This film essentially begins during World War 1 with three submariners "Kapitanleutnant Helmut Liers" (Rudolf Forster), "Oberleutnant Phipps Fredericks" (Fritz Genschow) and "Seaman Jaul" (Paul Westermeier) being proudly cheered by the citizens of their small hometown just prior to their catching the train to return to duty. Although the wife of "Seaman Jaul" (Paul Westermeier) is sad to see him go, she isn't overcome with fear for his safety due to the fact that she is convinced he will return to her alive and well. Conversely, "Helmut Liers' mother" (Adele Sandrock), who has already lost two of her sons in this war, is definitely concerned and would prefer that he resign from the Imperial German Navy to help manage the business left to her by her deceased husband. Likewise, another woman by the name of "Grete Jaul" (Camilla Spira) is also concerned but, although everyone assumes she is worried about the safety of her supposed boyfriend Phipps Fredericks, she is secretly in love with Helmut Liers--who is Phipps' senior officer--and this has the potential of causing problems further on down the line. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that, despite the propaganda aspects of this film, this turned out to be a pretty good submarine movie for the most part with extremely good action scenes for its time. Also worth note is the manner in which the director (Gustav Ucicky) captured the horrible waste brought on by the war by inserting a scene depicting a train filled with soldiers going off to war with passing another one containing those severely injured headed in the opposite direction. Whether the government censors fully appreciated this depiction of this particular tragedy of war is not known to me. In any case, although the film definitely shows its age, I enjoyed it for the most part, and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.
