We Dive at Dawn

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We Dive at Dawn
B R I T I S H  C I N E M A

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It is packed with incident. John Mills and Eric Portman lead the way with their spot-on characters, by which I mean that despite all their quiet heroism (typically British that quietness!) they remain human and believable (unlike the Hollywood blockbusters of the same era) ~ PAUL PAGE

2ND WORLD WAR SUBMARINE MOVIE

1943, 92 MINS, B/W, UK

Looking back over 60 years on this movie, there are, inevitably, cliches aplenty of that time. Like so many other British war films, the men invariably have thick regional working class accents while the officers speak with an educated fluency that would place them at home in England's finest ruling-class establishments. In this movie, Freddie Taylor (Mills), the captain of the submarine Sea Tiger, is clever, confident, resourceful, aggressive, in control, good with his men, humorous with his peers, quick to make a decision. And it helps that he's lucky. His men are jolly tars, for the most part, competent at their jobs and always ready with a joke when things get tense.

But I don't think this is a fault. Perhaps that was the way of it then, and perhaps I am missing the point. Don't let that minor criticism put you off: at the end of the day this is a cracking good hour and a half vessel of entertainment even if the characters might be a little wet at times.

I've learned that one of the reasons it was a bit wooden in parts was due to the constraint upon film production in the war years - film stock was hard to get hold off due to the silver nitrates being needed elsewhere so it was do a take and hope for the best - none of your modern do it on beta over and over until the final take on actual film stock. It is also interesting as a wartime film for the subtle underplayed propaganda element - such as the Norwegian seamen helping them in the town etc.

I'm probaly doing the film a bit of disservice for watching it for the 4th or 5th time I found it better than I had remembered. I find Portman watchable in anything and Mills is just a legend, end of.

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4 STARS OUT OF 5

TRIVIA