The Enemy Below (1957)

Normally I haven't been big on sub movies, heck or Navy movies in general. Lately I'm getting a bit of a thing for them. What with the strategic maneuvers, the tension of the crew, and the man vs. man and ship vs. ship aspect of the whole thing.

The Enemy Below is just one of those movies. After a lengthy (like 30 minutes!) bit of character development on board the US Destroyer, we finally get a glimpse of the adversary, a U-Boat headed for an important rendezvous.

Lets just put all the cards on the table here. There's a lot of the usual sub vs. ship maneuvering going on here. A lot of the usual, "If he's smart he'll..." or "He's smarter than I thought!" type of thing, eventually terminating with (and you may as well know) a draw. Yes, a draw. Nobody wins here today.

And that's the point I think. From the outset we're told from the viewpoint of both ships what a pointless exercise their being there is. And in the end, people and boats are lost....

...but honor is not. In an age where the enemy seemingly has no honor, its good to see that concepts like this once existed amongst rivals. If not in reality at least in fiction.

Catch this one on TV if you can, but I don't think I'd expend the greens otherwise.

Technorati Tags: war movies, navy, destroyer, the enemy below, u-boat, world war ii, movies

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Description

It's Mitchum vs. Jurgens as the commanders of an American destroyer and a German U-boat play a deadly game of cat and mouse.

In The Enemy Below Robert Mitchum and Curt Jurgens are respectively captains of a U.S. destroyer and a German U-boat whose vessels come into conflict in the South Atlantic. Both are good men with a job to do, the script noting Jurgens' distaste for Hitler and the Nazis and engaging our sympathy with the German sailors almost as much as the Americans. Made at the height of the cold war of the 1950s, the film delivers a liberal message of co-operation wrapped inside some spectacular action scenes and a story which builds to a tense and exciting, moving finale. --Gary S. Dalkin

DVD Information

Binding: DVD
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Brand: Twentieth Century Fox
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Original Release Date:
Actors:

• Robert Mitchum
• Curt Jürgens
• David Hedison
• Theodore Bikel
• Russell Collins

Reviews

Related posts:

1. In Enemy Hands (2004)
2. Enemy at the Gates (2001)
3. The One That Got Away (1957)
4. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
5. Paths of Glory (1957)
6. Bombers B-52 (1957)
7. Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia (2009)
8. Mister Roberts (1955)
9. The Ship That Died of Shame (1955)

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 6th, 2007 at 3:31 pm and is filed under 1950s, Reviews, World War II Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.