If you’ve seen Wolfgang Petersen’s incredible WW2 film DAS BOOT (1981), either the six-episode series or the feature length film, you will respect the photography and chlorine chocking realism of this Great War tale! The two films are even similar in structure, as we experience the sailors strident and exuberant shore leave before submerging themselves once again into their steel coffins, buried beneath brackish waters. However, Conway’s film lacks the abject nihilism of its future counterpart though it’s no less affecting and traumatic, obscuring melodrama and jingoism with the hellish verisimilitude of submarine warfare. Oh, and Jimmy Durante fights a kangaroo. Literally. No ASPCA rules and regulations in 1933!
So, it’s Hell beneath but hijinks above, as the crew fucks, drinks and fights to enjoy their lives in the moment, capturing a brief respite from the pressure of deadly fathoms and depth charges. Lt. Knowlton (Robert Montgomery) expects his next assignment will be to command his submarine AL-14 but is usurped by LCDR Toler (Walter Huston). If that isn’t bad enough, Knowlton and his childhood friend Lt. Ed Walters (Robert Young) are ordered to the evening gala to dance with the Admiral’s wives and be on their best behavior, while their crew dukes it out with Limeys and eventually marsupials. “Ptomaine” the cook (Jimmy Durante) has dreams of becoming a dentist, especially when he spies the taunting overbite of a rival. While the riotous crew enjoy themselves, both Lieutenants eventually dance with Joan (Madge Evans), a beautiful young woman, and fall for her immediately! Turns out Joan is, you guessed it, Toler’s daughter! Knowlton and Joan sneak from the party like “15-year-olds” to enjoy the town but get trapped on a Ferris Wheel during a bombing raid. Many civilians are killed but they escape back to his room where he professes love and she admits betrothal.
Lt. Knowlton is a douche, his narcissism eventually condemns at least eight sailors to awful, protracted deaths. He pronounces his love for Joan yet she seems more confused by her emotions and easily manipulated, unsure of her own moral dilemma. Her husband is a crippled aviator whom she is nursing back to health, but Knowlton could care less and plans to make her a possession. Why this conflict seems so spurious is because there is no chemistry between Robert Montgomery and Madge Evans, as he seems to bully her into a relationship. This is partially the fault of the screenplay which makes this melodrama too convenient, as it leads to the moral sacrifice that must happen to stabilize societal (and military) hierarchy. Knowlton knowingly disobeys orders twice, which leads to his being stripped of his stripes.
Legendary DP (and Jean Harlow’s husband) Harold Rosson doesn’t have access to a hand-held Arriflex camera (not invented for another 30+ years) so his claustrophobic interior shots of the action within the submarine are even more astounding. Tight framing and deep focus compositions show his craftsmanship. The technical dialogue is believable and the crew (and actors) well disciplined, as if their orders are second nature. And the violence is brutal. We see Sterling Holloway as a young recruit save the entire crew from destruction when he jumps under a rolling torpedo, then he’s forgotten behind a locked door in a room of Chlorine gas. And we get to see him slowly beg for his life and asphyxiate, his tormented face framed through the round porthole. We also get another sailor who blows his own brains out as he buckles under pressure, while another sailor berates him for filling the last few lungfulls of air with gunpowder. We also see the crew’s tiny kitten slowly expire, its tiny lungs working to the very end, and Rosson actually dollies his camera in for a close-up. Fuck! Low and high angle shots with key lighting, the grimy crew gasping for air through diesel fumes and poisonous gas, is visually suffocating. Wow. The battle scenes are confidently edited with newsreel footage and it’s often difficult to tell what is staged and what is real! There are cool miniature effects too. Of course, the film ends with a final sacrifice that keeps moral balance and military order but it’s no less heroic. Above or below, war is Hell.
Final Grade: (B)