We Dive at Dawn

The crew of the submarine Sea Tiger is called back in a hurry from leave with their families. The mission is secret: to go after a German warship in the Baltic. When the encounter comes, the submarine is damaged and loses fuel so fast that getting back to Britain looks impossible. The men find themselves off the Danish coast with no options left. Made during the war, Anthony Asquith's film makes no heroic speeches. Its opening plays out largely on land, in houses: whose marriage is going badly, who has children, who does not want to go home on leave at all. By the time we are under the water we know these men, and that is where the tension comes from. John Mills plays the captain and Eric Portman one of the crew.