- Above Us the Waves (film)
Infobox Film
name = Above Us the Waves
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director =Ralph Thomas
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starring =John Mills
John Gregson
Donald Sinden
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released = 1955
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country = UK
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imdb_id = 0047797"Above Us the Waves" is a 1955
war film starringJohn Mills ,John Gregson ,Donald Sinden ,James Robertson Justice ,Michael Medwin ,William Franklyn ,Anthony Newley , John Horsley,Harry Towb andJames Kenney .Directed by
Ralph Thomas , the film tells the true story of theHuman torpedo andmidget submarine attacks on the Germanbattleship , "Tirpitz".The
Royal Navy is concerned about constant attacks on convoys and seeks a way of removing support from Germansubmarine s. Despite official misgivings,Commander Fraser (Mills) seeks and receives permission to plan and launch an attack on Tirpitz using miniature submarines to attach mines.The initial operation, using "chariots" (
manned torpedo es), is a failure and the crew are forced to abandon ship and land inNorway , walking to the border of neutralSweden , from where they are returned to their base inScotland .Another operation is launched using three small submarines which the crew rode inside. Two of them successfully attach their mines and then scuttle the submarines, and are picked up by the crew of Tirpitz and taken away as
POW 's. The third submarine is too badly damaged to surface and explodes, killing the crew.The film is based around the true-life attacks on the "Tirpitz", first using using
manned torpedo es ("Chariots"), and then the subsequentOperation Source , using theRoyal Navy 's midgetX class submarine s, and uses much original equipment. SeeBritish commando frogmen#1942 .The original book was written by C.E.T Warren and James Benson, who between them wrote five books in total about their experiences at war.
The score was by
Arthur Benjamin and was performed under the musical direction ofMuir Mathieson .Commander Donald Fraser, who took part in the operations (as a Lieutenant) was an advisor on the film
The events in the movie have some minor differences from the real events, e.g. the boat that carried the chariots was called "Arthur" in reality but "Ingebord" in the movie.
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