The Enemy Below (1957)

Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

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...

Dick Powell's "The Enemy Below" is one of the most intensely suspenseful military movies of all time as well as one of the best World War II movies ever made. The movie is based on a novel by D.A. Rayner who served in the British Royal Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic which is where the movie and the novel was set but the movie itself was shot in the Pacific Ocean on actual Navy ships, and instead of using British characters American characters are used for this movie. Robert Mitchum stars as Captain Murrell who is in charge of a Navy destroyer that is monitoring the Atlantic Ocean for enemy activity with a sonar radar and then Murrell and his crew soon find out that there is a German submarine underwater before the Germans find out that there is an American destroyer above them, and then an intense battle starts between two very experienced military minds of Murrell and the German captain (Curd Jurgens) which could produce deadly results, which makes the movie all the more suspenseful thanks to Wendell Mayes' expertly written script. The movie does present an anti-war sentiment on both sides which is a common feeling these days thinking that governments send soldiers to the battlefield for nothing but to die and get money out of it which is an understandable view but people like me who are neutral when it comes the situation of war only support the cause of war depending on the circumstances and our very own national security. But now enough about politics and back to the movie, I found the performances to be very effective throughout the movie especially from both Mitchum and Jurgens. As well as Powell's magnificent direction, but like most movies they don't come without their flaws because like humans being imperfect movies aren't always perfect either. The problem I had with this movie were minor because with the battle scenes I didn't find the music very fitting with the events that were unfolding throughout the movie which made the movie a little less suspenseful than it should have been. Otherwise it was a really enjoyable and very entertaining movie to watch.

Despite the technical limitations of the time, this film nonetheless manages to capture the fear and anxiety of undersea warfare. It begins with a great story and is supported with fabulous acting and a good script that forgoes the typical rah rah of the period and instead focuses on the humanity and horror of war. An all around excellent flick.

Yes, there is an anti-war message here. The German Commander, Curt Jurgens, showed a dislike for Hitler and the New Germany as told in the film.The film is naturally hampered by the scenes being mostly confined to the ship and the German submarine. Perhaps, the use of flashbacks would have enhanced the film.It's basically a story of a cat and mouse game to see who shall be blown to bits first.The last few minutes was by far the best part as we saw some humanitarianism between both groups.Who really cares about going in a parallel way so that one can take advantage and fire torpedoes?