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"Action in the North Atlantic" a war time tale of 1943 shows great special effects and battle scenes that have a realistic look to them. In fact, the film which turned up on cable recently, was a total surprise. Director Lloyd Bacon showed a flair with this WWII drama about the men that operated the Merchant Marine.

We are taken to the North Atlantic where a group of ships are made to form a convoy, hoping that being so close to each other, they might be protected from attacks. Little prepared the organizers of this idea for the arrival of the infamous German submarines and planes. The action one sees is centered in the Liberty ship that is heading for the old Soviet Union. The heroic account of what the crew of that ship experienced is a tribute to the courageous men that put their lives in peril in order to get their cargo to the different destinations.

Humphrey Bogart, as Lt. Joe Rossi, makes a great appearance. He is totally believable as the man who takes over for his wounded captain and brings the ship to safety. Raymond Massey plays Capt. Jarvis, a man totally dedicated to his profession. Alan Hale, Sam Levene and Dane Clark are seen as part of the brave crew of the Liberty. Ruth Gordon and Julie Bishop are the women left behind.

The film has a great black and white photography by Ted McCord and a haunting musical score by Adolph Deutsch. The battle scenes were staged by Lloyd Bacon with an uncredited assistance from Raoul Walsh and they are amazing for what was accomplished in those days where the technology wasn't so advanced.

This film was so meaningful to me. My grandmother's first cousin, Alexander Miller MacKinnon 19, drowned during a March 1942 attack while serving in the Merchant Marine.

He was aboard the "Colabee," having just left Cuba with a load of sugar for Baltimore. 10 miles out they were hit by the German submarine U-126. 23 dead, 14 survivors. Ironically the U-126 was itself destroyed the following year with no survivors.

As a child in 1940s Buffalo all our windows were carefully covered with black-out shades each evening. I heard the adults whispering that this was in case the Germans came up the St. Lawrence to the Great Lakes but we did not really know U-Boats were operating so close to our shores.

A year earlier Alex had been assigned to the SS Santa Elisa, hauling sugar cane from Chile to New York, arriving Christmas Eve 1941. But on the return trip to Chile in January 1942 the Santa Elisa was attacked, just as she left NYC carrying crates of safety matches and barrels of highly explosive carbide crystals. She was then towed back to the Brooklyn Yard for repairs. Which is why Alex was aboard the Colabee.

After being refitted the Santa Elisa set out to carry gasoline from England to Malta as part of Churchill's 62 vessel Operation Pedestal. That August 1942 she was attacked a second time and torpedoed by Italian motorboats, the gasoline caught fire and she went up in flames off of Tunisia. (One account says no survivors; official MM record states no deaths.)

Many parts of the movie show what our Merchant Marine was really going through. Yet it wasn't until 1988 that President Reagan signed the bill conferring Veteran status on all mariners who served in WWII, guaranteeing their benefits.

Despite plenty of wartime propaganda and the usual amount of clichés and other staples of WWII action melodramas, ACTION IN THE NORTH Atlantic is given a boost by some of the best staged action scenes ever featured in a Warner Bros. movie of that era.

The realism is startling considering that special effects then included no computer engineering. The script is basically the story of U.S. Merchant Marine survivors of a battle determined to sink the ship that ruthlessly cut into their lifeboat. The climax has them getting their revenge on the Germans after a fierce battle that concludes with the Americans and their farewell ceremonies to shipmates killed during battle. Bogart is given some flag-waving lines to read and the film concludes with a commentary using FDR's voice to salute the Merchant Marines and their contribution to the war effort.

Lloyd Bacon directs with a firm, vigorous treatment of all the battle scenes and only occasionally does the film slow down when dealing with the domestic front. Julie Bishop does a nice job as Bogart's girlfriend and later wife, while Raymond Massey shares his domestic homecoming with Ruth Gordon as his wife. But the film's merits are chiefly due to the action sequences, which are by far among the best ever featured in a Bogart film.

Action is what you get here...but don't expect anything deep. Bogart fans won't be disappointed. Dane Clark plays his usual hothead role with gusto and Alan Hale is a welcome addition to the supporting cast.

This comparatively little-known film should have done for the Merchant Sailors of WWII what "The Cruel Sea" did for the image of the Royal Navy. The men who sailed the convoy ships were treated appallingly by the owners of the vessels they crewed, who indeed where quick to institute "retroactive stoppage of pay" clauses upon receiving word of a ship's being lost. They also were subject to verbal --even physical-- abuse by their own countrymen, who routinely mistook them for "Service Shirkers". "Action" is one of the few films that gives them their due.

This film is remarkable on many counts. Not only is the acting rock solid, and the story in itself a fine "sea saga", but the director has managed to avoid many potential pitfalls thrown into in his path by the War (Propaganda?) Department. The obligatory leave-taking scenes are touching, but not maudlin; the even more obligatory "speech-making" is impassioned, but never embarrassingly so. And the Enemy is portrayed as a thoroughly competent if ruthless professional, as dedicated to his own trade as the convoy Sailors are to theirs. (I for one did not find the lack of English "subtitles" a problem --I could pretty well figure out what the U-Boat skipper and his crew were up to.)

To repeat my opening comments,-- this film, though not as well-circulated as "The Cruel Sea", certainly should rank as its equal.

Well this is one movie title that's certainly not misleading. There's tons of action in this gripping WW2 movie about the Merchant Marine. I might even go so far as to say it's got the best and most realistic action sequences from any WW2 movie I've seen. I'm talking about movies made during the era not stuff made decades later with a gazillion dollar budget, of course. The story's about an American tanker crew that survives their ship being sunk by a German U-boat and spend eleven days adrift at sea before being rescued. They later return to sea on a Liberty ship leading a convoy. Once again they have to deal with the Nazis.

What's not to like? It's a WW2 movie with colorful Warner Bros. character actors Alan Hale, Dane Clark, Peter Whitney, and Sam Levene backing up Humphrey Bogart and Raymond Massey. There's only a couple of (minor) female roles, played well by Julie Bishop and Ruth Gordon. Yeah the plot's pretty basic and the characters may seem clichéd but it's all put together so well that I didn't mind. There's something to be said for using a successful formula.

The script is great with lots of funny lines and stirring speeches. Good music, both score and a nice rendition of Night and Day from a dubbed Julie Bishop. The photography is beautiful. The special effects are exceptional. The direction is terrific, especially in those spectacular action scenes. This is all the more remarkable when one considers director Lloyd Bacon didn't get to finish the picture. Bogart is great (as always) and his fans will love this one. Pretty much anyone who enjoys WW2 movies, particularly those from WB, will like this a lot. It's an emotional, exciting two hours of solid entertainment.