Blog Directory CineVerse: A high-stakes game of chess on the open sea

A high-stakes game of chess on the open sea

Thursday, February 21, 2019

Long before "Das Boot" was universally praised as one of the greatest war pictures ever and became regarded by some as the "Citizen Kane" of the submarine film subgenre, a lesser-remembered outing called "The Enemy Below" was released, back in 1957. It's a movie that holds up well and includes many of the elements that made "Das Boot" great; only here, we have a crosscutting battle of wills that gives equal time to both sides--the Germans in an elusive U-boat, led by a savvy and seasoned commander, and the Americans in their Destroyer, headed by an equally crafty captain. We parsed through the plusses of this film last night at CineVerse. Here are our conclusions:

WHAT TOOK YOU BY SURPRISE OR LEFT A STRONG IMPRESSION ON YOU ABOUT THIS FILM?
  • This is almost entirely plot driven. There is very little character development, almost no backstory or subplots, and no romantic love interest.
  • For an action film and a war film, there is actually not as much action as you might expect; there’s more slow-building suspense.
  • The film is surprisingly balanced in presenting two likeable rival commanders. We see that the U boat captain and some of his crew are not fans of Hitler or war, although they’re loyal to their country.
    • Per blogger Christopher Lloyd: “The idea of Americans and German being equally capable of nobility and depravity was still pretty bold in 1957.”
    • Robert Mitchum’s Captain Murrell is a refreshingly calm, cool and collected departure from the stereotypical hardass or unhinged sea captain often depicted in film and literature—the opposite of characters like Captain Bligh, Ahab or Queeg.
  • This is not a jingoistic propaganda war film that’s painted in black and white moral tones and depicting the German enemies as soulless monsters.
    • Like “Das Boot” would later, it “presents the German crew as simply soldiers doing their duty. The sole Nazi officer among the battle-tested men is a joke to the rest of them, spouting Nazi rhetoric but lacking the fortitude to follow through on his grand proclamations. It was a far cry from the patriotic portraits of the 1940s war movies,” wrote Sean Axmaker of Turner Classic Movies.
  • Unfortunately, as was often the case in the 1940s and 1950s, the Germans here speak their dialogue completely in English, despite the fact that the actors playing them are either German or Austrian. On one hand, having them speak in their native German tongue would have made the film more realistic and authentic; on the other hand, it would have required subtitles, which many American audiences dislike, and it would have made the Germans in this movie less sympathetic.
  • The crew of the American Destroyer represents a diverse array of personalities; we see one sailor reading “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” and another thumbing through a comic book.
  • The special effects here are terrific for 1957 and still effective today.
WHY DO WE ADMIRE GERMAN SUBMARINE COMMANDER VON STOLBERG?
  • He’s smart and cunning and has good instincts.
  • He’s not a fan of Hitler, and he sees no honor in this war he’s fighting. He says “They’ve taken the human out of war,” and “The enemy is part of us—it’s all of man.”
  • He’s not a buttoned-up, high-strung dictator of a naval captain. In fact, he’s literally buttoned down (we see him through most of the movie in an unbuttoned everyman kind of shirt).
  • Von Stolberg is kind to and trusts his crew and is capable of defusing any problem they have.
  • He inspires confidence, even in crew who have lost hope or composure.
  • Von Stolberg is not afraid to get his hands dirty; he’s as quick with a wrench as he is with a command.
OTHER WORKS OF FILM AND TV THAT REMIND US OF THE ENEMY BELOW:
  • Das Boot
  • Crimson Tide
  • The Hunt For Red October
  • U-571
  • Hunter Killer
  • Black Sea
  • The Bedford Incident
  • Phantom
  • K19
  • In Enemy Hands
  • The 1966 Star Trek episode "Balance of Terror,"
  • The 1966 Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea episode “Killers of the Deep”
HALLMARKS OF MOVIES IN THE SUBMARINE FILM SUBGENRE:
  • A battle of wills or a game of cat and mouse between two opposing captains.
  • Unique submarine sounds like sonar pings and a creaking hull
  • Claustrophobic, vulnerable settings
  • One or more crew members often pushed to the breaking point and dealing with stress
  • Long stretches of quiet as we wait for something to happen or listen along with the crew for signs of The enemy.
  • Exploding depth charges and torpedoes
  • Tilted angles suggesting the ship is leaning one way or another.

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