Corvette K-225

Though this takes place on a warship, it bears resemblance to WB's Action in the North Atlantic also of 1943 which is set on a merchant ship. Randolph Scott is the sheriff uh captain of the named ship,among the crew is a young Robert Mitchum. Mr. Scott delivers but not until the postwar period will he develop in my mind the seriousness that saved him from the wooden Indian junk heap. The final duel between the U Boat and the corvette is exciting and (very rare in films of this era)the enemy are portrayed as formidable foes.

A pretty good not great action film if say this film and the Magnificent Seven or the Tall T came on different channels would opt for the others with a switchback to watch the ship to sub duel.

****I checked with a military buff friend of mine to be sure, but the Corvette was the Canadian name for a ship that would be classified as a destroyer escort****

I certainly agree with your assessment of the movie, but I'm going to "split a hair or two" about how a Corvette compares to other navy ships.

Actually, a Corvette was quite a bit smaller than an American Destroyer Escort. Corvettes were about 1000 tons and had one engine and screw. DEs had twin screw propulsion and were 1500 tons or more.

A Destroyer Escort was closer to what the Royal Canadian Navy called a Frigate, which was larger and had twin screws. A typical smallish convoy would have a Frigate and 4 Corvettes as its navy escort.

My dad served in the RCN doing convoy duty on HMCS Arnprior, a castle-class Corvette. He always felt that the depiction of a Corvette rolling in heavy seas as shown in the movie was spot on. The RCN joke was that "a Corvette would roll on wet grass".

I hadn't seen this movie for many years, and when I watched it again recently I was amazed at the surprising realism for a 1942 era war propaganda movie. Veteran skipper Randolph Scott is forced to put to sea in a new corvette (a very small ship) with almost no other experienced crew members, and virtually no time to train the new crew. The horrid living conditions aboard ship are realistically portrayed: the tiny ship tosses about on the ocean while water cascades over and through every part of the ship. On top of this there are also German U-boats to contend with. Of course all of this was done on sound stages and model sets, but they are amazingly realistic for the period. I am ready to watch it again!

It's one of those rare w.w.2 movies that spotlights Canada.I felt very proud watching it.There's not very many movies showing my counties contibutions during the war.Great story,great acting.A realistic telling of the battle of the atlantic.

This may be the best of the World War II era submarine warfare movies made during the war. The captain, played by the always wonderful Randolph Scott (see him in "Gung Ho") has just lost an officer on a booby-trapped German sub - and then he comes across the always beautiful and luminous Ella Raines on shore who is the resentful sister of the dead officer. Scott meanwhile has to handle her somewhat irresponsible younger brother who is a new officer on Scott's Corvette. This may not be likely in reality, but it makes for a good dramatic situation.

Some romance simmers with Scott and Raines (not too much!) before the Corvette sails. The convoy it protects and its captains from Allies all over the world is handled very well. Scott is masterful as the captain, and the battle scenes with the German U-boats are realistic and vicious. This is a gritty movie that gives a good depiction of the absolutely vital Battle of the Atlantic and the crucial role convoy escorts played in winning the war against Hitler.