The Enemy Below - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of The Enemy Below or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to The Enemy Below

[jessica]

Film debut of Dan Tana.

[bernard]

Lt. Cmdr. Walter R. Smith (I)' was captain of the USS Whitehurst, which stood in for the "USS Haynes". Publicity material from 20th Century-Fox states that Smith was a technical advisor to the production and also played the ship's Chief Engineer. However, he is not credited as such in the films credits, which state that Robert Boon played the Chief Engineer. Smith may be the character who can be seen in the movie reading the comic "Little Orphan Annie".

[morris]

A bit of trivia about the USS Buckley, lead ship of the class USS Whitehurst belonged to - On 22 April 1944, she joined hunter-killer Task Group 21.11 (TG 21.11) for a sweep of the North Atlantic and Mediterranean convoy routes. On the morning of 6 May, aircraft from the escort carrier Block Island (CVE-21) reported an enemy submarine near Buckley. She steamed toward the surfaced submarine, evading her torpedoes and gunfire, and commenced firing. At 0328 Buckley rammed the German submarine U-66 and then backed off. Shortly thereafter, the submarine struck Buckley, opening a hole in the escort vessel's starboard side. Hand-to-hand combat ensued between crew members of the two combatants on Buckley's foredeck, involving, among other weapons, coffee mugs and shell casings. The U-66 drew astern of Buckley and sank at 0341, after hand grenades were dropped down its hatch.

[elmer]

In the source novel by D.A. Rayner, the ship is a British Navy vessel called the HMS Hecate, and its commander--here named John Murrell and played by Robert Mitchum--is an English captain.

[bernice]

Darryl F. Zanuck: (at around 62 mins) The Captain calls a conference of all officers and chiefs in the wardroom. At the left rear of the wardroom there is a chief in blue clothing with a blue May West life preserver--it is Zanuck, who at the time was the head of 20th Century-Fox Pictures.

[richard]

Two endings were shot: In one, both commanders die; in the other, a third vessel rescues them. The final ending was determined by preview results. The "USS Haynes" was in actuality the USS Whitehurst, captained by Walter R. Smith, who received a "technical advisor" credit and can be seen playing the ship's chief engineer. Eva Novak can be seen in a photo as the wife of Von Stolberg.

[riley]

Though "The Enemy Below" is a story about a single destroyer against a U-Boat, in the history of World War Two naval warfare there was never a battle between a single destroyer against a submarine for a long period of time.

[manuel]

In real life, the destroyer USS Borie (DD-215) rammed U-boat U-405 and sank it. The Borie was severely damaged, could not be salvaged and sank the next day. The crew was rescued by another vessel.

[oscar]

In an interview in July 1977 with 'The New York Times', Curd Jürgens (who played the German submarine commander Capt. Von Stolberg), said: "This was an important picture for me because it was the first film after the war in which a German officer was not interpreted as a freak."

[victoria]

The American ship used in this movie was the destroyer escort USS Whitehurst (DE 634). It was sunk as a target for a new torpedo on 28 April 1971.

[albert]

This film's plot device of two enemy commanders who grew to respect one another in battle and realize only war prevented a friendship between them was also shared by Star Trek: The Original Series: Balance of Terror (1966). David Hedison, who is in this picture, also appeared in a similarly themed episode, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: Killers of the Deep (1966), which also included stock footage from this movie.

[victoria]

Eva Novak: As the wife of German submarine commander Von Stolberg (Curd Jürgens). Though Novak neither appears in the live-action of the movie itself nor is listed in the cast credits, she is seen in a photograph appearing as Mrs Stolberg.

[javier]

American film debut of German actor Curd Jürgens.

[bryan]

Upon the passing of David Hedison on July 18th, 2019 there are no survivoring stars of this classic war movie.

[aaron]

JAG: Cowboys & Cossacks (1997) used much stock footage from this film.

[jesse]

The tune sung by the U-Boat crew between the one-per-hour depth charge attacks, after the scene with the panicking torpedo man and the wrench, is from an 18th-century march called "Der Dessauer Marsch". A popular song, it's also known by the first line of lyrics: "So leben wir" (translation: "That's how we live").

[norma]

This movie's closing epilogue states: "Twentieth Century-Fox wishes to thank the Department of Defense and the United States Navy for their assistance in the production of this motion picture."

[kenneth]

The finale rescue was shot on location in the sea off of Long Beach, CA, and on the USS Alfred E. Cunningham (DD-752), an Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer. Other location filming sites included the Pacific Ocean near Oahu, HI, for scenes on the USS Whitehurst, as the USS Haynes.

[russell]

Film debut of David Hedison (credited as Al Hedison).