Action in the North Atlantic (1943)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

"Action in the North Atlantic" was never intended as anything but a home-front morale builder and needs to be viewed through that lens (as the message is laid on pretty thick, especially at the end). The film follows Massey's captain and Bogart's first mate and their crew as they survive being torpedoed in an oiler transporting fuel (for 'planes and tanks') to England and then play cat and mouse with a U-boat in a brand-new liberty ship while sailing in a convoy taking military hardware to Murmansk. Needless to say, the Germans are kitten-killers who laugh while ramming lifeboats while the Americans are a bunch of regular guys fighting for a noble cause. As always in these type of movies, someone voices anti-war sentiments and is either shut up (in this case by Bogie's fist) or, having been shown the light, signs up for a hitch. Considering the entire film was shot in studio and there is a limited amount of stock footage used, the movie is visually impressive. The scenes of the sinking submarines are particularly well done – you'd feel sorry for the submariners if they weren't Nazi kitten-killers. There are a number of scenes similar to The Enemy Below (1957) including tricking a U-boat into surfacing by pretending to be on fire (which makes more sense in this film, in which the 'burning' boat is a freighter and not a destroyer). Typical for movies of this era, the 'humour' has not aged well, especially the "brassy-dame showing up looking for her no-good husband/boyfriend" shtick. Overall: pretty good for what it is – a WW2 action film, but excellent from the perspective of understanding the role of movies in morale-building and propaganda during the second wold war. Also, it is nice to see a tribute to the 'Merchant Marine', which did as much to secure victory as did the combat branches of the Allied forces.

WHEN WE THINK of World War II era movies, we immediately are filled with of Army, Navy, Marines, Air Corps(Force) and Coast Guard. Occasionally there is one that tells a lesser known story; such as THE FIGHTING SEABEES, THE FLYING TIGERS and GOD IS MY CO-PILOT.* SUCH IS THE purpose and story told in ACTION IN THE NORTH Atlantic (Warner Brothers/1943). Up until then, no one had given proper credit nor portrayal of the United States Merchant Marine and the role that the Merchant Sailor played in our winning of World War II.WE CAN EVEN top this, for in the Ryan household, we hadn't even heard of the Merchant Marine (The United States Maritime Service). Being 'Boomers', it was our Dad, Clem Ryan (1914-74), who clued us in. Dad was a Veteran of WWII; being an enlisted man, trained as an Electrician's Mate.ONE Friday EVENING, circa 1956, when ACTION IN THE NORTH Atlantic was being shown on Channel 9, WGN in Chicago, the discussion and our disclosure and discovery of our Merchant Marine came about. It was just one of the little tid bits of Historical revelation that Dad had given to us.AS FOR THE movie, it was given the Red Carpet treatment; what with a very large cast, headed up by two of Warners top stars in Humphrey Bogart and Raymond Massey. Otthers prominent in the saga were WB regulars: Alan Hale, Dane Clark, Dick Wessel and Peter Whitney; joined by Ruth Gordon, Sam Levene, Iris Adrian, Kirk Alyn, Chick Chandler, Monte Blue, Kane Richmond and many others.AS FOR THE story, we are told of the bravery of the average sailor in time of War; with Submarine warfare's being a heavily relied on tool of Axis partners, Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. In response to the U Boat Wolf Packs' prowling and preying on shipping going to Britain, a huge convoy is organized; surely this would be the Super Convoy of all time.LEAVING NORTH America from the Canadian Province of Newfoundland, special preparation for protection by Allied Naval Forces. Furthermore, because of the circumstances, the merchant ships are equipped with anti-submarine guns and Naval Crews to operate them.WHAT THE STORY brings us is a sort of microcosm of the Free Allied Nations who were locked in the struggle to restore freedom wherever Fascism has taken it away. There is one scene when the Convoy is preparing to begin its journey across the Atlantic, we are treated to a montage of Flags of the various participating Nations; accompanied by a verbal stating of the Country's name. It was, if you will, a sort of huge maritime roll call! FROM OUR LESSONS learned in World War II and occurrences such as the fabled sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior in 1979, we have learned just how dangerous such work is ; be it in Peace or Wartime.NOTE * As for these films, we single them out as being examples of little told stories. THE FIGHTING SEABEES (Republic, 1944) is a fictionalized account of the formation of the Navy's Construction Batallion (Sea Bees = C.B.'s. Get it, Schultz?) The others, THE FLYING TIGERS (Republic, 1942) and GOD IS MY CO PILOT (Warner Brothers, 1945) both tell the story of the American volunteers who fought for China against Imperial Japan, later merged into the U.S. Air Corps.

This film was so meaningful to me. My grandmother's first cousin, Alexander Miller MacKinnon 19, drowned during a March 1942 attack while serving in the Merchant Marine.He was aboard the "Colabee," having just left Cuba with a load of sugar for Baltimore. 10 miles out they were hit by the German submarine U-126. 23 dead, 14 survivors. Ironically the U-126 was itself destroyed the following year with no survivors.As a child in 1940s Buffalo all our windows were carefully covered with black-out shades each evening. I heard the adults whispering that this was in case the Germans came up the St. Lawrence to the Great Lakes but we did not really know U-Boats were operating so close to our shores.A year earlier Alex had been assigned to the SS Santa Elisa, hauling sugar cane from Chile to New York, arriving Christmas Eve 1941. But on the return trip to Chile in January 1942 the Santa Elisa was attacked, just as she left NYC carrying crates of safety matches and barrels of highly explosive carbide crystals. She was then towed back to the Brooklyn Yard for repairs. Which is why Alex was aboard the Colabee.After being refitted the Santa Elisa set out to carry gasoline from England to Malta as part of Churchill's 62 vessel Operation Pedestal. That August 1942 she was attacked a second time and torpedoed by Italian motorboats, the gasoline caught fire and she went up in flames off of Tunisia. (One account says no survivors; official MM record states no deaths.)Many parts of the movie show what our Merchant Marine was really going through. Yet it wasn't until 1988 that President Reagan signed the bill conferring Veteran status on all mariners who served in WWII, guaranteeing their benefits.

Action in the North Atlantic is an interesting film about the US merchant marine during World War II.It chronicles the adventures of a Liberty cargo ship delivering war supplies from the US to Murmansk in the Soviet Union while evading German U-boats. Humphrey Bogart plays the second in command on the ship, the rest of the cast is made up mainly of a few fellow officers and the crew who are there for some comic relief.The production values are pretty decent with some good model work and a full size mock up of a Liberty ship as the backdrop. The tension is constant as the men face an uncertain fate on their journey across the ocean.Given this was made in 1943, the film is packed full of patriotism and propaganda but it is simply a product of its times. An interesting watch.