ABOVE US THE WAVES (1955, starring John Mills and John Gregson)

Belle&Blade video does it again with a terrific British war movie starring the inimitable John Mills.

While this is not a great film, it is highly watchable, with the midget submarines being an interesting variation on the blow-up-the-German-battleship story and a welcome and unique addition to the submarine movie genre.

Shot in black and white, the film (or perhaps the current available print) has a grainy quality which actually enhances the atmosphere and makes for a more realistic sense of isolation and confinement in the submarine scenes.

Three British midget submarines are deployed to blow up the German battleship Tirpitz which is anchored in a Norwegian fjord. While the plot is typical of this sort of film, people who love British war movies will welcome this difficult to find video to their libraries.

Anything with John Mills is worthwhile, as far as I’m concerned. He’s a stalwart of the war genre and brings a believability that many actors must envy. Mills himself is a small little fellow, not your typical action hero. It could well be his everyday appearance and size that made him so popular. If he could perform acts of heroism and be an effective soldier, then so could you or I.

Mills is joined by a supporting company that is perhaps less well know in this genre than in some other films. Nonetheless, John Gregson and Donald Sinden were superb actors and they bring the same sense of realism and believability to the proceedings as does Sir John.

The ending is not as spectacular as one might hope, but it does smack of reality. I’m not sure if this film is based on an actual incident during the war, but I suspect that it is.

Other reviews have found fault with some of the technical details but if you accept this film for what it is, and if you are predisposed towards enjoying the British war film genre, then you will certainly enjoy ABOVE US THE WAVES.

At the present time, Belle&Blade Video is the only distributor in North America that carries this film. To order it, or to request a catalogue, contact www.belleandblade.com. Tell Steve that Einsiders sent you!

Jon Ted Wynne