Above Us the Waves (1955)

The attack by British submarines on the German battleship "Tirpitz" in a Norwegian fjord during the Second World War.

Director:

Ralph Thomas

Writers:

Charles Esme Thornton Warren (book), James D. Benson (book),

Stars:

John Mills, John Gregson, Donald Sinden

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Mills	...	Cmdr. Fraser
John Gregson	...	Lt Alec Duffy
Donald Sinden	...	Lt Tom Corbett
James Robertson Justice	...	Adm. Ryder
Michael Medwin	...	Smart
James Kenney	...	Abercrombie
O.E. Hasse	...	Captain of the Tirpitz (as O. E. Hasse)
Lee Patterson	...	Cox
William Russell	...	Ramsey
Theodore Bikel	...	German Officer
Harry Towb	...	McCleery
Cyril Chamberlain	...	CPO Chubb
Tony Wager	...	George (as Anthony Wager)
Leslie Weston	...	Winley
Lyndon Brook	...	Diver Navigator, X2

Storyline

In World War II, the greatest threat to the British navy is the German battleship Tirpitz. Being anchored in a Norwegian fjord, it is impossible to attack it with any chance of success. But the navy trains a special commando to attack it, using little submarines to plant underwater explosives under it.

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Plot Keywords:

battleship | submarine | royal navy | torpedo | mission | 

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Taglines:

The amazing story of the Navy's undersea midget raiders!

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English German Swedish

Release Date:

26 October 1956 (USA)

Also Known As:

Operatie Tirpitz

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

London Independent Producers

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min 74 min (re-release)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In this movie, the name of the vessel that carried the manned human torpedo chariots was called "Ingebord" but in the real-life it was really named "Arthur".

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Goofs

The 100' Submarine Escape Training Tank in the early scenes wasn't built until 1954. Prior to this, it was a 15' tank.

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Connections

Featured in War Stories (2006)

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Soundtracks

"The Sky Boat Song"
(uncredited)
Traditional
Arranged by Arthur Benjamin

User Reviews

"Above us the Waves" is a typical British production with artisan touch, recommended to fans of naval issues and the history of World War II.

The action puts us in 1943. The staff of the Royal Navy, decided to eliminate the threat to British maritime traffic the presence of the powerful German battleship Tirpitz in a fjord on the Norwegian coast, decided to organize a secret operation with the aim of destroying the enemy ship. To do this, choose to use the submarines dwarfs Mark I, an experimental weapon to be used for the first time in this dangerous mission.

"Above us the Waves"is a British production of the 1950 that reconstructs the events surrounding the so-called Operation "Source", a daring raid by submarine on the Norwegian coast dwarfs with the aim of destroying the battleship Tirpitz, the mighty battleship Twin Bismarck. The story of the film was based on the book "Above Us the Waves" by Charles Warren, one of the participants in the real mission. Elimination of the Tirpitz, hiding since 1942 in the safe haven of its impenetrable Norwegian base, became a real obsession for the British Admiralty, determined to destroy all the dangerous coast German ship. When the air raids were futile, they decided to use the experimental pocket submarines to infiltrate the refuge protected fjord where the Tirpitz, launching from mother submarines a short distance from the coast six minis X class submarines.

It must be said that Operation "Source " resulted in a relative success, and that although it lost all the mini submarines, the bursting of two explosive charges under the waterline of the Tirpitz knocked out the German battleship for 6 months, until finally, in November 1944 the RAF finally destroyed using special bombs "Tallboy" 5 tons.

The film pays tribute to the brave crew of the British dwarf submarines, were able to successfully attack the Tirpitz. The production, which had historical and technical advice to the commander of submarines Donald Fraser, it gave realistic underwater scenes in the very successful for the time. Likewise, the material used was equal to the original that was used in W.W II, so how realistic the film is very high. Moreover, the film features the typical elements of the sub genre submarine, with moments of tension, depth charges, and a race against the clock to attack the Tirpitz. Within this genre the film offers nothing new, the truth is that in the first third of footage slows, but generally offers a good dose of underwater action, as well as reconstruct faithfully recreates the historical facts.