Amazon.co.uk Review
In The Enemy Below Robert Mitchum and Curt Jurgens are respectively captains of a US destroyer and a German U-boat whose vessels come into conflict in the South Atlantic. Both are good men with a job to do, the script noting Jurgens' distaste for Hitler and the Nazis and engaging our sympathy with the German sailors almost as much as the Americans. Made at the height of the Cold War of the 1950s, the film delivers a liberal message of cooperation wrapped inside some spectacular action scenes and a story that builds to a tense and exciting, moving finale.
Sink the Bismarck! is a British film dating from three years later and adopts a more documentary style in recounting the race against time to track and destroy what was in 1941 the most powerful battleship then built, the Bismarck. Shot in gleaming black and white so as to make use of genuine WWII archive footage, the film is held together by the introduction of a fictional naval officer in overall command of the operation, played excellently by Kenneth More. To add some human warmth he is given a tentative romantic subplot with a WREN played by the luminous Dana Wynter. Though initially slow to gather steam, Sink the Bismarck! finally delivers an epic, thoroughly horrifying conclusion.
On the DVD: The Enemy Below and Sink the Bismarck! come as a two-disc set with multiple language and subtitle options, including English for Hard of Hearing, but no extras other than the original trailers. These are presented at 16:9 and 2.35:1. Both are rather faded, but are fine examples of an era when watching the previews didn't guarantee a migraine. Both films are anamorphically enhanced in their original 2.35:1 CinemaScope, and, bar a little grain in some shots and the inevitably inferior archive footage, the picture quality is excellent. The Enemy Below boasts sturdy three-channel sound (left, front, right) while Sink the Bismarck! is in very well mixed stereo. --Gary S Dalkin
Special Features
- Sink the Bismarck theatrical trailer
- The Enemy Below theatrical trailer
- Scene access
- Interactive menus
DVD Technical Information:
- Language: English (The Enemy Below English 4.0), French, Italian, German (for The Enemy Below only), Spanish 2.0 Stereo
- Main feature subtitles: Dutch, French, Italian, German, Spanish, English & German for the hearing impaired
- Widescreen version 16:9
- Video Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
- Region Code: 2 PAL
- Sink the Bismarck: black & white, The Enemy Below: colour
- Running time:
Sink the Bismarck: 93 minutes
The Enemy Below: 94 minutes
From the Back Cover
The story of one of World War II’s most famous sea battles is brought to the screen in this exciting, semi-documentary style movie. In the Spring of 1941, Nazi Germany’s greatest battleship, the Bismarck, scourge of Atlantic shipping, is pinned down at her anchorage in Norway. Making a break for freedom and the safety of air cover from the Luftwaffe, the great ship is chased by the Royal Navy. Eventually, after heavy casualties including the loss of HMS Hood, the Bismarck is finally trapped and sunk. Kenneth More stars as Captain Shepard – the Admiralty’s Director of Naval Operations who, embittered by the death of his wife in an air raid, is assigned to this post just as the Bismarck makes its escape. Excellent special effects make this tense, exciting sea drama one of the finest British war films ever made.
The Enemy Below:
Robert Mitchum and Curt Jurgens star in this gripping World War II drama about an American destroyer and a German U-boat stalking each other at sea. As both men try to outthink and outmanoeuvre each other, the chase becomes a deadly chess game in which any mistake can bring instant defeat and death. Winner of the 1957 Academy Award for Best Special Effects, The Enemy Below marked the directorial debut of actor Dick Powell. Powell let the public decide the ending for The Enemy Below. He filmed the movie with two endings, then let a preview audience vote for the ending they liked best. The ending he used won by a unanimous vote.
