WWII Submarine Movies
 

So far I have watched:
1. Run Silent Run Deep - Awesome movie with very real feel to technical details of WWII submarines.
2. Destination Tokyo - A bit cheesy on the underwater footage but for 1943 its expected, still a good movie.


I found a list on WikiPedia ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submar...g_World_War_II


I'm interested in your reviews of the WWII series if you have seen any of these.

Both the above movies are good ones. Two others I would suggest would be Operation Pacific with John Wayne and Torpedo Run with Glen Ford. Both are great movies.

Just finished 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Disney 1958


I find it a bit odd this movie came out the same time the USS Nautilus was built/launched and in the movie there was a reference to showing what is in essence a Nuclear Core.



Things that make you say Hmm.


Anyway, I had a major issue with one of the movies' concepts.
Nemos Island Lair had a base with a Satellite Dish, yet the movie takes place in 1887. :hmmm:

Captain Nemo was far advanced with Mister Vernes visionaries :03:

The Enemy Below was always one of my favorites. A battle of wits between a Destroyer captain and a uboat captain

I agree. And for a more modern take on the sub vs destroyer genre, a must-watch is "The Bedford Incident".

Thanks man never heard of that one but will check it out!

The Bedford Incident is one of the greatest Cold War movies and while you never see the sub, only its snorkel very briefly the movie probably belongs in the submarine flick category.

Movie fact, the USN flatly refused to provide any assistance whatsoever to the producers so many of the interior and exterior scenes are filmed aboard a Royal Navy anti-submarine frigate. The helo in the opening scene is a Westland Wessex with USN markings and in one scene you see a rifle rack loaded with Lee Enfield Number 4 MK-I rifles!

Another movie fact is that Eric Portman who plays the West German liaison officer and U-Boat veteran also played a U-Boat 1WO and hardcore Nazi in the 1941 British propaganda film 49th Parallel.

A fine example of a movie that is far better than the book upon which it is based.

-C

my suggestion is to read the book, Bedford Incident. so much better than the movie. the book examines real Cold War scenarios that are as valid today as they were in 1963 when Rascovich wrote the book. the movie was a bit hammy and the ending is nowhere near as poignant as the book ending.
the same is true for RSRD. The book is very much different than the movie. different and better. both of these books are in my library.

all of the other movies mentioned are excellent WWII sub movies: Destination Tokyo, Torpedo Run, Operation Pacific, Enemy Below. Also, Das Boot which was not mentioned.
i probably watch Destination Tokyo and Enemy Below a couple of times every year. The latter because it examines the submarine vs surface fleet as direct adversaries. the only thing missing is that the sub never hunts a convoy. i watch the former because one of the themes in the movie was very similar to something my father did as a GM-striker on his first patrol. one con about Destination Tokyo is that it is a propaganda flick where they spout some untrue lines as fact.....and the fact that no US sub actually entered Tokyo Bay while on a war patrol. Torpedo Run has one of those themes also. Pure Fiction. But then again, it is motion pictures.:03:

To each his own I guess. I found The Bedford Incident book tedious, the ending ridiculous and do not think that the narrative has aged at all well. As for Run Silent Run Deep the book is certainly an excellent read and has aged remarkably well but the movie screenplay is somewhat different than the book it is almost as if they are two different stories. Perhaps it is telling that Ned Beach contributed to the film of his book but Mark Rascovich is conspicuously absent from the Richard Widmark movie.

For what it's worth, both titles also live in my library.

-C

Not a Movie but I thought I’d mention a favorite - The Silent Service TV series 1957. A must-see docu-drama made for TV host by a real American sub commander and appearances by may famous captains and crew . This is a American television series based on actual history of specific submarines in the United States Navy. 78 -30min episodes. Many actors who later became famous appear (e.g. Leonard Nimoy). Check YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHcicudhMPE

Not WWII related but a nice movie (and a French one!) that i hope you will be able to see one day: Le chant du loup (Wolf’s call)

https://www.cede.ch/covers/catalog/1...48304_1_92.jpg

I'll add it to the viewing list thanks.

after i replied with my opinion of your question, i received my October issue of US Naval Institute Proceedings which had a one page article on the Most Realistic submarine movie ever made. there were eight or so opinions expressed, all from naval veterans. i hope you enjoy it.

What is the Most Realistic Submarine Movie Ever Made?
October 2019 Proceedings Vol. 145
Admiral Robert Burke
U.S. Navy, Vice Chief of Naval Operations

Das Boot—the German version. You can feel the crew’s hopes and dreams as well as their fear and claustrophobia. You can almost smell the hydraulic fluid, diesel fuel, and sweat. You relate to the crew because they are like sailors in any navy—doing their jobs to the utmost and fighting for survival against an unforgiving adversary and sea.

Captain Bill Toti
U.S. Navy (Retired), former Hollywood technical advisor

Directors always say they want to get the “realism thing” right, but most just give it lip service. Two of my favorite movies are Run Silent, Run Deep and Das Boot, but the most realistic is the 2019 UK-French movie, The Wolf’s Call (Le Chant Du Loup). Except for a few details on acoustic reach-back, nothing recent gets as close to the acoustic “game of phones.”

