Directed by Hollywood's legendary John Ford (a U. S. Naval Reserve Rear Admiral), and starring the Hollywood and TV actor Ward Bond, this project was designed to be a navy recruiting film, depicting the heroism of an incident during World War II. The film dramatized the heroism of a submarine skipper, Gilmore, who, while on the bridge in combat, ordered his vessel to undergo an emergency defensive dive, losing his own life but saving those of his crew. Navy SEALS performed hair-raising underwater photographic effects in Pacific waters off Hawaii. The project was abandoned later, however, in Hollywood. John Ford's daughter, Barbara, a member of the film cutters' union agreed to do the cutting probono, but when the union learned of her largesse, it took successful legal action to stop the film's production. Gordon was on location in Hawaii for several weeks watching the films being shot, then spent two weeks in a composing studio on the Samuel Goldwyn lot before the project closed down. Only the title music and other sketches were written at the time the film was scrapped. The title song is extant and was turned into a piano piece called Intense Encounter.