The Enemy Below

Later, both crews are aboard a U.S. Navy vessel as German seamen ceremonially give Schwaffer a burial at sea, with the Haynes crew respectfully attending. Murrell and von Stolberg then share a moment at the stern, Murrell offering von Stolberg a cigarette as an olive branch. Von Stolberg, bitter about losing his ship, over losing his good friend, and about what has become of his country, says "I should have died a dozen times over, Captain. This time, it was your fault.". Morrell says "Fine, next time I won't throw you the rope." Von Stolberg chides back amicably, "Oh, I think you will."

Cast

• Robert Mitchum as Captain Murrell
• Curd Jürgens as Kapitän zur See von Stolberg
• Theodore Bikel as Oberleutnant zur See "Heinie" Schwaffer, von Stolberg's second in command
• David Hedison as Lieutenant Ware, the executive officer of Haynes (as Al Hedison)
• Russell Collins as Doctor
• Kurt Kreuger as Von Holem
• Frank Albertson as Lieutenant (junior grade) Crain
• Biff Elliot as Quartermaster
• Ralph Manza as Lieutenant Bonelli (uncredited)
• Doug McClure as Ensign Merry (uncredited)
• Darryl F. Zanuck as Chief petty officer (uncredited)

Production

Writing

The screenplay, which was adapted by Wendell Mayes, differs substantially from the original book. In the novel, the ship is British, but in the film, it is American. The screenplay's final scenes of mutual respect between the protagonists are not taken from the book. In the book, the destroyer captain takes a swing at the U-boat captain while they are in the lifeboat because the U-boat captain claims that the destroyer crewmen are his prisoners. The film also alludes to evil in man (as personified by a concept such as the "devil") being the real "enemy" ("You cut off one head and it grows another..."), the force within that drives one man against another, or even against himself.

The screenplay has historical precedence. On 6 May 1944, USS Buckley, which was the lead ship of the same destroyer escort class portrayed in The Enemy Below, actually rammed and sank a U-boat in combat before capturing many of the German crew.^[2]

Casting

The anti-Nazi U-boat captain was portrayed by actor

Despite being set in the South Atlantic, filming of the open ocean scenes took place in the Pacific Ocean near Oahu, Hawaii. A ship collision set and filming of the abandon ship scenes took place off of Los Angeles.

Music

The tune sung by the U-boat crew on the ocean floor between depth-charge attacks is from an 18th-century march called "Der Dessauer Marsch," known by the first line of lyrics as "So leben wir" ("That's how we live"). The burial hymn in the final scene is "Ich hatt' einen Kameraden",

Awards and nominations

For the audio effects, Walter Rossi received the 1958 Academy Award for Best Special Effects.^[6] The film was also awarded as the best sound-edited feature of 1957 by the Motion Picture Sound Editors.^[7]

Reception

Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic described The Enemy Below as a 'compact, competently written, ably acted little drama'.^{[when?][8][failed verification]}

In popular culture

• The 1966
  Balance of Terror" is closely based on the film, with the USS Enterprise cast as the destroyer and the Romulan vessel, using a cloaking device, as the U-boat.^[9]
• Nicholas Meyer has cited the film as an inspiration for The Wrath of Khan.
• The Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea episode "Killers of the Deep" reused substantial amounts of footage from the film. David Hedison (then Al Hedison), who played Lieutenant Ware, the executive officer of the Haynes, also played Commander Lee Crane on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
• In the 1995 film Crimson Tide, two USS Alabama officers debate about the cast of The Enemy Below.^[10]