Action in the North Atlantic

Humphrey Bogart was a full fledged star when he made this film. Other Hollywood stars not in the military at the time including John Wayne and Errol Flynn were winning the war on screen so why not Bogart. "Action In The North Atlantic" was a natural.

Bogie Plays Joe Rossi, a first mate on a Merchant Marine freighter. The ship gets blown out of the sea and rammed by a Nazi Sub. Bogie gets a new ship, the ship gets even, and delivers their cargo to their destination(Russia of all places).

All of the typical war movie stereotypes are there. Raymond Massey in a departure from his many villainous roles of that era was the father figure Captain. The Warner Brothers Stock Company were all there led by Alan Hale, Sam Levine, and Dane Clark( who for the first time in his career used this name given to him by Bogart--previously he acted under his real name Bernard Zanville).

In addition, Ruth Gordon and Julie Bishop are there for the perfunctory wife/girlfriend scenes.

The title says it all. Except for a few scenes on land most of the film takes place on board ship. Lloyd Bacon and Raoul Walsh(uncredited)make the battle scenes realistic with the guidance of Byron Haskin.

The dialogue some of which was written by John Howard Lawson came under some controversy. In the 1950s Lawson was named as one of the Hollywood 10 and was blacklisted. As relations between the US and Russia deteriorated anti communist factions pointed to this film as pro russian.

In truth this is a one of the great WWII dramas. It is a stirring tribute to the unsung heroes of the conflict, the Merchant Marines