Film Review: Action in the North Atlantic (1943)

Logistics is one of the least glamorous yet most essential aspects of war. One of the rare Hollywood works to recognise this is Action in the North Atlantic, a 1943 war film directed by Lloyd Bacon.

The plot takes place during the Second World War and begins on the SS Morning Star, an American oil tanker commanded by US Merchant Marine Captain Steve Jarvis (played by Raymond Massey), whose best friend is the ship’s first officer Joe Rossi (played by Humphrey Bogart). The ship is torpedoed by a German U-boat, and survivors are forced to cling to a raft for eleven days in the middle of the Atlantic before being rescued. After recovering, Jarvis is given command of the SS Seawitch, a newly built Liberty ship, and is reunited with Rossi and most of his old crew. The ship is armed and given a small crew of US Navy service personnel to man the guns, which is unsurprising given the nature of its mission. The SS Seawitch is sent to Halifax, where it joins a massive convoy tasked with delivering aircraft, tanks and other vital supplies to the Soviet Union. Its destination is the Soviet Arctic port of Murmansk, which means the SS Seawitch must run the gauntlet of U-boat packs, as well as Luftwaffe planes operating from occupied Norway. When the convoy is attacked and dispersed, and with Jarvis ordered to maintain radio silence at all costs, his crew—pursued by a U-boat—must find a way to reach Murmansk alone.

Made during the war, Action in the North Atlantic is a film that wears its propaganda purpose proudly on its sleeve. It begins and ends with a quote by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt about the importance of logistics; characters take every opportunity to remind themselves and the audience that the work of the US Merchant Marine is essential to the war effort. The convoy, made up of numerous ships under different flags, serves as a powerful symbol of the world united against Nazi Germany and its allies. The film not only praises US Merchant Marine service personnel but also sailors, and even takes pains to show its union at work in a scene that would later cause problems for screenwriter John Howard Lawson, who was accused of infusing Hollywood films with communist propaganda during the McCarthy era.

Even with such content limitations, Action in the North Atlantic is a surprisingly good film. The opening, which features breathtaking action during the torpedoing of the ship and the crew’s fight for survival, is a triumph of special effects and stunt work. Due to wartime regulations, producers were banned from shooting at sea, so the film was made entirely in studios using gigantic water tanks, with much of the naval action reconstructed using miniature models. These scenes look quite impressive by 1940s standards, and are even more so considering that director Lloyd Bacon left the set over a contract dispute and the film had to be completed by the uncredited Byron Haskin and Raoul Walsh.

Action in the North Atlantic features an ensemble cast, with Humphrey Bogart—nominally the biggest star—quite relaxed while playing second fiddle to character actor Raymond Massey. The diverse set of characters provides opportunities for many fine character actors, with young Dane Clark standing out as a Polish American sailor who reluctantly decides to rejoin his comrades when they venture back to sea. Some subplots in the middle seem clichéd and unnecessary, like those involving the female characters—Jarvis’s loyal wife (played by Ruth Gordon) and a vampish bar singer (played by Julie Bishop). Nevertheless, Action in the North Atlantic, even with such flaws, delivers the goods, and most fans of old-school action films would appreciate it despite its two hours of propaganda.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

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