Posted on 07/18/2023 7:22:35 AM PDT by Chainmail
This is the movie that made Jack Hawkins a star, as he plays the captain of the HMS Compass Rose, a Flower-Class antisubmarine Corvette that will escort convoys across the Atlantic. The action is moving, authentic - and for the only time that I have ever seen in any movie, they fire live artillery during those sequences! Watch the Compass Rose engage a surfaced U-Boat with its 4 inch gun, manned by a really well-trained gun crew (probably a lot of them available 8 years after the end of the war) and watch the gun recoil, the smoke from the breech when it opens, and the hiss of the round as it heads downrange.
It is a quality adaptation of the Nicholas Monsarrat novel (based on some real corvettes), with a script written by Eric Ambler.
The Jack Hawkins character could be used as a training aid for new ship's captains with his professionalism, courage, and attachment to his ship and his crew.
You can use the link to find a full-length copy of the movie to watch or you can watch it on Amazon Prime if you are a subscriber.
Das Boot.
I read the book.
Chainmail, nice to hear from you.
This is a very good movie, I discovered it last year.
Jack Hawkins (Lead) is someone I have always enjoyed, and your evaluation is spot on.
I was surprised to see a very young, dashing looking Denholm Elliott (Played “Brody” in the Raiders of the Lost Ark movies!) playing the part of one of the officers.
The part that really stuck in my memory (and I hope I am remembering it correctly) was when the ship was hit and was going down, he could hear (though the old fashioned voice tubes on the bridge) the men in the engineering spaces screaming in terror as the compartments were flooding as the ship went down.
Just awful.
Ping V K Lee
Be advised, it does not have typical “Hollywood pacing”, so much of the movie has the “hurry up and wait” feeling of naval warfare. Actual battles are just punctuation, and there is no conclusive finish.
It is miles ahead of “The Enemy Below”, just 4 years later, but the latter is full of all the Hollywood action war movie events that make it more satisfying.
I liked Jack Hawkins in Land of the Pharaohs. I saw a 16mm version of that in our living room in 1960 and a full-screen version at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood in 2000.
Anyone interested in this movie should also watch Greyhound with Tom Hanks.
Several months after the U.S. entry into World War II, an inexperienced U.S. Navy commander must lead an Allied convoy being stalked by a German submarine wolf pack.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6048922/
It is an excellent book but it dwells on every conceivable horror that ever happened during the convoy wars and makes the book hard to keep reading.
That, and Monsarrat kills off Julie in a very contrived drowning at the end - prefer the movie version!
I just re-watched Das Boot last week.
Remarkable movie. Just remarkable. I have determined I need to buy the Blu Ray version.
My absolute favorite part of the movie is the very beginning, the party, the drunken bacchanal the night before they put to sea, just rings of authenticity to me. (The whole movie has the ring of authencity to it)
That, and the Fire Drill...:)
Of course, after watching it, I re-read Admiral Charles Lockwood’s excellent biography “Sink ‘Em All”, and he said something in that book that brought home (as much as a book could) just how terrible a prolonged and close depth charging must be.
He spoke of the account of one submarine that was subjected to a particularly brutal charging (I think it might have kept them down 30 hours!) where they had a depth charge go off so close aboard that a 3,000 lb. torpedo jumped a foot off its rail.
Inside that pressure vessel, the crushing sea all around, and being bounce around like that. If it made a 3,000 lb. torpedo jumped a foot, imagine what it would do to a 180 lb. man.
Snorkers
I watched that movie (Land of the Pharaohs) recently, I think on your recommendation! Thank you for that, I enjoyed it!
“Das Boot.”
Agreed.
I own the DVD and watch the German language version
with English sub titles. Drives my wife nuts
but I read fast.
I watched it last week, and watched the first third in German with no subtitles on...just to see if I could noodle out what they were saying.
Interesting...many German words and phrases were kind of understandable to my English speaking ear!
Gettysburg
I’ve always wanted to watch Greyhound but I’m not an Apple person.
Thanks for that info - I enjoy watching true war movies, mostly for historical knowledge. Jack Hawkins played Quintus Arrius in Ben Hur, another great movie. We watch that movie almost annually on Easter.
Someone on YouTube a while back did a sort of language experiment. He spoke in English but used English where every word was Germanic in origin. It was completely understandable but had a slight archaic sound to it. If I had to match it with something it would be that of Hollywood movie dialogue where they were trying to sound medieval.
Looks good - I’ll have to watch it.
Bfk
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.