Film

Operation Petticoat

Name: Operation Petticoat
Genre: Comedy, War, Romance
Released: 1959
Cast: Cary Grant, Tony Curtis, Joan O'Brien, Dina Merrill, Gene Evans

Comedy
Light-hearted

A WWII submarine comedy where Cary Grant's by-the-book commander and Tony Curtis's scrappy con-artist first officer must salvage a crippled vessel and sneak five army nurses aboard. It's a film that refuses to take its own premise seriously, mixing slapstick, flirtation, and genuine wartime ingenuity into something frothy and endlessly watchable. For anyone who wants old Hollywood charm without a trace of gravity.

TMDb rating

3.6

If you liked this

Some Like It Hot1959

Released the same year, this comedy shares Curtis's gift for rapid-fire charm and a premise built on one small deception spiralling outward. It's the masterpiece both films aim for, and if you love Operation Petticoat's energy, this is essential.

But It's been canonized as one of the greatest films ever made, which can make it feel overhyped if you come in expecting novelty rather than craft.

Breakfast at Tiffany's1961

Grant was never more effortlessly suave, and this has that same gloss and lightness. The romance is spun with the same ease as Operation Petticoat, and the New York glamour is intoxicating.

But It's a love story, not an action comedy, so if you're drawn to the submarine caper element, you'll be disappointed.

The Poseidon Adventure1972

A disaster film that shares Operation Petticoat's ensemble chaos and race-against-time structure. Watches like a disaster version of the same formula: people trapped in an impossible situation, wit and grit required.

But It's earnest and sometimes overwrought where Operation Petticoat is knowing. The tonal whiplash might feel jarring.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Operation Petticoat

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Hunt for Red October1990

Both films treat the submarine as a social space where disparate people must trust each other under pressure. Both mix technical military authenticity with the human comedy of forced proximity. Where Operation Petticoat laughs at the contradiction, Red October takes it seriously.

A later submarine epic that inherits Operation Petticoat's fascination with the vessel as character and community. It has genuine technical ingenuity and the same 'can they pull it off?' tension, but trades comedy for cold war espionage.

But It's a straight thriller, long and methodical. If you loved Operation Petticoat's fizz, this dry, strategic approach will feel like homework.

Charade1963

Grant again, this time in a romantic thriller that has the same breezy sophistication and rapid plot turns. Audrey Hepburn and Grant have the kind of chemistry Curtis and Grant spark in Operation Petticoat.

But It leans thriller, not comedy, and the plot requires you to keep up rather than relax into charm.

The Pink Panther1963

Peter Sellers' manic energy and the slapstick filmmaking recall Operation Petticoat's comedic philosophy—nothing is sacred, everything is fair game. The escalating chaos feels familiar.

But Sellers' accent work divides viewers, and the humour is broader, less tied to character and situation.

It Happened to Jane1959

Another 1959 comedy romance with Curtis, lighter and airier than his other work that year. The battle-of-wits romance and small-town Americana charm parallel Operation Petticoat's civilian-world energy.

But It's straightforward romantic comedy without the genre mash-up or high concept, which can feel slight.

Father Goose1964

Grant stranded on an island with children and a woman he must protect. It has the same formula: a crusty authority figure forced into an impossible situation with people he'd never choose, generating humour through friction and unlikely bonding.

But It's notably sentimental, which Operation Petticoat avoids. The whimsy builds in ways some find cloying.

The Bedford Incident1965

A tense Cold War submarine thriller with Richard Widmark in a similar military hierarchy. It shows what the submarine milieu becomes without comedy, and how the same pressure cooker setup plays when stakes are real.

But It's grim and methodical, a complete tonal inversion that will feel like a sour comedown if you come in expecting Operation Petticoat's levity.

Singin' in the Rain1952

Both are old Hollywood movies where the plot exists to string together moments of star chemistry and comic genius. Both are structured as a series of set pieces rather than a tight narrative, and both work because the talent is so assured it doesn't need much scaffolding.

Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor in a backstage musical where the plot is almost irrelevant—it's a pretext for brilliance. Operation Petticoat works the same way: the submarine and nurses are an excuse for Grant and Curtis to generate pure charisma.

But It's a musical. If you don't love that register—the sudden song, the full-bodied production numbers—it will feel alien, not just different.

Das Boot1981

Both understand that a submarine is a character—a living thing that demands sacrifice and loyalty from its crew. Both recognize that war and comedy can coexist in that space, just at opposite emotional temperatures. Where Operation Petticoat finds jokes in the absurdity of the situation, Das Boot finds horror in it.

A German-language submarine warfare film told from inside a U-boat during WWII. It's suffocating and brilliant, using the same confined space and crew-as-family dynamic but to create dread instead of romantic comedy.

But It's three and a half hours, in German, shot in tight underwater spaces, and ends in historical tragedy. It is about as far from Operation Petticoat's lightness as cinema allows.