Hell Below (1933)

The over-excited reviews here on IMDb surprise me, as I found this movie only barely worth watching. Mostly I enjoyed the real-life sequences of vintage ships steaming, exploding, and sinking. But the love story, which completely dominates everything else, is ordinary pot-boiler stuff, about a girl torn between two men, deciding who "needs" her more. Finally, though, one of the guys sacrifices himself in order to be a hero (sigh, fade to black). The love story really tanks, though, whenever Madge Evans is forced to try to sound real and impassioned with one of her "I love you truly, truly" speeches. The comic relief by Jimmy Durante might have been very welcome for 1930s audiences, but his eyeball-popping, head-shaking, and and "Hachaaa!"s look forced and pathetic today. His scene with the boxing kangaroo is a stupid interruption. (I couldn't help thinking how dangerous it would be if the roo made one of his little kicks really count for something.)Now about the writing--did somebody here mention a "literate" script? Please. Its literacy may be measured with examples like these:"Are you all right?" Wiping blood from his nose, "You think this is ketchup, do you?"Trying to fix a leak spewing water into the sub, "Somebody left the bathtub on."All this is not to say The Hell Below is terrible. It's probably a cut above the average war movie of its era (How many war movies were made in the early 30s, anyway?), but if you're looking it up on IMDb to get a sense of whether you should put aside time to watch it, my advice is not to give it a very high priority. Leave it for some late night when you have insomnia. You'll be grateful for it then.

Exciting, action-packed, and interesting film telling the tale of a group of men stationed at a naval base in Italy and their adventures aboard a Navy submarine during WWI. Tommy and Brick (played by Robert Montgomery and Robert Young) are two pals, and make for a couple of very handsome officers, I must say. A new Captain arrives on-board, already known by a few as "Dead Pan" Toler (Walter Huston) and he's a real stickler for following the rule book and a "code of honor". Soon Tommy and Brick are chasing after an attractive blonde at an officer's dance, Tommy insults the Captain - and, of course, the blonde is actually the Captain's daughter. But Tommy wins out anyway as he and the daughter sneak away from the dance to a street carnival outside, and soon bond during an air raid - unfortunately for him, she reveals she is married. Later Tommy gets himself into some real trouble when he disobeys orders in an effort save his buddy.This film is quite entertaining with an absorbing plot line that held my interest and top-notch performances by all. A climactic death scene featuring Sterling Holloway is haunting indeed - the most memorable scene in this film, I thought. Eugene Palette and Jimmy Durante add some humor here playing a couple of goofballs - Durante's character is actually studying to be a dentist via mail-order and continually has onshore run-ins with a British man who makes fun of his nose. Okay - if you're looking for a movie showing a man boxing a kangaroo, this would be the one.

I recommend that movie viewers if in the New York City area go to the Intrepid museum and get some idea of how closed in and cramped the living was for the crews of World War II vintage submarines. How much more so that must have been for the seamen during World War I. It must have truly been hell below.Walter Huston and Robert Montgomery head the cast of Hell Below, Huston as the by the book captain and Montgomery as his free wheeling number two. They're both quite believable as Naval officers and the rest of the cast like Robert Young, Eugene Palette, Jimmy Durante, Madge Evans, Sterling Holloway, etc. fill their roles quite nicely.The silent service got more popular during World War II and after. It's amazing, but I could name a whole slew of submarine pictures like Torpedo Run, Operation Pacific, Hellcats of the Navy, Run Silent, Run Deep and many more and you'll see the same plot situations in all of them. I guess there truly is a limit on situations as well.Jimmy Durante's performance is interesting. He's pretty funny and his scene with the boxing kangaroo while on shore leave is very funny indeed. But I'd have to say a character like him in those cramped quarters is probably very necessary for morale. If you don't have someone like that to break the tension on board a submarine, you ought to get one transferred to your ship immediately.The highlight for me however is Sterling Holloway's death scene. Very similar to Sean McClory's in Island in the Sky. It will haunt you long after you've seen this film.

Robert Montgomery and Robert Young are outstanding as a duo of young submarine officers stationed in Italy during World War I. The dialog is highly entertaining, and Jimmy Durante is hilarious as the ship's cook, "Ptomaine". Walter Huston's character is inspiring as the captain of the submarine, a stellar example of an officer and a gentleman. One of the most interesting aspects of this movie was the level of technology displayed in the battle scenes. I was surprised at how similar the technology of World War I was to the technology displayed 25 years later in World War II. Basic human nature was portrayed as very similar to modern times, and far from the conservativism I thought existed in the so-called "innocent" past. All in all I felt that the cast, characters, action scenes, and view of history depicted in this movie were first-rate.