Hell Below

Infobox Film
name = Hell Below


writer = Edward Ellsberg (novel "Pigboats")

Laird Doyle
Raymond L. Schrock (screenplay)
John Lee Mahin
John Meehan (additional dialogue)
Lt. Cmdr. Morris D. Gilmore (technical adviser), a U.S. Naval submarine commander [ [http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/r1/r-21.htm History of the R-21 and Gilmore] ] and was elected to the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1968. [ [http://www.uslacrosse.org/museum/hofbios/gilmore.phtml U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame bio for Gilmore] ]
starring = Robert Montgomery
Walter Huston
Madge Evans
distributor = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
director = Jack Conway
producer = Jack Conway
music = William Axt
cinematography = Harold Rosson
released = June 9, 1933
runtime = 101 minutes
language = English
country = USA
budget =
amg_id = 1:94703
runtime = Reported running times vary widely from 78 to 155 minutes, but the accepted time is 101 minutes
imdb_id = 0024100

"Hell Below" (1933) is a MGM film set in the Adriatic during World War I about submarine warfare based on Commander Edward Ellsberg's novel "Pigboats", starring Robert Montgomery, Walter Huston, Robert Young, Madge Evans, and Jimmy Durante.

Although set in World War I, "Hell Below" set up the structure for many World War II submarine warfare dramas to follow (such as "Destination Tokyo", "Torpedo Run", "Operation Pacific", "Hellcats of the Navy", "Run Silent, Run Deep" and others) with dramatic tension and action scenes around the warfare itself, as well as a love triangle or personal conflict to add personal interest. Extensive footage of World War I-era ships and planes supplement this war drama, which critics have characterized as excellent.

Cast

*Robert Montgomery as Lieutenant Thomas Knowlton, USN
*Walter Huston as Lieutenant Commander T.J. Toler, USN
*Madge Evans as Joan Standish
*Jimmy Durante as 'Ptomaine', the cook
*Eugene Pallette as 'Mac' MacDougal
*Robert Young as Lieutenant (jg) Ed 'Brick' Walters
*Edwin Styles as Flight Commander Herbert Standish
*John Lee Mahin as Lieutenant (jg) 'Speed' Nelson
*David Newall as Lieutenant (jg) Radford
*Sterling Holloway as Seaman Jenks

Production

The cinematography team developed a way to film targets through a periscope using a series of lenses and prisms.

USS "S-31" played the fictional U.S. submarine "AL-14".

MGM purchased the USS "Moody", a World War I-era destroyer destined for scrapping due to the London Naval Treaty limits on navy strength, for US$35,000. The firm of Merritt-Chapman & Scott was hired to sink the ship to simulate the torpedoing of a German destroyer.

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0024100
*tcmdb title|id=1453
* [http://www.san.beck.org/MM/1933/HellBelow.html Movie Mirror review]