Admiral James G. Foggo III
U.S. Navy, Commander Naval Forces Europe/Africa

Das Boot is the most intense submarine movie ever made. It’s a tragic story of men sent to wage the Second Battle of the Atlantic against the Allies in World War II. As the tide turned against them, they found themselves alone yet unafraid. Monotonous boredom compounded with unpredictable and acute periods of extreme danger portrays the roller coaster life of submarine sailors on both sides of the conflict.

Chief Terry A. Gardner
U.S. Navy (Retired)

The 1937 film Submarine D-1. While movies such as Das Boot are better in cinematography and detail, Submarine D-1 offers a rare glimpse and accurate depiction of the pre–World War II submarine service. It includes a scene where the crew uses escape lungs to abandon their boat trapped on the bottom, eerily predicting the loss of the USS Squalus (SS-192) two years later.

Admiral Jonathan Greenert
U.S. Navy (Retired), 30th Chief of Naval Operations

While Das Boot is regarded as the most authentic, no movie perfectly captures all aspects of submarining. In The Hunt for Red October, the actors did a credible job on routine and professional dialogue. However, ship driving in some scenes approached science fiction. Regrettably, Crimson Tide’s account of the operation of an SSBN crew, exemplified by the commanding officer taking his dog on patrol, is ridiculous.

Matt Novosad
Librarian, B.A. in maritime studies

The Hell Below from 1933 is one of the few submarine movies about World War I and shows U.S. submarines operating realistically for the period, even though they did not operate where the submarines in the movie do. It is partly based on the Zeebrugge Raid!

David J. Ayer
Navy veteran and co-screenwriter of U-571

Das Boot, directed by Wolfgang Petersen, solidly depicted the cloistered intensity and monotony of routine, the countless duties that keep a submarine in the fight, and the frank, direct culture of submariners. The commanding officer was humanely depicted, torn between the mission and the safety of his crew. And the boat itself was a character—strong yet fragile, with its own personality. By the end the audience loves the boat as much as its crew.

Senior Chief Brian Partridge
U.S. Navy

Without question Down Periscope—a culinary specialist that is borderline within fitness standards (hard to trust a skinny chef), a socially awkward yet technically astute sonar tech, one officer only concerned with making rank while the others are committed to executing the mission, a dedicated crew overcoming the poor condition of the submarine, and, of course, flag officers sitting back enjoying the “show”!

Lieutenant Commander Jeff Vandenengel
U.S. Navy

Office Space is the best submarine movie. TPS reports, multiple bosses, a defective printer, coming in on Saturday, the oversight team of “the Bobs” that are “there to help,” and the engineers are not allowed to talk to normal people. Incredibly accurate!

Lieutenant Commander Marcelo Martinez
Navy of Ecuador

The most realistic submarine movie ever made is The Wolf’s Call in which the administrative and operational organization of a submarine was very similar to a real one. And the spectral analysis of sound was interesting.

Lieutenant Eric M. Washkewicz
U.S. Navy

The opening scene in the shipyards of K-19: The Widowmaker most accurately reflects my junior officer tour on board the USS Hartford (SSN-768). The tension between ensuring the ship is fully repaired and able to go to sea and the pressure to return boats to operational status as quickly as possible was the constant challenge during maintenance availabilities.

Theodore Kuhlmeier
USNA 1974

The Enemy Below (1957) with Robert Mitchum and Curd Jurgens is the best World War II submarine movie. The scenes where Jurgens’s U-Boat was being depth charged by Mitchum’s destroyer made me glad I never had to undergo that experience.

Captain William J. Rogers Jr.
U.S Navy (Retired) and former submarine commanding officer

All submarine movies are overly dramatic and typically contain obligatory scenes such as flooding, exceeding safe depth, or failing components. While also overly dramatic in terms of the acting, Das Boot Director’s Cut most realistically depicts the struggles of undersea warfare during World War II.

Captain Matthew Carr
U.S. Navy, Permanent Military Professor, U.S. Naval Academy

The German film Das Boot is my pick for the most realistic sub movie ever. It shows how bad those poor guys had it. More cramped than a U.S. sub and the Germans lost almost 800 boats during World War II. My second pick would be the Cary Grant flick Destination Tokyo. It combined events that occurred on a variety of boats, but packed a lot of action in two-plus hours.

Lieutenant Commander Ed Martin
U.S. Navy (Retired)

Without a doubt it was Das Boot. The story is as gripping in German as it is in English.

As a former diesel submariner who endured many a bridge watch in heavy weather, I have never seen a more realistic portrayal of what that is like.

Thomas Butchers
Hands down Das Boot. All submariners can relate to the crew, from the highs to the lows. It is why I volunteered and earned my fish.

James T. Harper
Das Boot—the movie shows the unique relationships among the officers and among the crew, and between the two and with the Captain. It also conveys the tedium and rigors of patrol along with the need for constant vigilance and attention to detail—all with very accurate production detail as to the design and operation of the boat.

Sounds like I need to add Das Boot to my watch list.
Should I get the german version with subtitles or is the English version as good?