Reviews

I was lucky enough to stumble upon this during a week of WW2 B&W's run on TMC. Read all the other posts for a description. I'd just like to add my admiration for my dad's generation. What a fabulous film! I so envy their patriotism. Sure there were plenty of scumbags exploiting and dodging the war but this film makes me think of all those young men going of to an almost certain death. Our losses were bad, but I was surprised at the tribute paid to the Russian and Chinese servicemen (and women) whose losses were each in the multi-millions. I appreciated the performers for their skill and professionalism. The violinist seemed out of place until you see the crowd, enthralled, quiet, and admiring, politely keeping quiet, and then the applause. It made me think of how my dad's generation, without our over-bearing music industry, appreciated real classic music. Now, classic music is largely unappreciated by the masses. The comments of others on Hepburn are not deserved. As usual, people often try to judge films, attitudes, and events based on present-day ideals. Yeah, patriotism may be embarrassing and corny now, but in 1942 after some of your relatives are killed trying to stop Hitler I don't think it was out of place. Hepburns performance was one of the few of hers that I liked. I hoped she didn't have to be coaxed.

I served in the US Navy as a submariner. No one can convince me that the Soviet navy is as inept as they're portrayed here. Ex-captain has an almost fatherly regard for his men (implying that they've served together for a long time)yet in every drill and real disaster, men collide head-on, cut their hands on a chain-fall, spill fuel on the deck (conveniently forget to dispose of it which sparks a conflagration later, and largely act like oversized teenagers at sea for their first trip. The cook is always caught juggling plates of spilling food. The doctor repeatedly, comically, drops the same medicine again and again.I could go on. The captain never would have left the control room to hide in his cabin to have a hissy-fit. Their individual bravery was probably the most accurate part. Unrealistic, appalling, unbelievable, insulting to all submariners.