Hell Below (1933)

Sorry, this movie sucks

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Filmed only 15 years after the end of WW1, "Hell Below" recounts the exploits of a US submarine (AL-14) and her crew, both at war and on shore-leave in Italy. The action sequences are outstanding, especially the sinking of the German destroyer (as recounted elsewhere, the producers actually purchased a decommissioned USN destroyer and sank it for the film) and the bomber/fighter attack on the US sub. Like most submarine movies, there is much emphasis on the claustrophobic conditions on board, the tension of being stalked by surface ships, and the fear of the crushing weight of water outside the hull. The scenes were AL-14 is trapped on the bottom, below her safe depth, as chlorine gas begins to seep out from her batteries are excellent. For a film supported by the DoN, I'm surprised that the film-makers were allowed to show submariners dying such grim, unheroic deaths (including suicide). The shore-leave scenes (and the associated love story) are not as good as the action sequences (possibly because they don't date as well) but they're not bad (a boxing match with a kangaroo not withstanding). Jimmy Durante, a major comedy star at the time, provides the comic relief with his standard 'schnozzola' shtick -- a little bit goes a long way, but the British Marine with huge buck-teeth constantly referring to him as 'the pelican' is pretty funny and the scene where he gets set up with an Italian girl with an even bigger nose is priceless (the movie is 'pre-code' - the line "I wonder if my old man ever taught here" probably would not have got by the censors a year later). The ending is pure Hollywood heroic-hokum but that doesn't detract much from an altogether excellent war movie from the inter-war period.

I say it's an action film rather than a war film because it has a little bit of everything - battle scenes, love scenes, and even some comedy thrown in here and there. It also does something unusual for an MGM film of the era - it doesn't get hammy and it doesn't come up with a contrived happy ending for all involved.Lt. Thomas Knowlton (Robert Montgomery) and Lt. Brick Walters (Robert Young) are the best of friends and also officers aboard a submarine during WWI. At the beginning of the film they get a new commanding officer - Lt. Cmdr. T.J. Toler (Walter Huston). Toler is a strictly by the book commander and seems to rub Knowlton and Walters the wrong way just a bit, though more from his very formal nature than by any unfairness in his command. Knowlton falls in love with Toler's daughter Joan (Madge Evans). The complicating factor here is that Joan is married - she tells him so upfront. This doesn't seem to bother Knowton too much until he finds out exactly why Joan let her foot slip.Conflict between Toler and Knowlton builds not only because of Knowlton's romance with Toler's married daughter, but because Knowlton is unfortunately an officer who thinks sentiment has a place on board a submarine in wartime. Comic relief is provided by long-time MGM contract comedian Jimmy Durante and Eugene Palette as two enlisted men on board the submarine. Sterling Holloway plays what at first seems like comic relief to the comic relief but ends up the centerpiece of a very nightmarish and unforgettable scene that reminds everyone that war truly is hell.Highly recommended as a good action film and one that plays to the strengths of the entire cast.

It's funny, I am diving the wreck of one of the ships they sank for the movie tomorrow. The former USS Moody, a WWI destroyer. The filming locations list Hawaii, but not California.A pretty good movie, nice tension, so-so subplots. I enjoyed it. Jimmy Durante was an interesting piece in the mix, he almost pulls you out of the plot at times, but then he meshes perfectly at others. The tension between the CO and XO worked well.Pretty intense death scenes for 1933. I thought the self sacrifice ending was a trifle predictable. Films of this time period used this device with a little too much frequency. It's sometimes tough, critiquing a film that was made that long ago. Still, overall, a nice piece of film making.

As I type these comments I'm watching a DVD of this movie that I just got from a mail-order dealer, and I'm finding that it holds up extremely well, with strong characterizations, believable situations, and well-staged action scenes.It's been a good 45 years, maybe 50, since I saw HELL BELOW, but the one scene that made an extremely deep impression on me was Sterling Holloway's death scene, which several other commenters have mentioned here. I haven't gotten to that scene yet on this viewing, but I can vouch for what other comments have said: once you see Sterling Holloway's death scene in this movie, you will absolutely never, ever forget it. Judging from how strong the film so far is holding up, I fully expect that scene to live up to the memory of it -- as unquestionably one of the greatest death scenes in movie history. The movie's worth seeing for that moment alone, but even without it, it would be a first-rate early submarine drama.