"The Enemy Below" Script Excerpt

[Cat Brules]

This aired on Turner Classic Movies tonight.

"THE ENEMY BELOW" (1957)
Kapitan Von Stolberg: Curt Jurgens
"Heinie" Schwaffer:  Theodore Bikel  
Captain Murrell:  Robert Mitchum.

===============

"The Enemy Below" is a cat and mouse game movie of mutual stalking, of a German submarine and an American sub hunter.  But, it's more than that.

The personalities and humanity of the characters are displayed in the dialogue and their interactions.

in the scene below, the sub captain/commander drops his guard as captain as he speaks to Heinie, his old friend/subordinate.  In this dialogu, he foretells the future of computers and machines efficiently  taking the place of man, and his disillusion of the German Reich.  Most interesting, I think.  I give "The Enemy Below" very high marks.  I think Amazon may have it.  Read this one scene, below:

===============
Come in, Heini.
That Kunz annoys me.
Remind him that we do not salute at sea.
He is new, Herr Kapitan.
He will tire of it.
He is new?
Like our new Germany. A machine.
Herr Kapitan. You think we are wise
in risking that image to be a false echo?
Wise? Expedient.
Time is important, Heini,
and we would travel
too slowly underwater.
In 48 hours, we rendezvous
with Raider M.
We take the captured British code book
and we go home with it.
And this is the important thing.
Not the code book,
but because, when we have it,
we can go home.
Tastes like oil and bilge
and green mold.
Sit down, Heini.
Tastes like a U-boat.
I've been in the U-boats
too long, Heini.
There was a time when
I went to sea with a fresh heart.
That was many years ago.
Now I can only think of going home.
- You want more?
- No more, Herr Kapitn.
You think I take too much?
Just enough to sleep.
I cannot rest without it.
I think too much.
Never think, Heini.
Be a good warrior and never think.
You pay a penalty for thinking.
You cannot rest.
I taught these sons of mine
to be good warriors.
Country. Duty. Ask no question.
One is at the bottom of the sea,
and this one is a cinder
in a burned airplane.
And I'm glad.
That's the way for warriors to die.
Young, and with faith.
I have lived too long.
- We are friends, Heini?
- I have been with you since I was a cadet.
That's not what I asked you.
I do not know.
Sometimes I am afraid of you.
Many times I do not understand you.
- I am not certain we are friends.
We are friends. Believe that.
We are friends. Because we are friends,
I'll tell you something.
I am sick of this war.
It's not a good war.
You don't remember the first one.
I was a Fhnrich in the U-boats.
And how proud I was!
We went out
in those little sardine tins,
and if we submerged, we couldn't
always be sure we'd come up again.
It was a good game we played.
The captain would look through
his periscope and sight a target,
and then he did arithmetic in his head
and said "Torpedo los!!"
And you know something? Sometimes
the torpedo wouldn't even leave the tube.
And if it did, we were
most lucky to hit something.
And now I look in the periscope and
it gives me the distance and the speed.
I pass this information
to the attack table,
and the machinery turns and
the lights flash, and we get the answer.
The torpedo runs to its target,
and there's no human error in this.
They've taken human error
out of war, Heini.
They've taken the human out of war.
War was different then.
It put iron in the country's backbone,
gave them brave memory.
And even in defeat, it gave them honor.
There is no honor in this war.
The memories will be ugly,
even if we win.
And if we die,
we die without God.
You know that, Heini?
I listen to what you say, Herr Kapitn.
It's a bad war.
Its reason is twisted.
Its purpose is dark.

===============

 

 

 

[Subdeacon Joe]

Dared good movie.  I wish it had been on earlier so I could watch it.

[Cliff Hanger #3720LR]

You can watch the complete movie on You Tube.

The above scene starts at 16:28

 

The Enemy Below

[Subdeacon Joe]

Thanks! 

[MAYOBARD SASS #13025L]

I have the dvd.  It's a great film.

[Trailrider #896]

I missed it this time, but saw the one before it, starring "Duke" Wayne playing a sub commander whose first name was...Duke! Patricia Neal was the love interest. The most interesting part (to me) was the problems encountered early in the war with the torpedoes.  In the film, as was the reality of the situation, the "fish" would hit an enemy ship, but fail to explode. This occurred when the torpedo hit at a 90 degree angle, which was supposed to be the "ideal" target solution. Only when the torpedoes hit at a shallow angle would they explode. (Although not mentioned in the movie, the depth settings were wrong, causing many fish to run under the enemy ship. Also, the magnetic exploders were causing premature explosions, and were soon disabled by directive.  In the movie, Duke supervises tests at Pearl Harbor which discovered that the steel firing pins were the problem. Aluminum ones substituted worked.  In actuality, the officer tasked with discovering the problem was "Swede" Momson, who had developed the "Momson lung" breathing device for escaping from downed submarines. Although it wasn't discussed in the movie, the problem with the steel firing pin was a combination of their being too strong and the greater inertia of the heavier steel.  Once the problem was corrected, the percentage of successful hit and tonnage sunk by U.S. subs increased dramatically.

[Trigger Mike]

excellent.  Kurt , as i understand it, was a German Jew during the war

[W. D. Pickett]

Loved the movie.  First saw on television when I was 12.  Kurt has always played great parts.  I loved the ending when Robert tells Kurt maybe next time I won't throw the rope.  Kurt looks at him and says, "I think you would".

[Subdeacon Joe]

1 hour ago, W. D. Pickett said:

Loved the movie.  First saw on television when I was 12.  Kurt has always played great parts.  I loved the ending when Robert tells Kurt maybe next time I won't throw the rope.  Kurt looks at him and says, "I think you would".

 

 

Good closing line.  

Great movie, highlights the psychological games of warfare.

Interesting thing about Curd  Gustav Andreas Gottlieb Franz Jurgens - in 1944 he was sent to an internment camp in Hungary for being politically unreliable.  

[Doc McCoy, SASS #8381]

Great movie.  I've seen it several times.  Willing to see it a few more too!

[Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438]

On 5/30/2017 at 8:17 PM, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

 

Good closing line.  

Great movie, highlights the psychological games of warfare.

Interesting thing about Curd  Gustav Andreas Gottlieb Franz Jurgens - in 1944 he was sent to an internment camp in Hungary for being politically unreliable.  

 

Given the times, a real compliment to the man's ethics.

 

I had to run right to YouTube and watch the whole movie; it's one i had not seen for some time.

 

Robert Mitchum was a unique individual.  Made a great soldier/sailor, a fine cop, and a great private dick.  And a pretty decent drunken sheriff, too.

 

He despised "method actors", and insisted that he (and other actors) were not doing anything remarkable.

 

Hard core drinker; long time marijuana toker.

 

Turned down the role in The Wild Bunch that went to William Holden.  Turned down the starring role in Patton (and instead recommended George C. Scott).

 

LL