Action in the North Atlantic
Encyclopedia
Action in the North Atlantic is a 1943 war film
directed by Lloyd Bacon
, featuring Humphrey Bogart
and Raymond Massey
as sailors in the U.S. Merchant Marine in World War II
.
mastered by Captain Steve Jarvis (Raymond Massey) is sunk in the north Atlantic Ocean
by a German U-boat
. He and the first officer, his friend Joe Rossi (Humphrey Bogart), make it to a lifeboat along with other crewmen. When the U-boat crew start filming their plight they respond with rude gestures and are rammed. The men swim to a raft and are rescued after 11 days adrift.
During their brief liberty, Steve spends time with his wife Sarah (Ruth Gordon), while Joe meets and marries singer Pearl O'Neill (Julie Bishop). The film cuts to the union hall where merchant seamen - including the survivor's of Jervis's last ship - spend their time waiting to be assigned to a new ship. One of the crew jokes about getting a shore job, or maybe one on the Staten Island Ferry
. The others prove unamused, and shame him into signing along for another ship.
Then, it is back to sea on a new Liberty ship
, the SS Seawitch, on a convoy carrying vital war supplies
to the Russia
ns at Murmansk
.
Convoy 211 is attacked by a "wolfpack". There are losses on both sides, but the convoy commander is forced to order his ships to disperse. One persistent U-boat chases after the Seawitch, but loses contact in the night. A pair of Heinkel He 59
seaplanes
find the freighter and attack. Both are shot down, but the second crashes into the bow. Steve is shot in the leg during the battle; Joe has to take command. The U-boat sights the ship again and hits her with a torpedo
. Joe orders the men to set fires and make smoke so that it appears as if the ship is sinking. When the submarine surfaces to finish her off, Joe rams and sinks it. The Seawitch then limps into Murmansk to a warm Russian welcome.
In addition, Robert Mitchum
appeared in a one-line role.
and George Raft
initially cast in the starring roles. Technical adviser Richard Sullivan was a 23-year-old Merchant Marine cadet who survived the sinking of his ship by a U-boat. Because war restrictions did not permit filming at sea, the film was shot entirely on Warner Brothers studio sound stages and back lots. According to Bill Collins
Presents the Golden Years of Hollywood, the ships sets were built in halves on two sound stages, with the tanker sinking sequence shot first.
Director Lloyd Bacon's contract with Warner Brothers expired during production. Jack L. Warner wanted to wait until the film was finished before entering discussions about a new contract, but Bacon wasn't willing to continue without one. Warner fired him and brought in Byron Haskin
to complete filming, which ran 45 days over schedule.
According to a news item in the Hollywood Reporter on June 24, 1943, copies of Action in the North Atlantic were provided to the Merchant Marine schools for use in training when the War Shipping Administration
judged that technical and educational material in the film would "aid considerably the training program." The studio donated three prints for official use at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York
, and at cadet basic schools in San Mateo, California
, and Pass Christian, Mississippi
.
This film has a famous back-story; watching their stunt men performing a dive off a burning ship, Bogie and Massey, both a bit intoxicated (being 'off-duty'), started making bets on which stunt man was braver...one thing led to another, until the stars, themselves, made the dive.
Authentic models of German and Soviet airplanes were used in the film, and all dialogue involving non-Americans was in the native tongue of the speaker, both rarities in movies of this era.
The plot device of decoying a U-boat to surface by making the torpedoed ship appear to be sinking was repeated in the 1957 film The Enemy Below
.
War film
War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...
directed by Lloyd Bacon
Lloyd Bacon
Lloyd Francis Bacon was a screen, stage, and vaudeville actor and film director.-Life:Bacon was born in San Jose California, the son of actor Frank Bacon, later the co-author and star of the long running Broadway show 'Lightnin' , and Jennie Bacon. He was not related to actor Irving Bacon whom he...
