Enough has been said about this film in the other reviews but I would like to draw attention to two scenes that have remained with me since I saw "The Enemy Below" as a boy. When some of his crew show the signs of stress when under constant bombardment from above, the sub captain, Von Stolberg,has a Germanic drinking song played as loudly as possible through the sub's PA. He then encourages the crew to sing along. It will give the sub's position away but the captain defiantly stares upwards and hopes that his overt and seemingly reckless response will have a psychological effect on his enemy above. On hearing the music, the destroyer's green first mate tells captain Murrell, played by Robert Mitchum,that they are "having a ball down there" and that his psychological warfare was not working. Murrell smiles and shakes his head in admiration of the sub's commander and wryly remarks: "Oh, it's working all right. I almost wish it wasn't." One human being empathized with another - two enemies implicitly understood each other. The scene is worthy of the famous scene in "All Quiet on the Western Front" in which the German soldier first stabs the French soldier and, after recognizing his humanity, tries to save him from dying. After being saved by his enemy from being blown up by the sub's detonator,a despondent Von Stolberg says to Murrell that it was his "fault" that he survived by throwing him a rope. Murrell apologizes and replies that next time he won't throw him the rope. Von Stolberg sternly retorts:"I think you will." These men know each other beyond what they do in war. Each man has done his duty - his job - but they have not let the war rob them of their humanity. Even though they have tried to destroy each other, they admire each other's skill and character. There is a message of hope but it delivered by two hard-nosed actors, Mitchum and Jurgens, who don't play it for sentiment.It is a moving depiction of humanity and it lifts the film up to a higher level of thought.
Review of The Enemy Below
