The Silent Enemy

This fabulously restored action film charters the exploits of real-life Royal Navy frogman Lionel ‘Buster’ Crabb (portrayed by Laurence Harvey) during WW2 and his attempts to render enemy threat by means of dangerous underwater operations. With its pioneering underwater action sequences, this 1958 drama served as an inspiration for Ian Fleming’s 007 novel ‘Thunderball’.

Starting with a tense dramatization of the Italian manned torpedo raid on Alexandria in 1941 which left the British battleships HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Valiant badly damaged, the British have every reason to worry over who will gain naval supremacy in the Mediterranean: the Brits or the Italians. Seeing how the primary target for the Italians is the Royal Navy Base at Gibraltar urgent action is needed in order to nip the Italian threat in the bud. Enter young Naval Lieutenant and bomb disposal expert Lionel Crabb (L. Harvey) – a man who is a bad swimmer, can’t really dive at all and seems at loggerheads with just about everyone he encounters (just like actor Laurence Harvey in real life)! Nonetheless, he is posted to Gibraltar where he is instructed in the skills of diving and expert swimming before assembling his initially small team of fellow divers. Their mission: to intercept Italian ‘Frogmen’ who are a merciless band of divers travelling underwater astride small torpedo-type vessels with the aim to attach explosive charges to the hulls of enemy ships below the waterline. Now Crabb and his men are tasked with locating as many of these explosive charges as possible and render them harmless – easier said than done given the fact that Crabb is a relative novice when it comes to the art of diving and with the added pressure of a North African invasion imminent the situation puts these brave men in mortal danger.

This is, of course, the story in a nutshell for things are much more complicated: Antonio Tomolino (Arnolda Foá) – an Italian expert on underwater operations, secretly watches British activity in Gibraltar from the safety of his house in Algeciras in Spain. As Crabb and some British officers remark: “Tomolino has been on holiday in Spain for weeks now – even for an Italian that’s a very long holiday!” Tomolino’s holiday home has a huge window facing the seafront which enables him to follow every movement with his telescope. Crabb realises that he needs to find out more and thus a visit to Algericas is of utmost importance but how to go about it? Luckily, a man with a tattoo in Italian writing on his arm leads Crabb, who follows him, to an interned ship called Olterra which uses the ship’s hold as a workshop and a base with an underwater door used for the Italian frogmen and their torpedoes. Further complications arise when it emerges that after reporting his discovery to his superiors, Crabb is initially dealt a blow when informed that under laws of neutrality he cannot arrange an attack against the Olterra unless he is given top-level authority.

Crabb realises that time is of the essence and – stubborn and as always at loggerheads with his superiors – decides to ignore any orders. Together with his divers, among them Chief Petty Officer Thorpe (Sid James) he infiltrates the docks at Algericas thanks to a repaired torpedo. That said, will Crabb and his divers manage to destroy the Olterra and whatever the outcome, will he be court martialed for having disobeyed orders?
With a all-star cast including Dawn Addams as Third Officer Jill Masters, John Clements as the Admiral, Michael Craig as Leading Seaman Knowles plus Alec McCowen and Nigel Stock as Able Seaman, THE SILENT ENEMY is a gripping adventure which will appeal even to those who normally aren’t keen on films set during WW2. Laurence Harvey does a very fine job indeed as the unlikely hero whose bravery earned him an OBE and the George Medal although speculation surrounding Crabb’s mysterious vanishing during a reconnaissance mission for MI6 around a Soviet cruiser berthed at Portsmouth Dockyard in 1956 keeps tongues wagging to this day.
Newly restored and available on Blu-ray, DVD and digital platforms the release offers the following Bonus Material: ‘The Real Commander Crabb’: Interview with Tim Binding / Commander Crabb Mystery news clip (British Pathé, 1956) and ‘Behind the Scenes’ stills gallery.