Submarine films

Submarine films are a subgenre of war film which takes place in a submarine below the surface of the ocean. Films of this subgenre typically focus on a small but determined crew of submariners battling against enemy submarines or submarine-hunter ships, or against other problems ranging from disputes amongst the crew, threats of mutiny, or life-threatening mechanical breakdowns.

Characteristics

The danger from the extreme pressure of deep water dives and the claustrophobic, cramped submarine quarters imbues films of the subgenre with a great deal of dramatic tension. To heighten this tension these films often depict submarine commanders descending below "hull crush depth" to evade attackers. Films from this subgenre tend to feature dramatic scenes in which submarine-hunters try to destroy submarines with depth charges. A stock scene in the submarine genre film is the depiction of a grim-faced submarine crew waiting in silence as depth charges explode overhead and bolts fly out of bulkheads in the submarine (they are dead silent because sound carries extremely well underwater, and so even the sound of men talking on a submarine would be picked up by normal sonar on other ships). Modern (post-World War II) movies often add conflict between different submarines, something that would have been next to impossible with the limited sensor equipment of earlier times.

Also a typical feature in all depicted eras is the sudden switch from hunter to hunted - while stalking enemy ships or carrying deadly nuclear missiles, the submarine often becomes, within moments, the hunted victim of overwhelming attack, fleeing for its life.

While submarine films do use dramatic battle scenes, much of the dramatic tension in these movies tends to be created using other devices, such as conflict between officers, a threatened mutiny, or life-threatening problems with the diving equipment or the engines/nuclear reactor. This sets this subgenre apart from its parent genre of war films, which tend to focus more on battle scenes.

List of submarine movies

This is a list of movies, grouped by era, in which a submarine plays a significant role in the storyline. Many submarine movies are set in World War II or during Cold War, with varying degrees of fictional elements. Some movies depict historical events from actual battles or incidents, such as "Above Us the Waves", a 1955 film which depicts the true story of the British Royal Navy's midget submarines attacks on the "Tirpitz". Other submarine movies develop a fictional plot created using submarine types and tactical or technological issues that are associated with these conflicts, such as the film "U-571", which tells the story of a fictional U-boat in World War II; in some cases, these fictional submarine films may weave together some events from actual events. Other submarine films from the fantasy or science fiction film genres depict entirely fictitious events, such as the various film versions of Jules Verne's novel "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea".

pre-World War II

* "Behind the Door" 1919 — U-98
* "Hell Below" 1933 — USS "AL-14"
* "The Hunley" 1999 — CSS "Hunley"
* "Men Without Women" 1930 — a fictional USS "S-13"
* "Morgenrot" 1933
* "Submarine" 1928 — a movie by Frank Capra

World War II

* "Above Us the Waves" 1955 — Royal Navy midget submarines v. "Tirpitz"
* "Below" 2002 — a fictional USS "Tiger Shark" (horror)
* "Crash Dive" 1943 — a fictional USS "Corsair"
* "Das Boot" 1981 — U-96
* "Destination Tokyo" 1943 — a fictional USS "Copperfin"
* "The Enemy Below" 1957
* "Hellcats of the Navy" 1957 — a fictional USS "Starfish"
* "In Enemy Hands" 2004 — a fictional USS "Swordfish" and U-429; European title "U-Boat"
* "Morning Departure" 1950 — US title "Operation Disaster"
* "Operation Pacific" 1951 — a fictional USS "Thunderfish"
* "Operation Petticoat" 1959,1977 — a fictional USS "Sea Tiger"
* "Run Silent, Run Deep" 1958 — a fictional World War II USS "Nerka" (which loosely shares plot elements and the villain destroyer captain Bungo Pete with Edward L. Beach's novel, but not much of the plot).
* "Submarine Attack" 1954
* "Submarine Seahawk" 1958
* "Submarine X-1" 1969 — X class submarines
* "The Silver Fleet" 1943 British WWII about occupied Dutch submarine builder
* "Torpedo Alley" 1953
* "Torpedo Run" 1958
* "U-571" 2000 — a fictional U-571
* "Up Periscope" 1959
* "We Dive at Dawn" 1943
* "Submarine Command" 1951
* "Forty-Ninth Parallel" 1941 — features a German submarine only in the opening scenes

