Saturday, June 4, 2011

DUELING MOVIES: The Enemy Below vs. The Bedford Incident




     Two of the best cat-and-mouse submarine movies were “The Enemy Below” and “The Bedford Incident”. They both feature a deadly duel between an American destroyer and an enemy submarine.


     “The Enemy Below” was released in 1957. It stars Robert Mitchum as Capt. Murrell, the new captain of the escort destroyer USS Haynes. He has recently survived a sinking by a u-boat and the crew is skeptical about his seaworthiness and his command ability. When a u-boat is picked up on sonar, Murrell becomes obsessed with tracking and destroying it. There are some shades of “Moby Dick” in the plot.

     The u-boat captain Von Stolberg (Curt Jergens) is not a fanatical Nazi (he’s the typical good German that you get in Cold War era movies). In fact, he is bitter and disillusioned (“They’ve taken the human out of war.”) Both captains are philosophical and good leaders. They are well-matched.

     The movie does not break much new ground. We get the clichéd depth chargings and torpedo dodging. At one point the sub releases oil to throw off the destroyers sonar (wait, what?) The u-boat descends to hide on the bottom, well below its maximum depth (wait, can it do that?). It springs leaks – get the wrenches! The chase is a lengthy one and very stressful, but you can’t tell it from the spiffy garb and proper grooming of both sides. Also, that is one spacious and pristine u-boat!

     The climatic showdown has the destroyer being torpedoed. Murrell lures the sub onto the surface by having mattresses set afire to give the impression the Haynes is a sitting duck. Von Stolberg takes the bait and surfaces resulting in the u-boat being rammed. In fact, the Haynes ends up on top of the sub. Both  are mortally wounded. Which of the two captains, who have grown to respect each other, will survive?

     “The Bedford Incident” was released in 1965 and is set in the Cold War. This time the duel is between the destroyer USS Bedford and a Soviet sub. The U.S. Captain Finlander (Richard Widmark) is tightly wound and chafing over a recent lack of promotion apparently for some jingoistic remarks. He considers his ship to be a hunter and a stalker. He says “there is something exciting about the hunt.” On board comes a reporter named Munsford (Sidney Poitier) who is determined to ferret out Finlander’s woodshed moment. They immediately butt heads and continue to. The ensemble includes former u-boat commander Schrepke (Eric Portman) who is an advisor from NATO. He is on our side now so he is the sanest and most stable person on board.

      Off Greenland, the Bedford detects a Soviet sub and Finlander decides to force it to the surface even though NATO orders him to back off. Finlander is a Curtis Lemay disciple – we shouldn’t be coddling those commies. He goes after the sub in spite of it being in international waters. We get a lot of control room scenes and pinging noises. Finlander gradually descends into Ahab territory. The crew is loyal to their charismatic leader, but Munsford, Schrepke, and the doctor Potter (Martin Balsam) are aghast. Finlander is one hardass SOB who is not interested in the pansies’ opinions. The tension builds until mutually assured destruction comes true.

     The movies have similarities beyond the cat-and-mouse plots. Both feature a “good German”. Both are claustrophobic. Both have a black characters (TEB has a messmate). The opponents are well-matched. They are both excellent studies in leadership – good and bad.  Interestingly, the command arcs are the opposite.  In TEB, new captain Murrell has to earn the respect of his skeptical crew.  He does that through cool, efficient decisions.  On the other hand, Finlander starts as a strict, but worshiped leader and turns into a tyrant. The acting is very good in both and both are anchored by strong performances by the American captains.  Slight edge to Widmark.

     They differ in themes. TEB is focused on the mutual respect that develops between worthy opponents. TBI is focused on the obsession of a Cold Warrior. It is also concerned with the effects of Cold War tensions and the big “what-if” – what if Mutually Assured Destruction is a flawed strategy? The movie definitely has a Dr. Strangelove (1964) feel to it. But none of the humor.

     It’s a close call, but “The Bedford Incident” is the superior movie. The themes are more engaging and suspenseful. It’s scarier because a Cold War audience would have related directly to what they were seeing. It also is less orthodox and cliché-ridden. Ironically, although it came out eight years later, “The Bedford Incident” is in black and white and “The Enemy Below” is in color. TBE actually looks better as the black and white cinematography really brings vividness to the icebergs that are frequent backdrops. Another advantage is it has Wally Cox as a radarman, not to mention a very young Donald Sutherland as a scientist that examines trash from Soviet subs.

      Watch both together like I did, they make a great doubleheader.  Watch "The Enemy Below" first, you'll see why.



10 comments:

  1. They are both on my to be watched list. I would have thought, if it was less clichéd, that I would have preferred The Enemy Below. I'm not into Clod War tales. Seems so absurd. I'd like to see them both and then see what i will think of them.

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  2. Please let me know what you think, especially about the portrayal of the German captains.

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  3. Three comments
    1. I saw the movie back around 1970.I thought at the time the decoy used to throw off the sonar was a pillenwerfer and not oil. It has been a long time so I could be wrong.
    2. In the book the ship was British and at the end of the book the survivors star fighting each other on the life rafts. Not really a kumbaya moment.
    3. The same plot including the plot device requiring the sub (spaceship) to return to a set course was used in Star Trek (TOS).

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    1. Speaking of Science Fiction cribbing, some of the helmets worn by the destroyer crew in The Enemy Below look very similar to headgear in Star Wars.

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  4. Sorry the three comments were about The Enemy Below.

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  5. Pillenwerfer? I had to look that up on Wikipedia. I love learning new things, thanks so much. It certainly sounds like what they used in the movie although I think I would have made note of such a weird sounding word.

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  7. Another comment in praise of The Enemy Below - the movie does a good job of heightening tension without extra explosions or action scenes. A scene with depth charges shows how easily a sailor can be crippled or killed in mishandling the equipment, which is an issue because the destroyer crew is relatively inexperienced. There is also a great discussion among the subordinate officers about destroyer tactics which may or may not be accurate but makes clear to the viewer that in this contest both sides have fair chance of hurting the other.

    The friendship between Von Stolberg and his loyal but seemingly dim subordinate is also very well played. I enjoyed Von Stolberg's happy reminiscing about the incredibly unreliable submarines of World War I and his musing on the cost of the war, including his own lost sons (are there any WWII movie German officers that did NOT lose their sons to war?), as well as his efforts to save his dying comrade from the abandoned sub at the end of the movie.

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  8. Both are good films, especially Bedford Incident. My only issue with Enemy Below, The Kurt Jurgens character is way to old to be a sub skipper in WWII, I believe the character makes reference to being on subs in WWI. One oft he oldest (& most sucessful) U Boat skippers in WWII, Richard Zapp was 38 & considered an "Old Man". But maybe I'm being too nitt picky, Audiences in the 50s could look around that issue.
    U

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Please fell free to comment. I would love to hear what you think and will respond.