Action in the North Atlantic

Action in the North Atlantic
Theatrical release half-sheet display poster
Directed by	Lloyd Bacon Byron Haskin (uncredited) Raoul Walsh (uncredited)[1]
Screenplay by	John Howard Lawson
Story by	Guy Gilpatric
Produced by	Jerry Wald[2]
Starring	Humphrey Bogart Raymond Massey
Cinematography	Ted D. McCord
Edited by	George Amy
Music by	Adolph Deutsch
Production company	Warner Bros. Pictures
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date	June 12, 1943 (1943-06-12) (US)
Running time	127 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$2,231,000[3]
Box office	$3,460,000[3][4][5]

Action in the North Atlantic is a 1943 American

Like other Hollywood war films made in the initial years of U.S. involvement in WWII, Action in the North Atlantic was regarded as a means of stirring patriotism and mobilizing the home front. The film tells the story of the unsung heroes in the Merchant Marine who brave attacks by German bomber planes and U-boats to deliver vital supplies to the Allies.^[6] The New York Times movie reviewer Bosley Crowther wrote, "it's a good thing to have a picture which waves the flag for the merchant marine. Those boys are going through hell-and-high-water, as 'Action in the North Atlantic' shows."^[7]

An American

During a brief interlude ashore, Steve spends time with his wife Sarah, while Joe meets and marries singer Pearl O'Neill. At the maritime union hall, the Northern Star survivors await new assignments, which turn out to be on a brand new

The Seawitch, armed with anti-aircraft guns and dual-purpose cannon manned by trained Navy gunnery personnel, embarks with a convoy carrying supplies to the Soviet port of Murmansk. However, the convoy is forced to disperse when attacked by a U-boat wolfpack. The Seawitch takes successful evasive action, hiding out at the edge of the Arctic icepack to elude a U-boat hunting her.

Unable to shake it, she plays cat and mouse, going silent to try to lose her pursuer. After the U-boat breaks off, the Seawitch lights off her boilers and heads for Murmansk. The Luftwaffe is called in to destroy the ship. German maritime patrol planes spot and attack it with bombs and machine guns. In the ensuing action, Captain Jarvis is wounded, and eight members of the crew are killed. First Officer Rossi takes over.

The same U-boat returns to try to sink the Liberty ship. The submarine hits the ship with a torpedo, but Rossi fools its captain by making smoke, setting fires on deck, and ordering an abandon ship signal be sent. This lures the captain into surfacing to finish off the wounded freighter with his deck gun. The Seawitch instead rams and sinks the U-boat.^[9]

The Seawitch continues to Murmansk, being saluted by a squadron of Soviet fighters.^[10] It is enthusiastically welcomed there by a crowd on the Russian docks, including to the surprise of the Americans, female longshoremen.

The movie concludes with an excerpt from a speech by President

• Humphrey Bogart as First Officer Joe Rossi^[12]
• Raymond Massey as Captain Steve Jarvis
• Alan Hale, Sr.
  as Alfred "Boats" O'Hara
• Julie Bishop as Pearl O'Neill
• Ruth Gordon as Sarah Jarvis
• Sam Levene as Abel "Chips" Abrams
• Dane Clark as Johnnie Pulaski
• Peter Whitney as Whitey Lara
• Dick Hogan as Cadet Ezra Parker
• Kane Richmond as Ensign Wright
• Frederick Giermann as U-boat captain (uncredited)
• President Franklin D. Roosevelt as himself (voice, uncredited)

The working title for the film was Heroes Without Uniforms. It was originally intended to be a

Lawson, a future member of the blacklisted "Hollywood Ten", wrote about his clashes with studio executives over certain aspects of the film's political content:

One of the scenes which the Warner Brothers regarded as "controversial" showed the Union Hiring Hall, indicating the service rendered by the union and the pride the men take in their organization. Even the wearing of Union buttons was a matter of concern and some soul-searching by studio officials, who finally agreed that the buttons must be visible. However, the story could not be built around the lives and feelings of the seamen, because it was necessary to give major attention to the parts played by the two leading actors.^[16][17]

Since war restrictions did not permit filming at sea, Action in the North Atlantic was shot entirely on Warner Bros. studio sound stages and back lots. The ships' sets were built in halves on two sound stages, with the burning and sinking of the oil tanker occurring on the studio's "Stage Nine".^[1] Aerial sequences were filmed with models of German and Soviet aircraft intermixed with real war combat footage.^[18] All dialogue involving non-Americans, notably between German officers, was uttered without subtitles in the speaker's native tongue, a rarity in films of that era.^[19][20]

Director Lloyd Bacon's contract with Warner Bros. expired while production was still in progress. Jack L. Warner wanted to wait until the film was finished before entering discussions about a new contract, but Bacon was not willing to continue without one. Warner fired him and brought in Byron Haskin and Raoul Walsh to complete filming, which ran 45 days over schedule.^[1][21]

In his autobiography, Raymond Massey recounted an anecdote that occurred during the shooting of the film. He and Humphrey Bogart were off-duty and somewhat intoxicated on martinis as they watched their stunt doubles performing dives off a burning ship. The two actors started betting as to which stunt man was braver, and eventually the stars themselves made the dive.^[22]

When Action in the North Atlantic premiered in New York City, more than a dozen Merchant Mariners and several hundred U.S. sailors presented Jack Warner with the Merchant Marine Victory Flag. Henry J. Kaiser, the ship-building magnate, thought the film was such a morale booster that he wanted it shown to all his employees.^[1]

In The New York Times, Bosley Crowther praised the film as a "tingling, informative picture which thoroughly lives up to its tag of "Action in the North Atlantic' ... some excellent performances help to hold the film together all the way. Raymond Massey and Humphrey Bogart are good and tough as the captain and first mate".^[7]

Less than two weeks after the film opened, The Hollywood Reporter said copies of Action in the North Atlantic were being distributed to Merchant Marine schools. The

According to Warner Bros., the film earned $2,144,000 domestically and $1,316,000 abroad.[3]

Action in the North Atlantic received an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing (Original Motion Picture Story) for Guy Gilpatric.^[23]

Warner Bros. paid compensation to journalist Helen Lawrenson after she alleged that some of the film's dialogue was plagiarized from two of her magazine articles about the Merchant Marine.^[24]

Following the film's release, The Pittsburgh Courier reported that Bogart had lobbied unsuccessfully for a black Merchant Marine captain to appear in Action in the North Atlantic. He was quoted as saying, "In the world of the theatre or any other phase of American life, the color of a man's skin should have nothing to do with his rights in a land built upon the self-evident fact that all men are created equal."^[25]

The warm portrayal in the film of America's Soviet allies became an awkward reminder during the Cold War, as TCM Programming Director Scott McGee notes:

in the postwar era of chilly American-Russian relations, parts of the film would prove to be an embarrassment to Warner Brothers, namely the climactic "tovarich" (comrade) scene, in which the heroic Bogart and his men are greeted by Russians cheering wildly. Bogart does not return in kind, prompting a crewman to ask why he remains silent. Bogart says, "I'm just thinking about the trip back." That line served a dual purpose. Indeed, the trip back home would be rough going, but it also implied that the comrade stuff is acceptable up to a certain point.^[1]

In the ensuing decades, when Action in the North Atlantic was broadcast on American television, Bogart's line was often cut out of the film.^[1]

In a one-hour Lux Radio Theatre broadcast on May 15, 1944, Raymond Massey and Julie Bishop reprised their roles while George Raft co-starred, replacing Bogart.^[14]

Notes