This article is about war films associated with the naval craft. For films called "Submarine", seeSubmarine (disambiguation)."Sub film" redirects here. For films named "Sub", seeSub (disambiguation). For film subs, seesubtitles.
The cramped, equipment-filled set of a submarine film (Das Boot, 1981)
Thesubmarine film is asubgenre ofwar film in which most of the plot revolves around asubmarine below the ocean's surface. Films of this subgenre typically focus on a small but determined crew of submariners battling against enemy submarines or submarine-hunter ships, or against other problems ranging from disputes amongst the crew, threats of mutiny, life-threatening mechanical breakdowns, or the daily difficulties of living on a submarine.
The genre plays on the psychological tension of the submarine's crew and their unseen enemy, signified by a soundscape that may feature explosions, the ping ofsonar, the creaking of the submarine's hull under extreme pressure, the alarm ordering the submarine to dive, and the threatening sound signatures of a destroyer's propeller or of an approaching torpedo.
Some 150 films have been made in the submarine genre between 1910 and 2010, variously depicting submarines in relatively realistic stories about World War I, World War II or theCold War, or purely fictional and fantastic scenarios.
Submarine films have their own particularsemantics andsyntax, creating afilm genre concerned specifically withsubmarine warfare. A distinctive element in this genre is thesoundtrack, which attempts to bring home the emotional and dramatic nature of conflict under the sea. For example, in the 1981Das Boot, the sound design works together with the hours-long film format to depict lengthy pursuit withdepth charges, and as the critic Linda Maria Koldau writes,[1]
again and again, the mortal threat of the [sonar] ping, which signifies [the crew's] helpless exposure to the enemy.[1]
Koldau identifies the basic syntactic structure of the submarine genre as "outside is bad, inside is good."[1] The unseen outside means the enemy: this may be from nature, with elements such as water pressure threatening tocrush the hull,sea monsters, or underwater rocks; or human opponents. Meanwhile, the inside of the submarine represents the human warmth and trust of the crew for each other and for theircaptain, their lives bound together by the situation.[1] To this scenario can be added elements from within such asmutiny, fire, discord, or accidents including radiation leakage; and from outside such as water, terrorism, disease, and weapons, while the plot may feature sudden switches from being the hunter to being the hunted.[1]
The soundscape may depict the creaking of the hull under pressure: as Koldau observes, this is both realistic andmetaphoric, standing in for the fear and the responsibility on the shoulders of the crew.[1] Stress may further be expressed in the acoustic signature of specifically submarine threats, such as the swelling sound of an approachingdestroyer'spropeller, the soft buzz of an enemytorpedo, or the submarine's own alarm ordering an immediate dive.[1]
Another element of the soundscape less often remarked upon is simply silence, which can mean both safety (nothing is happening) and unseen danger, creating tension.[1]
This is a list ofmovies, grouped by the era in which they were made, in which a submarine plays a significant role in the storyline.[2] From 1910 to 2010, some 150 fictional films about submarines have been made.[1] Many of these are set in World War I, World War II, or the Cold War; others depict relatively "authentic" terrorist scenarios.[1]
Some movies depict historical events from actual battles or incidents, such asAbove Us the Waves, a 1955 film which depicts the true story of the BritishRoyal Navy'smidget submarines attacks on theTirpitz.[3] Other submarine movies develop a fictional plot created using more or less realistic details of naval warfare, such as the filmU-571, which tells the story of a fictional U-boat in World War II.[4]
Other submarine films from thefantasy,science fiction or occasionallyhorror film genres depict entirely fictitious events,[1] such as the various film versions ofJules Verne's novel20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
A Submarine Pirate (1915) – US heist-comedy-short directed byCharles Avery andSyd Chaplin, depicting waiter attempting to foil sea-heist of gold-filled cargo vessel by submarine[5]
Civilization (1916) – US allegorical-drama directed byReginald Barker,Thomas H. Ince,Raymond B. West, et al. depicting pacifist German Count's construction of submarine with order to sink ocean linerLusitania presumably also carrying enemy munitions; a.k.a.La cruz de la humanidad, a.k.a.Civilização
The Little American (1917) – US action-drama directed byCecil B. DeMille andJoseph Levering, depicting ship of young Americans returning to ancestral French home torpedoed by a GermanU-boat and witness to German brutality while imprisoned; a.k.a.A Pequena Americana, a.k.a.La petite américaine
On the Jump (1918) – US comedy directed byRaoul Walsh, depicting US reporter who joinsLiberty Loan campaign before he must rescue his girlfriend and stolen secret fuel formula from German agent rendezvousing with a German U-boat
Patriotism (1918) – US mystery-drama directed byRaymond B. West, depicting search in Scotland for German agent sending vital information to German U-boat fleet off the Scottish coast
Behind the Door (1919) – US action-drama directed byIrvin Willat, depicting German-American naval officer who takes revenge against the German U-boat commander who brutalized his wife after sinking his ship; a.k.a.Detrás de la puerta[6]
The False Faces (1919) – US espionage-drama directed byIrvin Willat, depicting a thief who becomes a reluctant US agent and infiltrates German U-boat to deliver vital enemy information; a.k.a.The Lone Wolf
The Isle of Conquest (1919) – US adventure-drama directed byIrvin Willat, based onArthur Hornblow novel, about a man and woman marooned on a deserted isle after their ship is sunk by a German U-boat[7]
Three Little Sew and Sews (1939) – US comedy short directed byDel Lord, depicting theThree Stooges as sailors working in a ships' tailor shop tricked into stealing a submarine by Nazi spies
49th Parallel (1941) – a U-boat is sunk in Hudson's Bay, leaving the surviving crewmen stranded in northern Canada
Submarine Alert (1943) – US thriller directed byFrank McDonald, depicting a former gangster supplying German U-boat commanders with torpedoes in South America[20]
We Dive at Dawn (1943) – UK action-drama directed byAnthony Asquith, depicting fictional submarine HMSSea Tiger on a mission to sink fictional German battleshipBrandenburg
Morning Departure (1950) – directed byRoy Ward Baker. A British film about a crew aboard a disabled submarine during a rescue operation.
