''The Enemy Below'' is a 1957 American

DeLuxe Color DeLuxe Color or Deluxe color or Color by DeLuxe is Deluxe Laboratories brand of color process for motion pictures. DeLuxe Color is Eastmancolor-based, with certain adaptations for improved compositing for printing (similar to Technicolor's "se ...

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

CinemaScope CinemaScope is an anamorphic format, anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its cr ...

about a battle between an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

destroyer escort Destroyer escort (DE) was the United States Navy mid-20th-century classification for a warship designed with the endurance necessary to escort mid-ocean convoys of merchant marine ships. Development of the destroyer escort was promoted by th ...

and a German

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It stars

Robert Mitchum Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He is known for his antihero roles and film noir appearances. He received nominations for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award. He received a star on the Holl ...

and Curt Jürgens as the American and German commanding officers, respectively. Produced and directed by

Dick Powell Richard Ewing Powell (November 14, 1904 – January 2, 1963) was an American actor, singer, musician, producer, director, and studio head. Though he came to stardom as a musical comedy performer, he showed versatility and successfully transform ...

, the film was based on the 1956 novel of the same name by

Denys Rayner Denys Arthur Rayner DSC & Bar, VRD, RNVR (9 February 1908 – 4 January 1967) was a Royal Navy officer who fought throughout the Battle of the Atlantic. After intensive war service at sea, Rayner became a writer, a farmer, and a successful des ...

, a British naval officer involved in

antisubmarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in the older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations a ...

throughout the

Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allies of World War II, ...

Plot

It is some time in the middle of

. The American USS ''Haynes'' is on patrol in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

. Lieutenant Commander Murrell, a former

Third Mate A third mate (3/M) or third officer is a licensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. The third mate is a watchstander and customarily the ship's safety officer and fourth-in-command (fifth on some ocean liners). The position i ...

in the Merchant Marine and now an active-duty officer in the Naval Reserve, has recently taken command of the ship; he joined the Navy after his freighter was sunk by a German U-boat, and is still recovering from injuries incurred in the sinking of his previous Navy warship and 21 days marooned adrift afterwards. Before the U-boat is first spotted, one sailor questions the new captain's fitness and ability. Once a skilled game of cat-and-mouse tracking the U-boat gives way to a series of even more finely honed and intuitive attacks, the crew falls in strongly behind their new skipper. Murrell is matching deadly wits with U-boat ''Kapitän zur See'' von Stolberg, a wily former World War I ''Unterseeboot'' skipper deep into a conflict he resents for a

Nazi regime Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

he detests. As the battle that emerges tests both commanders and their crews, each man grows to respect his opponent as he discovers his rival can read his mind. Murrell stalks the U-boat and subjects von Stolberg and his crew to hourly

depth-charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon designed to destroy submarines by detonating in the water near the target and subjecting it to a destructive hydraulic shock. Most depth charges use high explosives with a fuze set to deto ...

attacks, trying to force him to surface where his ship is more vulnerable. In the end, von Stolberg takes advantage of Murrell's predictable pattern of attacks and succeeds in

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

ing the ''Haynes''. Although the ''Haynes'' is fatally wounded, it is still battle capable, and Murrell orders his men to set fires on the deck to make the damage look worse than it actually is, then to abandon ship; he retains only a skeleton crew to man the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

, engine room, and one of his ship's guns. He orders his gun crew to fire at the first opportunity at the U-boat's stern to immobilize it, and then at its

deck gun A deck gun is a type of naval artillery mounted on the deck of a submarine. Most submarine deck guns were open, with or without a shield; however, a few larger submarines placed these guns in a turret. The main deck gun was a dual-purpose w ...

. As Murrell had hoped, von Stolberg falls for the gambit and surfaces to fire another torpedo to finish the ''Haynes'' off. Before he can, Murrell

rams In engineering, reliability, availability, maintainability and safety (RAMS)scuttling charges and abandon ship, putting the ''Haynes'' in further peril. Murrell, the last man aboard, is about to join his crew in the lifeboats when he spots von Stolberg standing on the conning tower of the U-boat. He refuses to abandon his injured executive officer ''

Oberleutnant zur See (''OLt zS'' or ''OLZS'' in the German Navy, ''Oblt.z.S.'' in the ''Kriegsmarine'') is traditionally the highest rank of Lieutenant in the German Navy. It is grouped as Ranks and insignia of officers of NATO Navies, OF-1 in NATO. The rank was ...

