The Enemy Below

During World War II, an American destroyer escort in the South Atlantic detects a German U-boat, setting off a long and deadly contest between the two vessels. The American captain, Murrell, is a former merchant marine officer whose crew doubts his ability, while the German commander, von Stolberg, is a seasoned and cunning opponent. Each man tries to outthink the other as the submarine and the warship stalk each other beneath and above the surface.

The Enemy Below was directed and produced by Dick Powell, a former actor who had moved behind the camera, working from a screenplay by Wendell Mayes. Robert Mitchum plays Captain Murrell and Curd Jürgens plays Kapitän von Stolberg, with David Hedison, Theodore Bikel and Russell Collins among the credited cast of 22. The film was made by 20th Century Fox on a budget of 2 million dollars.

Reception places the film in solidly favorable territory. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.4 from around 13,000 votes, and on TMDB a rating of 7.2 from roughly 220 votes, indicating a widely liked film with a much smaller sample there. A critics' rating of 7.3 from seven reviews is close to both audience scores, showing general agreement rather than a sharp divide.