Cold War

* "The Atomic Submarine" 1959 — a fictional USS "Tiger Shark"
* "The Bedford Incident" 1965
* "Crimson Tide" 1995 — USS "Alabama"
* "Down Periscope" 1996 — a fictional USS "Stingray" (SS-161) (comedy)
* "The Fifth Missile" 1986 — a fictional USS "Montana"
* "Full Fathom Five" 1990 — a fictional USS "Aspen" versus the "Alpha Victor Three class submarine CCCP "Kirov"
* "Gray Lady Down" 1978 — a fictional USS "Neptune"
* "Hostile Waters" 1997 — "K-219"
* "The Hunt for Red October" 1990 — a fictional "Red October" ("Красный Октябрь"), USS "Dallas" (SSN-700)
* "Hell and High Water" 1954 — a World War II surplus Japanese submarine
* "Ice Station Zebra" 1968 — a fictional USS "Tigerfish" (SS-509) (In the novel: USS "Dolphin")
* "" 2002 — "K-19"
* "Murphy's War" 1971
* "On the Beach" 1959, 2000 — a fictional USS "Sawfish"
* "Phantom Below"
* "Phantom, the Submarine" 1999 — Korea's first nuclear submarine
* "The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming" 1966 — a fictional Soviet submarine "Спрут" (comedy)
* "Silent Service" 1995 — Japan's first nuclear powered submarine (anime)
* "The Spy Who Loved Me" — 1977 American, British and Soviet submarines
* "" 1997
* "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" 1961 — a fictional USOS "Seaview" (science fiction/fantasy)
* "Danger Beneath the Sea" 2001
* "Goldmember 2002, "(Dr. Evil's submarine-lair, shaped in Dr Evil's image, driven by his moving feet, the frontal part is shaped like Dr Evil's face with extended finger of one hand with bent arm, resting on lip, in his trademark habit - also, a vent in the upper hull visibly and audibly farts underwater as submarine travels past the film screen);" "third in the series of Austin Powers comedy spoofs"

Future or Fantastic Past

* "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" 1907, 1916, 1954, 1997, Hallmark, 1997, Village Roadshow — Jules Verne's fictional "Nautilus" (science fiction/fantasy)
* "Atragon" 1963 — the fictional Gotengo, a triphibian super sub capable of flying and digging in addition to underwater travel (anime)
* "Yellow Submarine" 1968 — (psychedelic fantasy)
* "Captain Nemo and the Underwater City" 1969 — Jules Verne's fictional "Nautilus" (science fiction/fantasy)
* "The Neptune Factor" 1973 — undersea rescue (science fiction)
* "The Return of Captain Nemo" 1978 — Jules Verne's fictional "Nautilus" (science fiction/fantasy)
* "Thundersub" 1979 — (anime)
* "The Abyss" 1989 — a fictional USS "Montana" (science fiction/fantasy)
* "" 1989 — Jules Verne's fictional "Nautilus" (anime)
* "Blue Submarine No. 6" 1998 — (anime)
* "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" 2003 — Jules Verne's fictional "Nautilus" (fantasy)
* "Submarine 707R" 2004 — (anime)
* "" 2005 — (World War 2, Science Fiction)
* "Tide-Line Blue" 2005 — (anime)
* "Super Atragon" 19??; — (anime) The fictional undersea battleship Ra, another triphibian super sub capable of flying and digging in addition to underwater travel, and also the last line of defense of the Earth against the subterranean humans who are bent on destroying human civilization.

Viral videos

* Viral videos have been created based on submarine stories, including "Run Silent, Run Deep" which was also a Hollywood film.

ee also

*List of fictional ships

External links

*cite web | title=Submarines in the Movies and TV | work=SubmarineSailor.com | url=http://submarinesailor.com/History/Trivia/MovieBoats.htm | accessdate=2006-03-01