'' Heinie Schwaffer, who has been with him since "academy days". Murrell tosses a line to the submarine and rescues the pair. Schwaffer clearly is dying, but von Stolberg still will not leave his comrade behind. Lieutenant Ware returns in the

captain's gig A gig is a type of boat. It was optimised for speed under oar, but usually also fitted with a sailing rig for appropriate conditions. The type was in use by Deal boatmen in the 18th century. It first occurred as a naval ship's boat after Deal ...

with a mixed party of American and German sailors, who race up the cargo nets to save the last survivors before the tangled vessels go up together in a conflagration. Later, both crews are aboard a U.S. Navy vessel as German seamen ceremonially give Schwaffer a

burial at sea Burial at sea is the disposal of Cadaver, human remains in the ocean, normally from a ship, boat or aircraft. It is regularly performed by navies, and is done by private citizens in many countries. Burial-at-sea services are conducted at many di ...

, with the ''Haynes'' crew respectfully attending. Murrell and von Stolberg then share a moment at the stern, Murrell offering von Stolberg a cigarette as an

olive branch The olive branch, a ramus of '' Olea europaea'', is a symbol of peace. It is generally associated with the customs of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, and is connected with supplication to divine beings and persons in power. Likewise, it is f ...

. Von Stolberg, bitter about losing his ship, over losing his good friend, and about what has become of his country, says "I should have died a dozen times over, Captain. This time, it was your fault." Murrell says "Fine, next time I won't throw you the rope." Von Stolberg chides back amicably, "Oh, I think you will."

Cast

as Captain Murrell *

Curd Jürgens Curd Gustav Andreas Gottlieb Franz Jürgens (13 December 191518 June 1982) was a German-Austrian stage and film actor. He was usually billed in English-speaking films as Curt Jurgens. He was well known for playing Ernst Udet in ''Des Teufels Gener ...

as ''Kapitän zur See'' von Stolberg *

Theodore Bikel Theodore Meir Bikel ( ; May 2, 1924 – July 21, 2015) was an Austrian-American actor, singer, musician, composer, unionist, and political activist. He made his stage debut in '' Tevye the Milkman'' in Mandatory Palestine, where he lived as ...

as ''Oberleutnant zur See'' "Heinie" Schwaffer, von Stolberg's second in command *

David Hedison Albert David Hedison Jr. (May 20, 1927 – July 18, 2019) was an American film, television, and stage actor. He was known for his roles as the title character in '' The Fly'' (1958), Captain Lee Crane in the television science fiction drama '' V ...

as Lieutenant Ware, the executive officer of ''Haynes'' (as Al Hedison) *

Russell Collins Russell Collins (born Russell Henry Collins; October 11, 1897 – November 14, 1965) was an American actor whose 43-year career included hundreds of performances on stage, in feature films, and on television. Early life Born in 1897 in Indianap ...

as Doctor *

Kurt Kreuger Kurt Kreuger (July 23, 1916 – July 12, 2006) was a Swiss-reared Germany, German actor. Kreuger once was the third-most-requested male actor at 20th Century Fox. He starred with, among others, Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart. Life and career ...

as Von Holem *

Frank Albertson Francis Healey Albertson (February 2, 1909 – February 29, 1964) was an American actor who had supporting roles in films such as '' It's a Wonderful Life'' (1946) and '' Psycho'' (1960). Early life Albertson was a native of Fergus Fall ...

as Lieutenant (junior grade) Crain *

Biff Elliot Biff Elliot (born Leon Shalek; July 26, 1923 – August 15, 2012) was an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as popular detective Mike Hammer (character), Mike Hammer in the 1953 version of ''I, the Jury (1953 film), I, th ...