, featuring Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
and Raymond Massey
Raymond Massey
Raymond Hart Massey was a Canadian/American actor.-Early life:Massey was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Anna , who was born in Illinois, and Chester Daniel Massey, the wealthy owner of the Massey-Ferguson Tractor Company. Massey's family could trace their ancestry back to the American...
as sailors in the U.S. Merchant Marine in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Plot
The oil tankerOil tanker
An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a merchant ship designed for the bulk transport of oil. There are two basic types of oil tankers: the crude tanker and the product tanker. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined crude oil from its point of extraction to refineries...
mastered by Captain Steve Jarvis (Raymond Massey) is sunk in the north Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
by a German U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
. He and the first officer, his friend Joe Rossi (Humphrey Bogart), make it to a lifeboat along with other crewmen. When the U-boat crew start filming their plight they respond with rude gestures and are rammed. The men swim to a raft and are rescued after 11 days adrift.
During their brief liberty, Steve spends time with his wife Sarah (Ruth Gordon), while Joe meets and marries singer Pearl O'Neill (Julie Bishop). The film cuts to the union hall where merchant seamen - including the survivor's of Jervis's last ship - spend their time waiting to be assigned to a new ship. One of the crew jokes about getting a shore job, or maybe one on the Staten Island Ferry
Staten Island Ferry
The Staten Island Ferry is a passenger ferry service operated by the New York City Department of Transportation that runs between the boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island.-Overview:...
. The others prove unamused, and shame him into signing along for another ship.
Then, it is back to sea on a new Liberty ship
Liberty ship
Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...
, the SS Seawitch, on a convoy carrying vital war supplies
Arctic convoys of World War II
The Arctic convoys of World War II travelled from the United Kingdom and North America to the northern ports of the Soviet Union—Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. There were 78 convoys between August 1941 and May 1945...
to the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
ns at Murmansk
Murmansk
Murmansk is a city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It serves as a seaport and is located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland...
.
Convoy 211 is attacked by a "wolfpack". There are losses on both sides, but the convoy commander is forced to order his ships to disperse. One persistent U-boat chases after the Seawitch, but loses contact in the night. A pair of Heinkel He 59
Heinkel He 59
|-See also:-Bibliography:* Green, William.War Planes of the Second World War: Volume Six: Floatplanes. London: Macdonald, 1962.* Green, William. Warplanes of the Third Reich. New York: Doubleday, 1972. ISBN 0-385-05782-2....
seaplanes
Floatplane
A floatplane is a type of seaplane, with slender pontoons mounted under the fuselage; only the floats of a floatplane normally come into contact with water, with the fuselage remaining above water...
find the freighter and attack. Both are shot down, but the second crashes into the bow. Steve is shot in the leg during the battle; Joe has to take command. The U-boat sights the ship again and hits her with a torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
. Joe orders the men to set fires and make smoke so that it appears as if the ship is sinking. When the submarine surfaces to finish her off, Joe rams and sinks it. The Seawitch then limps into Murmansk to a warm Russian welcome.
Cast
- Humphrey BogartHumphrey BogartHumphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
as First Officer Joe Rossi - Raymond MasseyRaymond MasseyRaymond Hart Massey was a Canadian/American actor.-Early life:Massey was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Anna , who was born in Illinois, and Chester Daniel Massey, the wealthy owner of the Massey-Ferguson Tractor Company. Massey's family could trace their ancestry back to the American...
as Captain Steve Jarvis - Alan Hale, Sr.Alan Hale, Sr.Alan Hale, Sr. was an American movie actor and director, most widely remembered for his many supporting character roles, in particular as frequent sidekick of Errol Flynn. His wife of over thirty years was Gretchen Hartman , a child actress and silent film player and mother of their three children...
as Alfred "Boats" O'Hara - Julie BishopJulie Bishop (actress)Julie Bishop was an American film and television actress. She appeared in over 80 films between 1923 and 1957....
as Pearl O'Neill - Ruth GordonRuth GordonRuth Gordon Jones , better known as Ruth Gordon, was an American actress and writer. She was perhaps best known for her film roles such as Minnie Castevet, Rosemary's overly solicitous neighbor in Rosemary's Baby, as the eccentric Maude in Harold and Maude and as the mother of Orville Boggs in the...
