Year Released: 1957
Directed by: Dick Powell
Starring: Robert Mitchum, Curd Jürgens
(Not Rated, 98 min.)
Genre: Action and Adventure, War Drama

"I have no idea what he is, what he thinks. I don't want to know the man I'm -- trying to destroy." Robert Mitchum speaking of the German Submarine Captain

This classic submarine film is right up there with Das Boot and The Hunt for Red October. Well, almost. But it doesn’t get better than this cat and mouse game between the captain of an American destroyer and his counterpart, “the enemy below” him in the German U–boat.

In fact, this film also inspired a famous Star Trek episode called “Balance of Terror,” where Captain Kirk’s USS Enterprise plays the part of the destroyer with a Romulan “cloaked “ vessel becoming the German sub. In both cases, the two captains test each other’s mettle, each gaining respect for the other as the battle between them drags on.

Based on a book written by experienced Royal Navy Commander Denys Rayner, The Enemy Below takes us into the sweat filled close quarters of a U-boat, where the wily Kapitan von Stolberg (Curd Jürgens) contends with a barrage of depth charges that wreak havoc within. Cue the adrenaline fueled rush to tighten pipes spewing gushing water like a undersea serpent on a rampage and the need for a dangerous decision to submerge to a depth not guaranteed safe.

His loyal crew says nothing, but their wary faces tell us everything.

Above him, Captain Murrell (Robert Mitchum) is having a few problems with his crew as well. They don’t trust this newly promoted merchant marine civilian too much; he is, after all, a feather trader, their snide name for non-military trading vessels.

The ship’s doctor tries to ease him into their hearts with his sympathetic tale:

Captain Murrell oughtn't to be here at all. He's as weak as a kitten. A man that gets his ship torpedoed and spends 25 days on a raft in the North Atlantic oughtn't to have to hit the ball again with only a few days in the hospital. I guess there aren't enough commanding officers to go around.

But it’s not words that do the trick. It’s Murrell’s cunning. At first, he tracks the sub from afar, mirroring their turns exactly, so initially they think the distant destroyer is merely a radar echo. When Kapitan von Stolberg finally recognizes this deceit, he is furious, calling the American a devil, one who seems to read his own mind.

But Captain Murrell is no devil, and he realizes that the submarine, a smaller vessel, has the advantage over the larger and less maneuverable destroyer above it. Usually, destroyers, like sea wolves, hunt in packs to snare a sub, but he is alone.

And like the war weary kapitan below, he, too, has a broader philosophy about war.

Doctor:
Well, in time we'll all get back to our own stuff again. The war will get swallowed up, and seem like it never happened.

Captain Murrell:
Yes, but it won't be the same as it was. We won't have that feeling of permanency that we had before. We've learned a hard truth.

Doctor:
How do you mean?

Captain Murrell:
That there's no end to misery and destruction. You cut the head off a snake, and it grows another one. You cut that one off, and you find another. You can't kill it, because it's something within ourselves. You can call it the enemy if you want to, but it's part of us; we're all men.
***

The Enemy Below aired in 1957, more than a decade after the WWII, and it differs in tone from the many war films released during and shortly after the conflict. We see the German crew as men, just as scared and vulnerable as the Americans stalking them. Both captains are admirable men, enduring the deaths of their wives and children with melancholy rather than wrath.

A special treat for those who love submarine films. Not the expected melodrama and clichéd portraits we often get in war films. But an intimate look at a battle between two crews of men caught in a war not of their own choosing.

–Kathy Borich
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Trailer

Film-Loving Foodie

What better way to usher in summer and to also celebrate our men of the sea, with not just one, but two delightful nautical cocktails – one for the destroyer and her crew, and another for the submarine men below.

Tin Can is common nickname for a destroyer, since the hull plating on this ship was so thin the sailors claimed they were made from tin cans. So Different Drummer is renaming the Sea Breeze Cocktail the Tin Can Cocktail.

Tin Can Cocktail (also known as the Sea Breeze Cocktail)

1-1/2 oz vodka
3 oz cranberry juice
1-1/2 oz grapefruit juice

Combine ingredients in a highball or double-old-fashioned glass and stir.
Garnish with a lime slice.

Cabin Cooler Cocktail (For Submariners)

1 part raspberry vodka1 part Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum
2 parts Cranberry juice
1 part Ginger ale

Combine the vodka, rum, and cranberry juice the day before the party as your drink base.

To serve: mix 4 parts base with 1 part ginger ale in a double-old-fashioned glass or a pitcher before serving.
Stir and garnish with a lime slice.

Party Swizzle.com