Mystery Submarine (1950) – directed byDouglas Sirk, depicting a mission to destroy a U-boat off the coast of South America; a.k.a.Phantom Submarine[22]
Submarine Command (1951) – US drama directed byJohn Farrow, depicting a US submarine commander forced to confront the consequences of sudden high-sea submersion while the crew remain outside the submarine[24]
Torpedo Alley (1953) – US drama directed byLew Landers, depicting a US Navy pilot rescued at sea by submarine before applying for submarine duty; a.k.a.Down Periscope[25]
Haie und kleine Fische (1957) – Four young German naval cadets begin their military service in 1940; only one of them will survive - Based on thenovel of the same name
Sea Wife (1957) – US action-drama directed byBob McNaught and starringRichard Burton andJoan Collins, depicting a cargo ship dangerously jammed to excess capacity with evacuees fleeing the 1942 Japanese invasion andBattle of Singapore that is sunk by a Japanese Imperial Navy submarine; one scene depicts the submarine underwater while another scene shows the submarine on the surface
The Enemy Below (1957) – US action-drama directed byDick Powell, depicting a duel between an American destroyer escort and a German U-boat in South Atlantic
Up Periscope (1959) – US drama directed byGordon Douglas, depicting a US Navyfrogman on mission aboard a submarine to be smuggled into Japanese-held island; a.k.a.Up Periscope!
Nacht fiel über Gotenhafen (Darkness Fell on Gotenhafen) (1960) – German film about the sinking of theWilhelm Gustloff by the Soviet submarineS-13. The film is about the maritime disaster, not about the submarine.
Morituri (1965) – US drama directed byBernhard Wicki, depicting German blackmailed by English to impersonateSS officer aboard ship; a.k.a.Saboteur: Code Name Morituri
真夏のオリオン (Battle under Orion) (2009) – Japanese action-drama directed byTetsuo Shinohara, depicting anImperial Japanese Navy submarine against a US destroyer near the end of the war; a.k.a.Manatsu no Orion,Last Operations Under the Orion
Die Gustloff (2008) – German television drama about the sinking of theWilhelm Gustloff. Really the story of the maritime disaster, but does feature a few scenes aboard the Soviet submarineS-13
The Sinking of the Laconia (2010) – British-German historical drama directed byUwe Janson about the sinking of the former British ocean linerRMS Laconia byU-156, which then, with three other U-boats (includingU-507) and an Italian submarine, attempted to rescue nearly 2,000 passengers
Torpedo (Also known asU-235) – a Belgian film (2019)
Morning Departure (1950) – British drama directed byRoy Ward Baker depicting the crew of a sunken British submarine trapped on the sea floor; a.k.a.Operation Disaster
Hell and High Water (1954) – American action-adventure directed bySamuel Fuller, depicting a World War II surplus Japanese submarine battling a Chinese submarine
On the Beach (1959) – fictional nuclear submarine USSSawfish (SSN-623)
Bear Island (1979) – fictional U.S. Science Year team on remote island discover a World War II submarine base to which the SS had dispatched two U-boats with holds full of gold bullion from the conquest of Europe. SS, ex-Nazis, sons of U-boat commanders, Israelis, all try to recover the enormous wealth.
Raise the Titanic (1980) – U.S. submarine confronts a Soviet warship and escorts the salvagedTitanic to port
Le voyage à travers l'impossible (An Impossible Voyage) (1904) – French adventure-comedy silent short directed byGeorges Méliès, depicting Geographic Society members on an around-the-world journey using various modes of transport including a submarine; a.k.a.The Voyage Across the Impossible, a.k.a.The Impossible Voyage; predecessor to 1907 silent film20,000 lieues sous les mers
The Three Stooges in Orbit (1962) – comedy directed byEdward Bernds, depicting theThree Stooges assisting an inventor with a new military hybrid (tank, helicopter, submarine) vehicle to aid in defense of a Martian invasion
Stingray (1964–1965) – adventures of the WASPs (the World Aquanaut Security Patrol) (Supermarionation)
Fantastic Voyage (1966) – set in the near future, an experimental submarine with special medical team aboard are reduced to microscopic size and injected into body of a brain-damaged scientist possessing military secrets in an attempt to repair his injury
Virus (1980) – Japanese-made post-apocalyptic thriller featuring an international cast aboard a British sub, trying to find a cure to a global pandemic.
The Abyss (1989) – fictional USSMontana (science fiction/fantasy)
The Land That Time Forgot (2009) – action-sci-fi directed byC. Thomas Howell, depicting a stranded World War II U-boat crew in a time void on an island inside the Bermuda Triangle
