Above Us the Waves

Above Us the Waves (1955)

Their Orders...Sink the Tirpitz!

In World War II, the greatest threat to the British navy is the German battleship Tirpitz. While anchored in a Norwegian fjord, it is impossible to attack by conventional means, so a plan is hatched for a special commando unit to attack it, using midget submarines to plant underwater explosives.

Date of release
1955-03-29
TMDB
6.1 / 10 (39)
Runtime
1h 39m
Genres
War
Director
Ralph Thomas

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Filmed in: Pinewood Studios

Above Us the Waves is a 1955 British war film about human torpedo and midget submarine attacks in Norwegian fjords against the German battleship Tirpitz. Directed by Ralph Thomas, it is based on two true-life attacks by British commando frogmen, first using Chariot manned torpedoes in Operation Title in 1942, and then X-Craft midget submarines in Operation Source in 1943. Filmed at Pinewood Studios, England, with outdoor scenes in Guernsey, some of the original war equipment was used in the film.

Production notes

The screenplay was based on the book Above Us the Waves by C. E. T. Warren and James Benson, which had been published in 1953.

Director Ralph Thomas says the film was made because producer William MacQuitty "was very involved with the Navy and he loved submarines." MacQuitty had a production company in partnership with Sydney Box called London Independent Producers, which tended to use the same core creative personnel. They purchased film rights in 1952, before the book had been published.

The book became a best seller, selling over 350,000 copies and MacQuitty obtained finance from the Rank Organisation under Earl St. John. The British admiralty provided full co-operation. Thomas was given the job of directing after his tremendous success with Doctor in the House. Several of the cast from that film would appear in Above Us the Waves.

Shooting began on 20 September 1954 in Guernsey. Commander Donald Cameron, who commanded X-6 as a lieutenant and won the Victoria Cross during the operation, was an adviser to the film.

MacQuitty was an experienced diver, having spent over 500 hours under water. He personally supervised many of the underwater sequences.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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