The Atlantic Theater

Back to the movies. This review will include more than just the submarine films set in WWII because there aren't as many as were set in the Pacific. This time we get some surface action as well.

• Das Boot. (1981). Jurgen Prochnow commands a U-boat on patrol in Wolfgang Petersen's acclaimed story of the conflict between duty and survival and camped spaces. Visually, very striking.
• The Enemy Below. (1957). Robert Mitchum commands a destroyer escort hunting a particularly crafty German sub, skippered by Curt Jurgens. This is a battle of wits as much as firepower. Who will prove the more determined? The way Mitchum and Jurgens portray the respect between two warriors on opposing sides is powerful.
• U-571. (2000). Don't bother.
• Sink the Bismark! (1960). Retelling of the frantic British effort to destroy the Nazi's newest, and most powerful battleship before it can prey on vital supply lines. A nice piece of drama with a solid script, spiced up with some bits of personal tragedy, revenge, and love during wartime. Edward R. Murrow plays himself.
• Pursuit of the Graf Spee (The Battle of the River Plate). (1956). Cinematic recounting of another real battle. Three British cruisers track down the German surface raider, Graf Spee, and engage her off the coast of South America. The Brits are out-gunned but the Germans are out-numbered and out-flanked. A story of determination, cunning, honor, and political intrigue. Unfortunately, this film is hard to find outside of the UK. Ballista recalls that many years ago the local PBS affiliate ran this one during fund-raising sweeps. Now that is some good quality public broadcasting!
  

Note that American submarine operations in the Atlantic during WWII were limited - the Navy need their undersea predators to sink Japanese shipping and defend Hawaii and the West Coast much more than they needed them to patrol for German shipping. The other reality was that by 1942, the Axis sea power in Europe, aside from the U-boats had been pretty well bottled up in France and the Mediterranean. Moreover, subs of the today were not designed to hunt and kill other subs, so American subs in the Atlantic would not have been all that useful against U-boats anyway. All this is a long way of explaining why we don't have many movies about US submarines in this theater.

And yes, there is a rule somewhere that in order to play a German sub captain, an actor must have "Jurgen" somewhere in his name.

Finally, a plug for a blog on everything submarines Ballista discovered whilst preparing this post. Ultraquiet No More.