A lot of fun.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

An excellent war film, almost comparable with "Run Silent, Run Deep" also about submarine activity, but this one is in colour with outstanding photography, which makes the monotonous sea scenery a never boring thing; while Robert Wise's war drama in Japan is much more intense and dramatic. Here the two captains are poised against each other fighting out a sea duel with their ships at stake, Robert Mitchum waging his destroyer and Curt Jurgens staking his u-boat. Jurgens is the better actor and plays out his part with convincing power, while Robert Mitchum is just cool as always. It's a rather slow film, only gradually the real drama is building up but rewarding in the end with a finale that no one could have expected. There are some breath-taking sequences, as when the Americans go fishing without knowing the submarine is right under them, and when the destroyer passes exactly above the u-boat, so it could have chafed its bottom.It's a classic indeed, and notable is also Theodore Bikel as Curt Jurgens' second, a great character player always appearing in great quality films. He was the original Captain Trapp on Broadway.

Not a documentary, this movie focuses more on the personal interactions between men in a war they have learned to hate...Robert Mitchum is the American Captain of a Buckley class Destroyer Escort, operating independently in the North Atlantic...Kurt Jurgens is the crusty German skipper of a submarine, who has experienced two World Wars. Both of them have felt the horror of war, the utter futility of constant conflict, but both still do their duty...The Enemy Below is a portrait of two men's inner demons, and their struggle to overcome those demons...there is a lot of action as well...Overall, the film brings technically accurate depictions of war at sea, a good bit better than many others...but it is drama, first and foremost, with the accuracies set as the backdrop...This is always well worth watching...

Dick Powell's "The Enemy Below" is one of the most intensely suspenseful military movies of all time as well as one of the best World War II movies ever made. The movie is based on a novel by D.A. Rayner who served in the British Royal Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic which is where the movie and the novel was set but the movie itself was shot in the Pacific Ocean on actual Navy ships, and instead of using British characters American characters are used for this movie. Robert Mitchum stars as Captain Murrell who is in charge of a Navy destroyer that is monitoring the Atlantic Ocean for enemy activity with a sonar radar and then Murrell and his crew soon find out that there is a German submarine underwater before the Germans find out that there is an American destroyer above them, and then an intense battle starts between two very experienced military minds of Murrell and the German captain (Curd Jurgens) which could produce deadly results, which makes the movie all the more suspenseful thanks to Wendell Mayes' expertly written script. The movie does present an anti-war sentiment on both sides which is a common feeling these days thinking that governments send soldiers to the battlefield for nothing but to die and get money out of it which is an understandable view but people like me who are neutral when it comes the situation of war only support the cause of war depending on the circumstances and our very own national security. But now enough about politics and back to the movie, I found the performances to be very effective throughout the movie especially from both Mitchum and Jurgens. As well as Powell's magnificent direction, but like most movies they don't come without their flaws because like humans being imperfect movies aren't always perfect either. The problem I had with this movie were minor because with the battle scenes I didn't find the music very fitting with the events that were unfolding throughout the movie which made the movie a little less suspenseful than it should have been. Otherwise it was a really enjoyable and very entertaining movie to watch.

"Das Boot," "Run Silent, Run Deep," "The Hunt for Red October," submarine movies are a favorite sub-genre of war movies, and, among these undersea films, "The Enemy Below" ranks with the best. Tautly directed by actor-director Dick Powell, the film depicts a strategic cat-and-mouse maneuver between the captain of a German U-boat and the captain of an American destroyer escort in the South Atlantic during World War II. The two captains engage in a war of strategy, which leads to growing mutual respect, although neither has ever laid eyes on the other. Torpedoes, depth charges, and zig-zag evasion are deployed in a deadly game of marine warfare, and the film's special effects won an Oscar, although they are unimpressive by contemporary standards. The fine screenplay by Wendell Mayes, adapted from a novel by D. A. Rayner, the crisp editing by Stuart Gilmore, and Curt Jurgens's sensitive performance as the German captain all merited Academy attention, but were overlooked.The two captains engaged in a battle of wits to the death are seasoned veterans and carry baggage from their pasts. The American captain, well played by Robert Mitchum, helmed a freighter that was torpedoed and sank with his new bride aboard; he spent days adrift on a raft and only recently returned to active duty aboard the escort ship, which has largely avoided action until now. Curt Jurgens displays considerable depth as the war weary German captain, who disillusioned by the new German order. Both captains have sounding boards nearby to verbally express their inner thoughts. Mitchum talks with the ship's doctor, played by Russell Collins, while Jurgens bares his soul to his shipboard friend, Theodore Bikel.The drama moves back and forth between the surface ship and the submarine below as each captain tracks the movements of his foe, attempts to anticipate his next move, and out maneuver him; they play a high risk game of chess with the loss of their ships and the lives of their crew if checkmated. "The Enemy Below" is engrossing throughout its relatively short running time; the tension builds both above and below the surface; suspense mounts, and viewers will be drawn into the drama until the end. For fans of submarine films and of Robert Mitchum, "The Enemy Below" is essential viewing, and all viewers will likely come away with a new appreciation of the talents of Curt Jurgens.