Action In The North Atlantic (1943)

Set during WWII, a Merchant Marine (Humphrey Bogart) survives a German U boat attack and 11 days of being adrift on a raft along with other crew members including the Captain (Raymond Massey). Back home after a quick wedding to a singer (Julie Bishop), he's back on the high seas as part of a convoy carrying supplies to Russia. Directed by Lloyd Bacon (42ND STREET), the film opens with a spectacular nearly 20 minute sequence of the torpedoing of a ship and the subsequent evacuation attempt. After such a killer opening, where can the film go? The answer is ... it doesn't. The film reverts to the usual WWII propaganda action movie. While I appreciate why these films were made and their support of the war effort and our troops, as cinema, they are tedious. The film run 7 minutes past the two hour mark and if the jingoism had been minimized, it could have come in under two hours. The underscore by Adolph Deutsch (THE APARTMENT) is surprisingly good. With a young Ruth Gordon as Massey's wife and very little to do. Also with Dane Clark, Alan Hale, Sam Levene, Peter Whitney, Iris Adrian and Dick Hogan.