Anthony Asquith directed this relatively inexpensive and thoroughly adequate war-time thriller about a British submarine hunting a new German battleship, the fictional Brandenburg.
The structure is episodic. (1) Vignettes of the crew ashore, variously courting young women, trying to avoid marrying them, and suspicious of their wives. (2) Emergency mission: Sink the Brandenburg, which is a difficult task requiring skill on the part of the crew and the captain, John Mills. (3) The pursuit the enemy ship beyond the submarine's range. (4) The attack, and the depth charges that follow. (5) A landing party hijacking some fuel from a ship in a remote German port, involving a fire fight. (6) A brief scene of the return home and a resolution of earlier issues.
It's probably different from the submarine movies you may have gotten used to. Ordinarily, the skipper turns his cap around, glues his eyes to the periscope, hollers out "bearing" and "mark", and everything proceeds smoothly. Here, Mills has a hell of a time lining up for a torpedo attack. The boat bobs up and down. He has trouble deciding the "angle on the bow" because the Brandenburg is, after all, not steering a straight course. And Mills is quick to snap out remonstrations to his officers when his efforts are frustrated.
I don't know why some Americans had trouble deciphering the different accents. A "child" becomes a "chow." Simple. And an imprecation is an imprecation in any language, even if it comes out, "Cor bloimey!" It's the adverts on British roads that always confounded me. "Pom pom mums." And, "Lose a stone in a fortnight." Why would anyone want to lose one of his stones?
Aspiring screenwriters nota Bene: Every submarine movie must have a scene in which the skipper must try to convince the attacking enemy that it has been destroyed. The skipper does it by sending up oil and then debris, in that order. To make the rule REALLY convincing, they may stick a dead body in the torpedo tube before shooting it out. That's what Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster did in "Run Silent, Run Deep," but John Mills did it here first.
If it's not a classic of its kind, it's entertaining and at times pretty tense. Not a bad job.
The structure is episodic. (1) Vignettes of the crew ashore, variously courting young women, trying to avoid marrying them, and suspicious of their wives. (2) Emergency mission: Sink the Brandenburg, which is a difficult task requiring skill on the part of the crew and the captain, John Mills. (3) The pursuit the enemy ship beyond the submarine's range. (4) The attack, and the depth charges that follow. (5) A landing party hijacking some fuel from a ship in a remote German port, involving a fire fight. (6) A brief scene of the return home and a resolution of earlier issues.
It's probably different from the submarine movies you may have gotten used to. Ordinarily, the skipper turns his cap around, glues his eyes to the periscope, hollers out "bearing" and "mark", and everything proceeds smoothly. Here, Mills has a hell of a time lining up for a torpedo attack. The boat bobs up and down. He has trouble deciding the "angle on the bow" because the Brandenburg is, after all, not steering a straight course. And Mills is quick to snap out remonstrations to his officers when his efforts are frustrated.
I don't know why some Americans had trouble deciphering the different accents. A "child" becomes a "chow." Simple. And an imprecation is an imprecation in any language, even if it comes out, "Cor bloimey!" It's the adverts on British roads that always confounded me. "Pom pom mums." And, "Lose a stone in a fortnight." Why would anyone want to lose one of his stones?
Aspiring screenwriters nota Bene: Every submarine movie must have a scene in which the skipper must try to convince the attacking enemy that it has been destroyed. The skipper does it by sending up oil and then debris, in that order. To make the rule REALLY convincing, they may stick a dead body in the torpedo tube before shooting it out. That's what Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster did in "Run Silent, Run Deep," but John Mills did it here first.
If it's not a classic of its kind, it's entertaining and at times pretty tense. Not a bad job.