Rent The Silent Enemy (1958)
3.5 of 5 from 56 ratings
1h 52min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
In 1941, Britain was sustaining enormous losses fighting a war on three fronts against an ever increasing Axis power. To add to their problems, the Italians have recently created a new form of warfare - Frogmen - an intrepid band of men who travel astride small torpedo-type vessels, and attach explosive charges to the hulls of enemy ships, below their waterline. A young Naval Lieutenant, 'Buster' Crabb (Laurence Harvey), an expert in mine and bomb disposal, is sent to Gibraltar to try and combat this new threat. Never having dived before, he sets to work to master the technique of underwater operations, and soon he and his team are able to locate many of the frogmen's charges and render them harmless. But with an invasion of North Africa imminent, time is not on the Allies' side. - Actors:
- Laurence Harvey, Dawn Addams, Michael Craig, John Clements, Sidney James, Alec McCowen, Nigel Stock, Ian Whittaker, Arnoldo Foà, Gianna Maria Canale, Massimo Serato, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, Carlo Giustini, Raymond Young, David Lodge, Ewen Solon, Brian Oulton, Howard Marion-Crawford, Cyril Shaps, Lee Montague
- Directors:
- W.E. Fairchild
- Producers:
- Bertram Ostrer
- Writers:
- Marshall Pugh, W.E. Fairchild
- Aka:
- Silent Enemy
- Studio:
- Wienerworld
- Genres:
- Action & Adventure, Classics, Drama
- Collections:
- Drama Films & TV, Getting to Know..., Introducing a British Film Family, WWII Films: Beaches, Oceans and Camps
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 11/04/2022
- Run Time:
- 112 minutes
- Languages:
- English LPCM Mono
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Full Screen 1.33:1 / 4:3
- Colour:
- B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- The Real Commander Crabb: Interview with Author Tim Binding
- Commander Crabb Mystery (1956)
- Behind the Scenes Stills Gallery
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Reviews (1) of The Silent Enemy
Undersea War. - The Silent Enemy review by Steve
Sprawling, fictionalised biopic about Lionel Crabb, an underwater bomb disposal specialist based in Gibraltar in World War II. With his team of expert skin-divers his mission was to continually clear the docks of mines planted by a crack squad of Italians with superior technology, based across the straits in Spain.
Laurence Harvey plays the naval lieutenant as a determined egotist with a prodigious work ethic. Michael Craig is excellent, but barely recognisable, as Crabb's top diver. Unfortunately, the earlier episodes are padded out with clumsy banter, mostly issued by Sidney James as the group's trainer and jack of all trades.
But the film is invigorated by some excellent underwater action in the later scenes, particularly a stand-out knife fight between Crabb and his Italian counterparts in the submerged wreckage of a plane crash. Or by the stuntmen anyway.
With the personal duel of wits against a foreign nemesis operating from an underground HQ, some continental glamour, the array of gadgets, Harvey's aristocratic sneer and the abundant comic relief, this looks like a budget prototype for the James Bond series. There isn't as much style, or colour, but it's still an exciting action film.
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