Above Us the Waves *** (1955, John Mills, John Gregson, Donald Sinden, James Robertson Justice, Michael Medwin) – Classic Movie Review 6641

Director Ralph Thomas’s earnest and effective 1955 British World War Two wartime drama focuses on a brave band of British sailors (led by John Mills as commander Fraser, James Robertson Justice as admiral Ryder and John Gregson and Donald Sinden as lieutenants Duffy and Corbett) in midget submarines that mount an assault on a fleet of Nazi warships.

The main target is the German battleship Tirpitz, hiding anchored in a Norwegian fjord ready to attack Allied ships. But the Royal Navy trains a special commando to attack it by planting underwater explosives below it.

The action on the high seas warfare is not too hot as staged here, and the situation and dialogue are fraught with the usual clichés as presented here. However, the performances largely compensate for this, and the understated acting turns from the British worthies are suitably reined-in, terse and undramatic.

The forceful, if plain, direction from Thomas and the solid, though uninspired, writing by Robin Estridge (based on the book by Charles E T Warren and James Benson) keep it sailing along competently if not into first class. A bit more style and individualism would help to make it stand out more from the rush of post-war war movies.

The underwhelming London Independent Producers/ Rank production seems to be afflicted by cost-conscious decisions on sets and effects, but this is still a good and honourable story decently told.

John Mills reflected: ‘Those chaps stuck in little tubes had to be the bravest of all.’ He had already starred in the submarine dram We Dive at Dawn, made during the war in 1943.

Also in the cast are Michael Medwin, Lee Patterson, Lyndon Brook, Theodore Bikel, Anthony Newley, James Kenney, O E Hasse, William Russell, Harry Towb, William Franklyn, Thomas Heathcote, Anthony Wager, Leslie Weston, Guido Lorraine, Cyril Chamberlain, John Horsley, Raymond Francis, Walter Gotell, Barry Keegan and Basil Appleby.

It is shot in black and white by Ernest Steward, produced by Earl St John and William MacQuitty, scored by Arthur Benjamin and designed by George Provis.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6641

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