The Silent Enemy (1958)
Genre: War / Action
Duration: 112 minuten
Country:
United Kingdom
Directed by: William Fairchild
Stars: Dawn Addams, Michael Craig and Laurence Harvey
IMDb score:
6,6 (999)
Releasedate: 4 March 1958
The Silent Enemy plot
"Human Torpedoes vs. Battleships!"
In 1941, with the help of diving units, the Italians begin to effectively place mines under Allied ships. Explosives expert Lt. Lionel Crabbe (Laurence Harvey) arrives in Gibraltar to organize the defense of the ships, but is only given two British divers on the spot. What is even more worrying, however, is the fact that the Italians may be using a bay in neutral Spain as a base.
Actors and actresses
Lieutenant "Buster" Crabb, R.N.V.R.
Leading Seaman Knowles
Third Officer Jill Masters, W.R.N.S
The Admiral
Chief Petty Officer Thorpe
Able Seaman Morgan
Able Seaman Fraser
Ordinary Seaman Thomas
Tomolino
Conchita
Reviews & comments
Lovelyboy
-
- 4174 messages
- 3132 votes
Naturally, on Sunday I got to work on an oldie, and that turned out to be The Silent Enemy on Netflix, making it a fairly unknown war film. And given my interest in this genre, I just had to give this one a try, and it turned out to be pretty okay.
The introduction is clear, featuring the two attacked Royal Navy ships where the Italian frogmen were practically the first to carry out suicide missions in World War II, rather than the Japanese. This posed a great danger to anything British sailing in the Mediterranean, where even the Rock of Gibraltar was not safe. And so Lieutenant Crabb arrives on the scene, with his own ideas regarding bomb disposal, preventing it, and a different approach. And as is so often the case, it becomes a matter of the many owing a great deal to the few.
What is particularly amusing is the typically British tone, with plenty of English humor and a certain dry wit, where the entire military affair, including the war, is depicted primarily as an adventure—and a bit boyish, with the necessary bravery. Later on, it does get a bit grimmer with the futile fight, but this certainly isn't the heavy tone we are served nowadays. However, that is not a problem at all, as Crabb is a colorful character, well portrayed by Lawrence Harvey, Dawn Addams is also quite palatable, and the whole thing unfolds in an action-packed and spectacular manner at times, and it looks beautiful underwater too, where the inexperienced lieutenant learns the hard way.
The fact that none of it is entirely true and that Crabb wasn't in the water within 24 hours and that it took months are details, and there are a few other little things like that, but I can't attach too much importance to them, as the film is going to get a perfectly fine score as far as I'm concerned.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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