Above Us the Waves

OK so the script is mundane and the atmosphere is rather too pukha to be true, but I have no hesitation in recommending Above Us The Waves to all serious buffs out there. It's rather like a fanciful trip down memory lane into a bygone era that was very real to the actors but only a dream to us. The world in which public school educated Commanders strode up and down wharfs wearing immaculate stiff collars and Gieves and Hawkes tailored uniforms. The world in which a beaten enemy saluted their conquerors with trays of brandy and warm dry blankets. That's the real value of the film; it acts as a glimpse into that half forgotten world of sheer courage and decency that has long been lost in the senseless chase for mammon. When men gave their lives for honour and principal rather than offering their time for glamour and ego.

And the film has its moments of well staged tension to keep us alert. John Gregson and James Kenney give memorable performances when a mine drifts dangerously close to their surfaced sub and they must fend it off with outstretched feet. Don't listen to the detractors on this one - grab a good cup of strong cocoa and allow your dreams to drift back in time.

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

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 film about an atack on the German warship TIRPITZ a story that is well told,with tense and tragic moments.The story shows how ordinary men can perform extraordinary taskes when their country is at war.Wether the story really happened like this I do not know but once you start watching this film grips you,I would like to know what happened to the guys who are involved I hope they went on to lead fullfilling lives because they are true heroes.

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.