[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TheEnemyBelow_6569.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Captain on the bridge!]]

->''"I should have died many times, Captain, but I continue to survive somehow. This time it was your fault."''

''The Enemy Below'' is a 1957 war film directed and produced by Creator/DickPowell, which shows the battle between the captain of an American destroyer escort and the commander of a German U-boat during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. It stars Creator/RobertMitchum and Creator/CurdJurgens. [[TheFilmOfTheBook The film was based on a novel]] by Denys Rayner, a British naval officer involved in anti-submarine warfare throughout the Battle of the Atlantic.

Walter Rossi received the 1958 UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for best special effects. The script was RecycledInSpace as the classic ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Star Trek]]'' episode [[Recap/StarTrekS1E14BalanceOfTerror "Balance of Terror"]].

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!!This film provides examples of

* AdaptationalHeroism: The final scenes of mutual respect and potential friendship between the protagonists are not present in the original book, where the Allied ship is British instead of American and the destroyer escort captain loathes his German counterpart and they both engage in fisticuffs.
* AdaptationalNationality: In the book, the Allied ship is British. In the film, it's American.
* AFatherToHisMen: Von Stolberg is very protective and compassionate towards his crew, and they are [[UndyingLoyalty unflinchingly loyal]] to him in return. Murrell is also shown to care deeply for his men, but they haven't gotten to know him yet and have their doubts.
* BurialAtSea: [[spoiler:'Heinie' Schwaffer]] dies of his injuries and is buried at sea in the final act of the film.
* TheCaptain: Murrell and von Stolberg.
* ChromosomeCasting: The only characters in the film are the all-male crews of a U.S. Navy ship and a German U-boat.
* CoolBoat: A German U-boat vs an American ''Buckley''-class destroyer escort. Bonus points for filming on a real ''Buckley''-class DE.
* DoomedHurtGuy: [[spoiler:Heinie]].
* TheHunterBecomesTheHunted: The destroyer escort and the U-boat play cat and mouse throughout the film, but the submarine is extremely bold and dangerous as its role is not merely defensive.
* MusicForCourage: During a series of depth charge attacks, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7Vme9jUhlo von Stolberg plays music (an 18th century march called "Der Dessauer Marsch")]] over the ship's PA system and has the crew sing along to boost morale. Murrell -who recognizes the trope- orders another depth charge attack.
-->'''Murrell:''' [Our psychology] is working all right. All ahead for attack, Mr. Ware. Maybe we can rip him open in the middle of a waltz.
* MutualKill: Both the destroyer and the submarine are sunk at the end, though the majority of both crews survive and are rescued.
* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Captain von Stolberg, in an early and notable aversion of AllGermansAreNazis, as Jürgens would recall in 1977.
-->"The first film after the war in which a German officer was not interpreted as a freak."
** Von Stolberg's EstablishingCharacterMoment shows him entering the control room soaking wet after standing watch on the bridge during a rain squall and becoming visibly annoyed when he sees that his newest officer has painted a Nazi propaganda slogan on one of the overhead pipes. He pointedly tosses his towel over it as he walks by.
* RammingAlwaysWorks: The destroyer escort rams the U-boat as a last resort option. TruthInTelevision, this was a common tactic during WWII. The climactic battle even plays out with many similarities to the real-life duel between USS ''Buckley'' and ''U-66'', though in the real incident only the U-boat was sunk.
* RealityHasNoSubtitles: Most of the time the crew of the German U-boat speak in English to each other for the audience's benefit, but a few times they speak in untranslated German. In the BurialAtSea scene at the end, the sub's captain speaks entirely in German.
* SensorSuspense: ASDIC/SONAR pings.
* ShownTheirWork: The movie displays a high level of technical accuracy on the destroyer escort and the U-boat. Uniforms, procedures, sensors, and weapons are all accurately depicted. HollywoodTactics is completely averted.
* SternChase: A destroyer escort vs submarine duel.
* SubStory
* ThirdActStupidity: Throughout almost the entire film, the German U-boat captain acts in a professional and competent manner. Just before the end, he makes several blatant mistakes (that no officer of his experience should have made) because the script needs him to do so.
** The German U-boat captain falls for one of the oldest tricks in the book - the American ship pretending that after being torpedoed, it's helpless and can't move or attack - and decides to surface. Under the laws of war, the American captain would have been completely justified in immediately opening fire on the U-boat with his deck guns and trying to ram it. The American captain even lampshades how stupid the U-boat captain's action is: "I'm half surprised he took the bait. That's the first foolish thing he's done."
** After warning the American ship that he would fire a second torpedo in ten minutes, the U-boat captain decides to wait ''on the surface'' for the entire ten minutes. Unfortunately, the American ship is still capable of movement and manages to ram the U-boat, leading to their mutual sinking. If the U-boat captain had just submerged after giving the American ship the warning and fired the torpedo while underwater, he could have avoided this.
** The U-boat captain had to know that other American warships were on the way. By sticking around, even for only ten minutes, he took the risk that American ships could arrive, detect him, and continue the attack upon his vessel. If he had to make sure of the American ship's sinking, he should have fired the second torpedo immediately. If he couldn't ethically do that, he could have just slipped away quietly and continued on his way.
* TookALevelInBadass: Captain Murrell was a Merchant Marine officer and later an active duty lieutenant commander in the Naval Reserve. He's still recovering from the sinking of his previous ship and the death of his wife and his ability is questioned by his underlings, but he shows his competency as a destroyer escort commander early on.
* TheVonTropeFamily: Von Stolberg has an aristocratic background and is not enamoured with the Nazi regime.
* WarIsHell: While the film is a straight war-adventure-suspense story, it does touch on the aspects: Captain Murrell lost his British wife to a U-boat when he was trying to evacuate her from Britain on his ship when he was a merchant mariner. Von Stolberg has lost his sons in battle ("one is at the bottom of the sea, and this one is a cinder in a burned airplane"), and doubts he's on the right side of the war. The two of them—honorable, intelligent, and compassionate men who respect each other's abilities—spend most of the film trying to kill each other.
* WorthyOpponent: U-boat captain von Stolberg is a honourable antagonist of destroyer escort captain Murrell. The two share a mutual respect for the other.

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