Above Us the Waves

It was a really good movie although it is a 1955 film technology. From what has been written it is more realistic as the equipment used was circa 1945 and apparently was readily available. The James Caan movie (X-1) is more fictitious (Cowboys and Nazi's) where as the 1955 one is trying to depict the real story of the Tirpitz Operation. They did not say that the Tirpitz was sunk or not sunk, but there was a huge explosion. The Tirpitz was knocked out of commission for about 6 months. This film actually was much closer to the truth than was really known at the time as PBS did a later show of diving "archaeologists" who wanted to find out just what did happen based on locations and what was on the bottom of the Fiord where the operation took place. Their summation was that the 1955 film was quite accurate. The 1955 film probably had a benefit of interviews of people who were there and had a more recent memory of what happened without a lot of interpretation which can fog events. Those guys were brave, I wouldn't have dived with those suits. It's a small wonder that they wore heavy wool sweaters. Those subs had to have been cold. The average water temp in that area in September is 55 degrees. Yowee! That's pretty cold. Having dived as a kid in water almost that cold without a wet-suit we could stay in about 20 minutes. At that point we would be shivering uncontrollably.

As a sub enthusiast, this was a real treat, one of the few glimpses of the fully working British Midget Sub, X1. I prefer this film to the later remake "Submarine X-1" starring James Caan. Both movies cover the same story, the attack on the German battleship Tripitz. This movie is B/W but has a genuine WWII feel to it. It goes into more depth about the history of the campaign and doesn't get bogged down in love interests or side plots. Both movies cover the X1 sub well, with interior views and operations. The Caan film does offer better camera angles though inside the sub and is shot in color. Get both.

Good movie wit good acting. This account is a bit more accurate than others in that the x-craft were towed to Norway to attack the battleship Tirpitz.

The small subs depicted in this film are representations of real circumstances that made our efforts against an enemy as deadly for us as for others. The submarine I lived in during my service time in the Navy was an exceptional machine designed for extremely dangerous use. I empathize with the crew members in this film easily. A good show to study.

I purchased this video out of curiosity. I had read a Reader's Digest "condensed book" version of the story of the British attempt to sink the Tirpitz. That was circa late 70's or very early 80's and I don't remember the details of that written story except that it was titled "Twelve Against The Tirpitz" and involved a number of tiny submarines and was fascinating reading. This movie version of the story is a bit dry and, if you don't know the background history of the Tirpitz and the attempts to sink her, is likely to be somewhat confusing and disjointed. I'd recommend watching this movie only if you first read the historical data about the Tirpitz as available on wikipedia or some other source.

This film portrays a part of the British sub-aqua developments of men and small submersibles in WW2.Italy and Japan had led the way, Britain and Germany followed on. The British deployed the best and most effective force and operations, although not suicidal, were both extremely dangerous from defensive measures and from the experimental nature of the equipment and machines.These men did there duty as well as they could, and there actions were heroic, even as the film portrays them.This DVD was delivered rapidly and was exactly what I had expected.

Liked the series because it was a western...That being said, there are 16 disks no labels other than numbering 1-16 so you have to sort of put them in one at a time and figure it out.Their are 2 books (each with 8 disks) that are placed in a weird plastic page flipping holder(s) that are flimsy, but easily put back in.We got to disk and found that the end of Streets of Laredo had a defective disk... Of course Amazon's policy comes into play...return the entire set, get money back, buy product again, re-watch entire set to make sure all the DVDs are ok...pass.Skip this set and buy each separate movie and/ or the series, or you'll chance what happened to us.4 stars for the screen plays...1 for the quality control.

My brother and I both love submarine movies. He had seen "Above the Waves" many years ago. I gave this dvd to him for Christmas. We watched it together. When the German actors are speaking, the translation isn't always given. Fortunately, my brother has kept up his knowledge of the German langage.

