Action in the North Atlantic
                                                                                                                             
Director: Lloyd Bacon
Year: 1943
Rating: 7.0
A well-deserved salute to the Merchant Marines during WWII. They were often overlooked but they were the life blood of the US military, of the Russians and English. They were civilians. Not part of the military, but it didn't feel that way. Nearly 800 ships were sunk and 9,500 of them lost their lives. A higher death rate than any military branch. This is the story of one group of men who served. It is as expected a bit heavy on the propaganda with even FDR piping in at the end. It focuses on a small number of the men - Raymond Massey as the Captain, Bogart as second in command and a few seamen - Alan Hale, Dane Clark, Sam Levene among them. It is directed by Lloyd Bacon in his seventh and last collaboration with Bogart and the script comes from John Howard Lawson as did Sahara. Lawson was later one of the blacklisted Hollywood Ten.



Much of it is standard WWII tropes - the men all from different parts of America ribbing and insulting each other till they have to band together. Massey and Bogart are stern when needed but kind when not. The women left behind (Ruth Gordon for Massey, Julie Bishop for Bogart). Not much here really sticks out now - we have seen that interplay in about every war film. Men bonding over fear and loneliness. But the action set pieces take the film to a higher place.



Early in the film the ship is torpedoed by a German submarine and the ensuing 20-minutes of chaos, fires breaking out, men dying, the ship breaking apart, the men jumping overboard and Massey and Bogart standing firm giving orders, the last to leave is a brilliantly edited exciting piece of film. Then on the life boat, the sub rams them and they hear them laughing as the sub slithers away. On a raft, Massey swears vengeance in a voice of an angry God or his John Brown voice.



Then to finish the film, they are on a new ship that is part of a large convoy headed to Murmansk and the convoy is attacked by a wolf pack of subs. Amazing battle of ships being hit by torpedos and fighting back. Massey gets his revenge. Nothing more satisfying than watching a Nazi sub sink. But the truly amazing part is that none of the film was actually shot on the ocean. Using back projection, models and military film to simulate reality , the action was all shot on Warner"s backlot. Another interesting aspect to give the film authenticity is the Germans all speak German with no sub-titles. Both Bogart and Massey are fine. It is pure hokum but when Bogart gives a benediction and goodbye to the dead men, it is powerful.