'U 9 Weddigen' is one of those dead-earnest dramas that tries to make deeply meaningful statements such as 'War Is Bad', but which has nothing significant to offer.
The early scenes are set in the last years of the 19th century. Mathilde Sussin plays a German widow with two strapping sons. After her husband's death, she marries an Englishman, moves to England, and bears him one more son ... then the Englishman dies, having fulfilled his usefulness to the plotline. Years pass. All three sons follow a similar course, but in their respective homelands. In England, der mamma beams with pride as her youngest son (Fred Solm) becomes a Royal Navy officer. Back in the fatherland, the two older sons (Gerd Briese, Ernst Hofmann) become submarine officers in the Kaiser's fleet. We can see where this is heading.
By now it's 1914, and Der Mamma decides it's time for her to pay a visit to Germany and see her two older sons. So her ship sails out from Southampton. Guess what happens in the Northern Sea. Guess who the U-boat officers are. Guess who shows up to rescue Der Mamma.
This is one of those movies where you know, far in advance, how every scene is going to play out ... and then it does. Interestingly, both the British and the Germans are depicted sympathetically ... but that's the only point of interest in this movie, which beats us over the head with the irony of a war fought by (all together now) Brother Against Brother.
There are very few movies I'll rate an absolute zero, but this is one of them. The German submarine in this movie is designated U-9, but it ought to be U-"nein" as in "no!" Let this leaky vessel sink without a trace.