This is a very good, solid old British war film telling an unbelievable but absolutely true story. Below, some more of my impressions, with limited SPOILERS.This film begins after the archi-famous operations "Rheinubung" (May 1941) in which "Bismarck" was lost and "Cerberus" (Channel Dash) in February 1942, which ended with "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" being both mined and damaged. Therefore, for the greatest part of 1942 and 1943 Hitler's Kriegsmarine was left with only one capital ship - the "Tirpitz". Nevertheless, supported by four heavy cruisers ("Lutzow", "Admiral Scheer", "Admiral Hipper" and "Prinz Eugen"), three light cruisers ("Leipzig", "Nurnberg" and "Köln") and a screen of as much as twelve modern, powerful destroyers, with many U-Boats, "Condor" bombers and seaplanes acting as scouts, this enormous battleship was the main element of a potentially extremely lethal naval squadron (even if ultimately Kriegsmarine never managed to gather all those ships for one operation). In summer 1943 German squadron got even stronger, once battle cruiser "Scharnhorst" was repaired and returned to duty...In order to ensure safety of allied convoys in Northern Atlantic and especially in Arctic waters, Royal Navy had to keep available in this area a considerable number of naval and air assets - and even US Navy had to chip in for a time. Or, in those decisive years of World War II (1942-43), all those ships, planes and men were badly needed elsewhere, from Central and Southern Atlantic to Mediterranean and Indian Ocean - and American heavy cruisers USS "Wichita" and USS "Tuscaloosa" and their screen were greatly missed by Nimitz in Pacific... If you are interested in knowing more about this pickle in which allies found themselves because of "Tirpitz" existence, there is a really good, comprehensive book on this topic "Target Tirpitz: X-Crafts, Agents and Dambusters - The Epic Quest to Destroy Hitler's Mightiest Warship" by Patrick Bishop (see my review of this book).Pressed relentlessly by Churchill, both Royal Navy and RAF tried to find a solution to this "Tirpitz" problem. Amongst the most promissing ideas was the use of naval special forces, operating unusual weapons. In the film we are told that Royal Navy high command was initially reluctant to consider that such operations could succeed - but that is definitely not true. The potentially deadly efficiency of unconventional naval attacks was greatly demonstrated by Italians already in First World War, on 1 November 1918, when Italian frogmen riding a manned torpedo sank the powerful, modern Austro-Hungarian dreadnought "Viribus Unitis". Later, already during World War II, Royal Navy itself was greatly hurt by such special attacks, when Italian explosive motorboats crippled heavy cruiser HMS "York" at Crete in March 1941, when Italian frogmen badly damaged battleships HMS "Queen Elizabeth" and HMS "Valiant" in Alexandria in December 1941 and finally when a Japanese midget submarine grievously injured battleship HMS "Ramillies" at Madagascar in May 1942. Therefore the value of naval special attack methods was in summer 1942 generally recognised...This film tells the story of two attempts made against "Tirpitz": operation "Title" in October 1942, with frogmen using Chariot manned torpedoes and operation "Source" in September 1943, with the use of more performant midget submarines (X-Crafts). It covers the selection of volunteers, the training, the first attack, the escape of frogmen by land to Sweden, the training for the use of X-Crafts and finally the second, extremely dramatic attack.Made in 1955, this is an old film, in black and white, without virtually any special effects and sticking to the reality and therefore operating mostly on a matter of fact, low-drama level - but all of this doesn't hurt this movie at all, to the contrary! Most of actors who play in "Above us the waves" are fogotten today, but in 1955 those men were considered as a rather ensemble cast, with John Mills, John Gregson, Donald Sinden, Michael Medwin and James Robertson Justice being the most known.The last 20 minutes of this film count certainly amongst the most dramatic, nail-biting moments of war movie tension I ever saw - and I saw A LOT of war films!The one thing which can be problematic for those who (like me) are not native English speakers is the absence of subtitles. With the sound being of rather average quality, nonobstant my fluency in English I had some problems to follow the dialogs... But this is a minor point.Another minor points are some little details, like the presence of clearly POST World War II frigates in some scenes in British base and the massif use of Lanchester sub-machine guns by German sailors. On this latter point, OK, granted, with some effort they can pass for German MP-28s (of which they were copies), but honestly, couldn't the Royal Navy, which generously assisted in the making of this film, find a couple of MP-40s somewhere? Finally, let's just stress, that any Kriegsmarine officer who would dare fly even of the most modest patrol ship the flag we see in this film (the official III Reich national flag - which was VERY different from naval flag!) would find himself in a penal squadron on the Ostfront, clearing mines somewhere near Leningrad - PRONTO! Honestly, considering that there is only one scene in which a Kriegsmarine flag was necessary, was it so difficult to actually find one?Bottom line (sorry I couldn't resist...), this is an excellent movie, aged but still valiant, to see absolutely if you are into war films. Cut through the steel nets, avoid patroling destroyers, dive under "Tirpitz", arm the charges and try to make good your escape - and if you can't, well, count the minutes... Enjoy!

Like the American film industry insisting that it was their navy that captured the enigma machine and codes from U11, when in actual fact it was crew from HMS Bulldog commanded by Joe Baker-Creswell who did the deed. The Tirpitz was largely destroyed by Barnes Wallace's Tallboy bombs from Lancasters of Bomber Command.There was one unsuccesful miniature submarine attack by the Royal Navy.Even so it is still an enjoyable yarn.

Black and white 1955 action-packed film with a thoroughly British cast about the plan to use midget submarines to destroy the deadly German battleship Tirpitz. Provides a gripping drama as to whether the audacious plan could work.

A very good WW2 film , excellent acting from John Mills and the cast of well known actors of the era. The story is of midget subs sent to sink the scourge of the allied shipping the Tirpitz. The film is exciting and worth watching for WW2 film buffs. My only niggle was the sound quality which was up and down. Excellent for the price though.

I enjoyed watching John Mills film Above Us The Waves was another of the great films made during and after World War 2. I enjoy the portrayal of looking back in my youth. The cast was well picked with cast membincluding John Gregson, Donald Sinden, James Robertson Justice and Michael Medwin.