as Quartermaster *

Ralph Manza Ralph Manza (December 1, 1921 – January 31, 2000) was an American character actor who made over 160 appearances in American film and television shows. Early years Manza was born in San Francisco on December 1, 1921. His Italian parents wanted ...

as Lieutenant Bonelli (uncredited) *

Doug McClure Douglas Osborne McClure (May 11, 1935 – February 5, 1995) was an American actor whose career in film and television extended from the 1950s to the 1990s. He is best known for his role as the cowboy Trampas during the entire run from 1962 to 1 ...

as Ensign Merry (uncredited) *

Darryl F. Zanuck Darryl Francis Zanuck (; September 5, 1902December 22, 1979) was an American film producer and studio executive; he earlier contributed stories for films starting in the silent era. Best known as a co-founder of 20th Century Fox, he played a ...

as Chief petty officer (uncredited)

Production

Writing

The screenplay, which was adapted by Wendell Mayes, differs substantially from the original book. In the novel, the ship is British, but in the film, it is American. The screenplay's final scenes of mutual respect between the protagonists are not taken from the book. In the book, the destroyer captain takes a swing at the U-boat captain while they are in the lifeboat because the U-boat captain claims that the destroyer crewmen are his prisoners. The film also alludes to evil in man (as personified by a concept such as the "devil") being the real "enemy" ("You cut off one head and it grows another..."), the force within that drives one man against another, or even against himself. The screenplay has historical precedence. On 6 May 1944, , which was the lead ship of the same destroyer escort class portrayed in ''The Enemy Below'', actually rammed and sank a U-boat in combat before capturing many of the German crew.

Casting

The anti-Nazi U-boat captain was portrayed by actor

, who had been an actual critic of

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

in his native Germany. In 1944, after filming ''

Wiener Mädeln ''Viennese Girls'' (German: ''Wiener Mädeln'') is a 1945 historical musical film directed by Willi Forst and starring Forst, Anton Edthofer and Judith Holzmeister. The film was made by Wien-Film Wien-Film GmbH ("Vienna Film Limited") was a lar ...

'', he got into an argument with Robert Kaltenbrunner (brother of high-ranking Austrian SS official

Ernst Kaltenbrunner Ernst Kaltenbrunner (4 October 1903 – 16 October 1946) was an Austrian high-ranking SS official during the Nazi era, major perpetrator of the Holocaust and convicted war criminal. After the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in 1942, and a ...

), SS-Obersturmbannführer

Otto Skorzeny Otto Johann Anton Skorzeny (12 June 1908 – 5 July 1975) was an Austrian-born German SS-''Standartenführer'' in the ''Waffen-SS'' during World War II. During the war, he was involved in a number of operations, including the removal from power ...

, and a member of

Baldur von Schirach Baldur Benedikt von Schirach (; 9 May 1907 – 8 August 1974) was a German politician who was the leader of the Hitler Youth from 1931 to 1940. From 1940 to 1945, he was the '' Gauleiter'' (district leader) and '' Reichsstatthalter'' (Reich gov ...

's staff in a

Viennese Viennese may refer to: * Vienna, the capital of Austria * Viennese people, List of people from Vienna * Viennese German, the German dialect spoken in Vienna * Viennese classicism * Viennese coffee house, an eating establishment and part of Viennese ...

bar without knowing who they were. Jürgens was arrested and sent to a

labor camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see British and American spelling differences, spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are unfree labour, forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have ...

for the "politically unreliable" in Hungary. After a few weeks, he managed to escape and went into hiding. Jürgens became an Austrian citizen after the war. The destroyer escort USS ''Haynes'' (DE-181) was represented in the film by the , provided by the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...

. Many of the actual ship's crew appear in the film, such as the phone talkers, the gun and depth charge crews, and all of the men seen abandoning ship. The ''Whitehurst''s commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Walter Smith, played the engineering officer. He is the man seen reading comics (''

Little Orphan Annie ''Little Orphan Annie'' was a daily American comic strip created by Harold Gray and print syndication#Comic strip syndication, syndicated by the Tribune Media Services. The strip took its name from the 1885 poem "Little Orphant Annie" by James ...

