I had been curious about this one for a while. Neither of the protagonists are in any way easy to warm up to. Naval films feel more like chess games than almost any kind of war film. Very cerebral, lots of talking but things do pick up and Janet Margolin's death scene is the price of admission. Lots of great atmosphere and the movie's music is in that chilly haunted style Jerry Goldsmith perfected. It seems like your standard espionage film but the acting is more deeply engaging. Trevor Howard's bit in the beginning seems more like the end to a completely different film. Like he's the hero who has tracked down his prey in a fugitive/chase type of film. The ending to this film feels disorienting. You wonder if the fact that the ship is saved is really worth it considering all the lives that were lost on both sides. Maybe it does feel a little like a draw in chess.
Morituri
(1965)
Good but a little gnarled as far as how one's sympathies will be engaged
4 June 2005
Warning: Spoilers