Action in the North Atlantic (1943) – full review!

Directed by Lloyd Bacon with a story by Guy Gilpatric additional dialogue provided by W.R. Burnett (Wake Island (1942)) and A.I. Bezzerides and a screenplay by John Howard Lawson (Blockade (1938)) this slightly above average war drama details the contributions of the Merchant Marines (“Heroes Without Uniform”) during World War II. Gilpatric’s Original Story was nominated for a Best Writing Oscar. This Warner Bros. propaganda film features several of its stars and goes hand in hand with studio’s many other contributions to the war effort providing a stark contrast to the anti-military “propaganda” most movie studios have been turning out since Vietnam. Humphrey Bogart Raymond Massey Alan Hale Sam Levene Dane Clark and even Ruth Gordon (who plays Massey’s wife as she did in their only other film together Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940)) among others appear.

Set during World War II Steve Jarvis (Massey) is the Captain of an oil freighter that’s transporting needed fuel to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Unfortunately the sea is crawling with German U-boats determined to sink the unarmed ship to keep it from helping the Allies. His longtime first mate Lieutenant Joe Rossi (Bogart) has enough experience to be captain of his own ship but prefers to remain a subordinate closer to the crew with no paperwork responsibilities. Their usual shipmates include Boats O’Hara (Hale) Chips Abrams (Levene) Johnnie Pulaski (Clark) Whitey Lara (Peter Whitney) and cook Caviar Jinks (J. M. Kerrigan uncredited). During this particular voyage they’ve picked up a studious new youngster Robert Parker (Dick Hogan). Soon however their ship is sunk by a German submarine and all hands must abandon ship. Several of the non-credited seaman including Kerrigan Creighton Hale & Glenn Strange die in the burning sea while Jarvis and the rest of his crew man the only lifeboat. But the U-boat surfaces and after some hostile banter between the two captains the German orders his boat to sink the American’s lifeboat. Fortunately Jarvis had expelled some rafts from the freighter before it sunk and after 11 days at sea without food or water (not really possible?) the men are rescued.

Jarvis returns to his wife while Rossi meets a bar (Irving Bacon appears uncredited as the bartender) singer Pearl (Julie Bishop) whom he marries rather hastily. Parker goes to Merchant Marine school where he becomes a cadet while the rest of the crew gathers at their union’s meeting place to wait for another ship to join. The family man Pulaski voices the things that perhaps the others are only thinking about not necessarily wanting to go out again so soon after nearly being killed. However when the opportunity presents itself all sign on again together for another mission and all hard feelings towards Pulaski are forgotten. Jarvis “retrieves” Rossi and all the men find themselves assigned to the U.S.S. Sea Witch including Cadet Parker and a regimen of other sailors assigned to operate the ship’s guns. The Sea Witch is part of a 73 ship convoy assigned the mission to transport much needed supplies (including aircraft tanks and more) to Murmansk Russia. Charles Trowbridge appears uncredited as the Rear Admiral.

Naturally the convoy runs into a wolf-pack of German U-boats. Lots of exciting action sequences follow with torpedoes launched most hitting their targets and subs sunk by Destroyers with depth charges. The Sea Witch gets separated from the convoy and must proceed to the destination without escort; their only defense are their installed guns and its Navy crew. They battle a German U-boat (perhaps even the same one that sunk the oil freighter at the beginning of the film if you can believe the coincidence) and dive bombers on their way.

*** SPOILERS ***

It should come as no surprise that the Sea Witch reaches its destination much to the delight of the Russian town and its residents. However Jarvis is injured by strafing fire from one of the dive bombers while Parker is killed by the other when it’s shot down and crashes into the Sea Witch’s bow. Rossi must then perform a crude surgery to remove the bullet in Jarvis’s leg. After having escaped the German U-boat in the fog and by turning off all power such that they were “invisible” to it the Sea Witch encounters it again before reaching port. The German U-boat commander was smart enough to determine the target destination such that it rendezvoused with Jarvis’s boat again. In any case after their ship receives a wounding torpedo Rossi (now in charge per Jarvis’s injury) orders the men to light fires on its deck to fool the U-boat captain into thinking their damage was greater such that he might surface. The commander takes the bait which along with a smoke screen he’d ordered allows Rossi to ram the submarine broadside sinking it. This same strategy was actually copied by director Dick Powell in his film The Enemy Below (1957) though Powell chose to add a bit more (having Mitchum the American Captain rescue Jurgens the German).

Purchase this DVD COLLECTION now at