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Mystery Submarine (1963 film)

{{Short description|1963 British film by C. M. Pennington-Richards}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}

{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}

{{Infobox film

| name = Mystery Submarine

| image = Mystery Submarine FilmPoster.jpeg

| caption =

| director = C. M. Pennington-Richards

| producer = Bertram Ostrer

| screenplay = Hugh Woodhouse
Bertram Ostrer
Jon Manchip White

| based_on = {{Based on|Mystery Submarine
(play)|Jon Manchip White}}

| starring = Edward Judd
James Robertson Justice
Laurence Payne

| music = Clifton Parker

| cinematography = Stanley Pavey

| editing = Bill Lewthwaite

| studio = Bertram Ostrer Productions

| distributor = British Lion Films

| released = {{film date|df=y|1963|||UK}}

| runtime = 92 minutes

| country = United Kingdom

| language = English

}}

Mystery Submarine is a 1963 British war film directed by C. M. Pennington-Richards and starring Edward Judd, James Robertson Justice and Laurence Payne.{{Cite web |title=Mystery Submarine |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150032687 |access-date=12 January 2025 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}[https://web.archive.org/web/20090114170545/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/43659 BFI.org] The screenplay was by Hugh Woodhouse and Bertram Ostrer based on the play of the same name by Jon Manchip White.

A captured German submarine is used by the Royal Navy to trick a German force aiming to intercept a supply convoy.

Plot

U-153 is damaged during air attack in the Atlantic, and its crew abandon ship to escape chlorine gas now leaking from its battery cells. Her commanding officer is overcome by fumes before he can jettison the ship's papers. Due to the intelligence windfall that this represents, the submarine is taken by a British prize crew to be examined and inspected (in much the same manner that befell the real German U-boat later renamed HMS Graph){{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}.

It is not long before British intelligence suggest a new use for the submarine as a Trojan Horse. A picked crew of volunteers led by Commander Tarlton take the U-153 back to war, to intercept and disable a German Wolf-pack; in this they succeed, even sinking the Wolf-pack leader in their subsequent escape.

Her mission accomplished the U-153 is attacked and sunk by a British Frigate whose crew is oblivious to the submarine's mission or identity. Commander Tarlton orders his men to abandon ship, getting his crew off intact before she goes down. Their rescuers are astonished to learn that not only are the men they recover from the sea all British, but by attacking they have just sunk one of ‘His Majesty’s submarines…’

Cast

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The film is more or less competent of its extremely hackneyed kind, tolerably acted by Edward Judd and Joachim Fuchsberger. C. M. Pennington-Richards' direction is blandly anonymous."{{Cite magazine |date=1 January 1963 |title=Mystery Submarine |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305824453 |url-access=subscription |magazine=The Monthly Film Bulletin |pages=88 |via=ProQuest |volume=30 |issue=348}}

References

External links

  • {{IMDb title|0057342}}

{{C.M. Pennington-Richards}}

Category:1963 films

Category:British war drama films

Category:World War II submarine films

Category:Royal Navy in World War II films

Category:British films based on plays

Category:British Lion Films films

Category:Films directed by C. M. Pennington-Richards

Category:Films scored by Clifton Parker

Category:1960s English-language films

Category:British World War II films

Category:1960s British films