as Sarah Jarvis - Sam LeveneSam LeveneSam Levene was an American Broadway and film actor. He made his Broadway debut in 1927 with five lines in a play titled Wall Street, and over a span of nearly 50 years, appeared on Broadway in 37 Shows, of which 33 were the original Broadway Productions, many now considered legendary...
as "Chips" Abrams - Dane ClarkDane ClarkDane Clark was an American film actor who was known for playing, as he labeled himself, "Joe Average".-Early life:...
as Johnnie Pulaski - Peter Whitney as "Whitey" Lara
- Dick Hogan as Cadet Ezra Parker
In addition, Robert Mitchum
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...
appeared in a one-line role.
Production
Warner Brothers' working title for the film was Heroes Without Uniforms, intended to be a two-reel documentary about the Merchant Marine. As the war continued, much combat action footage became available and the project was changed to a feature film with Edward G. RobinsonEdward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
and George Raft
George Raft
George Raft was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s...
initially cast in the starring roles. Technical adviser Richard Sullivan was a 23-year-old Merchant Marine cadet who survived the sinking of his ship by a U-boat. Because war restrictions did not permit filming at sea, the film was shot entirely on Warner Brothers studio sound stages and back lots. According to Bill Collins
Bill Collins (television presenter)
William Roderick Collins OAM is an Australian film critic and television presenter.Bill Collins was born in Sutherland, Sydney and was educated at Canterbury Boys' High School and the University of Sydney...
Presents the Golden Years of Hollywood, the ships sets were built in halves on two sound stages, with the tanker sinking sequence shot first.
Director Lloyd Bacon's contract with Warner Brothers expired during production. Jack L. Warner wanted to wait until the film was finished before entering discussions about a new contract, but Bacon wasn't willing to continue without one. Warner fired him and brought in Byron Haskin
Byron Haskin
Byron Conrad Haskin was an American film and television director. He was born in Portland, Oregon.He is remembered today for directing 1953's The War of the Worlds, one of many films where he teamed with producer George Pal. In his early career, he was a special effects artist, with a number of...
to complete filming, which ran 45 days over schedule.
According to a news item in the Hollywood Reporter on June 24, 1943, copies of Action in the North Atlantic were provided to the Merchant Marine schools for use in training when the War Shipping Administration
War Shipping Administration
The War Shipping Administration was a World War II emergency war agency of the US Government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the US needed for fighting the war....
judged that technical and educational material in the film would "aid considerably the training program." The studio donated three prints for official use at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York
Kings Point, New York
Kings Point is a village and a part of Great Neck in Nassau County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2010 Census, the village population was 5,005.The Village of Kings Point is in the Town of North Hempstead...
, and at cadet basic schools in San Mateo, California
San Mateo, California
San Mateo is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of approximately 100,000 , it is one of the larger suburbs on the San Francisco Peninsula, located between Burlingame to the north, Foster City to the east, Belmont to the south,...
, and Pass Christian, Mississippi
Pass Christian, Mississippi
Pass Christian , nicknamed The Pass, is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States, along the Gulf of Mexico. It is part of the Gulfport–Biloxi, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area...
.
This film has a famous back-story; watching their stunt men performing a dive off a burning ship, Bogie and Massey, both a bit intoxicated (being 'off-duty'), started making bets on which stunt man was braver...one thing led to another, until the stars, themselves, made the dive.
Authentic models of German and Soviet airplanes were used in the film, and all dialogue involving non-Americans was in the native tongue of the speaker, both rarities in movies of this era.
The plot device of decoying a U-boat to surface by making the torpedoed ship appear to be sinking was repeated in the 1957 film The Enemy Below
The Enemy Below
The Enemy Below is a 1957 war film which tells the story of the battle between the captain of an American destroyer escort and the commander of a German U-boat during World War II. It stars Robert Mitchum, Curt Jürgens, David Hedison and Theodore Bikel. The movie was directed and produced by Dick...
.