The Enemy Below

During World War II, the captain (Robert Mitchum) of an American destroyer matches wits with the captain (Curd Jürgens) of a German U-Boat in the south Atlantic.

The Enemy Below is a taunt thriller with top-notch performances and great atmosphere.

Robert Mitchum and Curd Jürgens are excellent as a pair of equally matched captains. Their characters are mirror images of each other, each dedicated and proficient in his job. Indeed, it’s especially refreshing that Jürgens’ character isn’t painted as a one-dimensional villain, and that this is a cat and mouse story that makes few moral judgments about who is the cat and who is the mouse.

Director Dick Powell does a great job capturing the atmosphere of both the American Destroyer and the German U-Boat. The little details, like putting Mitchum in a lifejacket, make all the difference. If Michael Mann were making films in 1957, he’d of made this.

Granted, the script does make a few slips. Such as the clichéd bit about an injured crewmember who turns out to be a watchmaker by trade, or the fact that the Germans’ first lines are all in English, but these are small slips and easily overlooked in what ends up being a very good movie.