacifistic scientist whom he dislikes.

A montage then follows, spotlighting the day-to-day life aboard Tigershark, which eventually discovers the cause of the disasters, an underwater saucer-shaped craft with a sole light atop its upper dome.

The submariners hold an emergency meeting of Tigershark's on-board scientists, and they develop a plan to adapt a torpedo's guidance system to convert it into a guided water-to-air missile.

[8] Reviewer David Blakeslee, in a later assessment, commented that "once you get past the wooden acting, creaky scripts, stilted narration, corny humor, low-budget props, and sheer implausibility of The Atomic Submarine's story line, you'll find themes and ideas worth pondering a bit longer than it takes to laugh away at the non-stop unraveling of sci-fi B-movie conventions".

Chief among the unusual elements is "a headier-than-expected socio-political debate between a young principled pacifist and the career military man and WWII veteran sub captain over the merits of war and peace".