'') during the lull before the action while an enlisted man is reading ''

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', sometimes shortened to ''Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', is a six-volume work by the English historian Edward Gibbon. The six volumes cover, from 98 to 1590, the peak of the Ro ...

''. The ''Whitehurst'' was sunk as a target in 1971. The real DE-181 was , a (scrapped 1974).

Filming

Despite being set in the Caribbean, filming of the open ocean scenes took place in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

near

Oahu Oahu (, , sometimes written Oahu) is the third-largest and most populated island of the Hawaiian Islands and of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital, Honolulu, is on Oahu's southeast coast. The island of Oahu and the uninhabited Northwe ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. A ship collision set and filming of the abandon ship scenes took place off of Los Angeles.

Music

The tune sung by the U-boat crew on the ocean floor between depth-charge attacks is from an 18th-century march called "Der Dessauer Marsch," known by the first line of lyrics as "''So leben wir''" ("That's how we live"). The burial hymn in the final scene is "'' Ich hatt' einen Kameraden''",

Awards and nominations

For the audio effects,

Walter Rossi Walter Rossi (July 12, 1894 – February 12, 1978) was a sound editor who won 1 Academy Award and was nominated for 2 more Academy Awards. Oscar nominations * 1957 Academy Awards-Award for ''The Enemy Below'' in the category of Best Special E ...

received the 1958

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

for Best Special Effects. The film was also awarded as the best sound-edited feature of 1957 by the

Motion Picture Sound Editors Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) is an American professional society of motion picture sound editors founded in 1953. The society's goals are to educate others about and increase the recognition of the sound and music editors, show the arti ...

Reception

Stanley Kauffmann Stanley Kauffmann (April 24, 1916 – October 9, 2013) was an American writer, editor, and critic of film and theater. Career Kauffmann started with ''The New Republic'' in 1958 and contributed film criticism to that magazine for the next 55 ye ...

of ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...

'' described ''The Enemy Below'' as a 'compact, competently written, ably acted little drama'.

In popular culture

* The 1966 ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...

'' episode "

Balance of Terror "Balance of Terror" is the fourteenth episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series ''Star Trek''. Written by Paul Schneider and directed by Vincent McEveety, it first aired on December 15, 1966. The series, ...

" is closely based on the film, with the USS ''Enterprise'' cast as the destroyer and the

Romulan The Romulans () are an extraterrestrial race in the American science fiction franchise ''Star Trek''. Their adopted home world is Romulus, and within the same star system they have settled a sister planet Remus. Their original home world, Vulcan ...

vessel, using a

cloaking device A cloaking device is a hypothetical or fictional stealth technology that can cause objects, such as spaceships or individuals, to be partially or wholly invisible to parts of the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum. Fictional cloaking devices have been ...

, as the U-boat. *

Nicholas Meyer Nicholas Meyer (born December 24, 1945) is an American screenwriter, director and author known for his best-selling novel '' The Seven-Per-Cent Solution'', and for directing the films '' Time After Time'', two of the ''Star Trek'' feature films, ...

has cited the film as an inspiration for '' Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan''. * The ''

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea ''Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea'' is a 1961 American science fiction disaster film, produced and directed by Irwin Allen, and starring Walter Pidgeon and Robert Sterling. The supporting cast includes Peter Lorre, Joan Fontaine, Barbara Eden ...

'' episode "Killers of the Deep" reused substantial amounts of footage from the film.

(then Al Hedison), who played Lieutenant Ware, the executive officer of the ''Haynes'', also played Commander Lee Crane on ''Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea''. * In the 1995 film '' Crimson Tide'', two USS ''Alabama'' officers debate about the cast of ''The Enemy Below''.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Enemy Below, The 1957 films 1957 war films American war films Films based on British novels Films directed by Dick Powell Films that won the Best Visual Effects Academy Award 20th Century Fox films CinemaScope films U-boat fiction Films about the United States Navy in World War II World War II submarine films Films with screenplays by Wendell Mayes Films scored by Leigh Harline 1950s English-language films 1950s American films English-language war films