The Enemy Below (1957)

Film Review: "The Enemy Below" (1957)Before "U-571" (2000), "The Hunt For Red October" (1990) and "Das Boot" (1981) comes a submarine action thriller gem, surprisingly as perfectly put into scene by Actor becoming Director Dick Powell (1904-1963) in Season 1956/1957 for 20th Century Fox Studios with Hollywood Star Robert Mitchum (1917-1997), portraying Capt. Murrell of a U.S. destroyer criss-crossing in the Atlantic, who confronts Submarine Capt. Von Stolberg, performed with tense-looks by Curd Jürgens (1915-1982). Together they created a cat-and-mouse play within the depth of the deep blue-to-green sea as well as above sea-levels with steady-as-she-goes technicolor cinematography and in-camera special effects, which at today's standards are refreshing, receivable due to a digital overkill of recent years. The 90-minute-format gives a quality example that it does not need fast-cutting, blitz-dialogue and camera flights to create suspense and encounter a worthy showdown toward character-balancing conclusions.© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

Not a documentary, this movie focuses more on the personal interactions between men in a war they have learned to hate...Robert Mitchum is the American Captain of a Buckley class Destroyer Escort, operating independently in the North Atlantic...Kurt Jurgens is the crusty German skipper of a submarine, who has experienced two World Wars. Both of them have felt the horror of war, the utter futility of constant conflict, but both still do their duty...The Enemy Below is a portrait of two men's inner demons, and their struggle to overcome those demons...there is a lot of action as well...Overall, the film brings technically accurate depictions of war at sea, a good bit better than many others...but it is drama, first and foremost, with the accuracies set as the backdrop...This is always well worth watching...

The South Atlantic during World War 2. The US destroyer USS Haynes spots and engages a German U-boat. The U-boat is commanded by Captain Von Stolberg (played by Curd Jurgens), a wily veteran U-boat commander. The captain of the Haynes is Lt Commander Murrell (Robert Mitchum), a Naval Reserve officer who was previously in the merchant marine. Because of this background, some of his crew doubt his abilities. he soon proves them wrong and a battle of wits ensues between the two adversaries. Great WW2 naval drama. Pretty good portrayal of submarine and anti- submarine warfare. Suspenseful and engaging. Also shows a good balance between the US and German sides.Great performances from Robert Mitchum, as the US captain, and Curd Jurgens, as the German captain. Good supporting cast too.

Robert Mitchum was a big movie star back in the 1950s and 1960s, though I suppose most of the younger viewers don't know who he was. It is nice to be able to find some of these fine older movies on the "Movies!" channel. Especially during the first 10 to 15 years after the war ended in 1945 there was considerable Hollywood fascination with war-related movies. And they mostly were received well by the USA public that had gotten heavily involved in supporting the war effort. The dastardly Nazi Germans were still a big interest on the big screen.Here the two stars were both near 40 years of age, Mitchum is USA Capt. Murrell with a destroyer. Curd Jürgens is Nazi Captain Von Stolberg. They have a close encounter at sea and each must try to destroy the other. So most of the movie is that mental chess game at sea, two veteran captains trying to predict what the other will do, and often ordering maneuvers that puzzled the rest of their crews.While there is plenty of action the story is really about these two men. It tries to bring humanity to the war effort. Hollywood would not release a movie in 1957 that had the Germans defeating the Americans.SPOILERS: As the chase comes to a climax the sub must surface and the destroyer is faced with a collision. Germans didn't like their U- boats captured so time bombs were set. The Americans had to vacate their vessel, try to save as many prisoners as they could, and still avoid being sunk in lifeboats by the imminent explosions.