Above Us the Waves

This is yet another example of the fantastic films that Britain USED TO MAKE. Great acting, powerful direction and real emotion.

I saw in at the cinema a few weeks back and it really still packs a punch. I must get this one and others like the Cruel Sea on DVD.

If only we could make films like this again.

Why is it that we could make such great films 30 or 40 years back and now we have so many problems? Actually I think I know that answer to that one already.

I think that it would be interesting to remake this film but it would have to be made by a top flight director I think

I have just seen the film for the umpteenth time and of course the facts as portrayed in the film are not always a true reflection of the actual reports of the raid. Incidents that are shown as the interior of a submarine that was destroyed can be nothing other than fiction. Some of the episodes were factually correct therefore I find that the comment by mailmartinbuckley regarding the scene where Donald Sinden fends off a mine with his feet was misplaced. It was a recreation of the incident where Lt.B.C.G Place from X7 did exactly that. If he refers to bbc.co.uk/history and enters "Tirpitz" he can read the account of the raid by Dr.Eric Grove, a naval historian

I first saw this in the 1960's and revisited it some fifty years later.

Of course it is of its time. It combines a story based on fact that is compelling and courageous, with a modest budget. The special effects are clunky, the costuming erratic, and armoury dubious, but it doesn't really matter. The story is well told, and dramatic. Submarine movies are at their best underwater where the claustrophobic drama is intense, and at their worst when that leaves them with nowhere to go. Here, fortunately the climax is on the surface, and incidental gems like a passing German patrol vessel playing music loudly also take place topside.

The portrayal of toffs in charge and salt of the earth ranks grate a little now, but John Mills is a sound, reflective toff.

Modern adrenaline junkies will not be impressed, but the simple heroism and determination portrayed is as impressive now as it was then.

As I recently said about SINK THE BISMARK, UK film industry in the fifties and early sixties brought us great films, war films, I mean. DAM BUSTERS, SINK THE BISMARK, this very one, CARVE HER NAME WITH PRIDE, BATTLE OF RIO DE LA PLATA, WE DIVE AT DAWN.... Not necessarily dumb propaganda films, such a most of Russian movies or even patriotic US features. Those British films were pretty well made, with solid characterization, suspense, and excellent camera work. German enemy was also not always showed as dumb Nazis whom we could nearly laugh at. These English features were for me the best war movies before THE LONGEST DAY like huge production emerged in the sixties. The rest of "Allied"( but not German !!!) cinema war films - except some rare items such as Bob Aldrich's ATTACK - the other war films are garbage for me. Good American and British against Evil Nazis. Evil, maybe, but certainly not jerks.....This submarine war film is not at the level of DAS BOOT, from director Wolfgang Petersen, of course - no film will ever arrive at its ankle - but I highly recommend it to any war film buff.

A lot of things about this film make you think director Ralph Thomas slept his way through the job. The scene when Donald Sinden tries to push off a mine with his feet is amazingly badly done. The film also fails to give you a real sense of what the mission achieved! (It did not, as the film implies, break the back of the ship -- but did succeed in putting Tirpitz out of action for half a year; the RAF finally destroyed her a year after the midget attack.) But there are plenty of decent scenes, and some real tension. The script isn't bad, and having the Germans speak in (unsubtitled) German adds authenticity. John Mills is, as always, excellent. Above all, the film tells a true story, of primitive, cramped baby submarines, poorly insulated diving suits and icy water. And real heroism.