WWII (World War II) Submarine Themed Films
Included in this list are comedies, documentaries, dramas, propaganda, romance tales and more about WWII submarines and their crews, etc.
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- DirectorDelmer DavesStarsCary GrantJohn GarfieldAlan HaleIn order to provide information for the first air raid over Tokyo, a U.S. submarine sneaks into Tokyo Bay and places a spy team ashore.The following three films, when watched in order, will tell the story on the submarine mission, bombing mission and later capture of some to the Doolittle Raiders after their bombing of Tokyo:
Destination Tokyo (1943)
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)
The Purple Heart (1944) - DirectorDick PowellStarsRobert MitchumCurd JürgensDavid HedisonDuring WWII an American destroyer discovers a German U-boat, and in the ensuing duel the American captain must draw upon all his experience to defeat the equally experienced German commander.
- DirectorRalph ThomasStarsJohn MillsJohn GregsonDonald SindenThe attack by British submarines on the German battleship "Tirpitz" in a Norwegian fjord during World War II.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsClark GableBurt LancasterJack WardenA U.S. sub commander, obsessed with sinking a certain Japanese ship, butts heads with his first officer and crew.
- DirectorVernon SewellGordon WellesleyStarsRalph RichardsonGoogie WithersEsmond KnightJaap van Leyden (Sir Ralph Richardson) is in charge of a shipyard in newly occupied Holland. At first he collaborates with the Germans because it is the easiest course to follow. Later, a child's rhyme reminds him of his patriotic duty, but how best to resist the Germans without endangering his wife and fellow workers?
- DirectorAnthony AsquithStarsJohn MillsLouis BradfieldRonald MillarAll leave is cancelled so that a British submarine can be sent after a new German warship. They chase it so far that they have no fuel to get home.
- StarsThomas M. DykersEric MorrisRobert KnappDocumentary dramatic anthology about the US Navy's submarine fleet. All stories were based on fact and the realism was heightened by actual use of combat footage from the files of the Navy.
- DirectorWolfgang PetersenStarsJürgen ProchnowHerbert GrönemeyerKlaus WennemannA German U-boat stalks the frigid waters of the North Atlantic as its young crew experience the sheer terror and claustrophobic life of a submariner in World War II.
- DirectorGordon DouglasStarsJames GarnerEdmond O'BrienAndra MartinIn 1942, Navy Lieutenant Kenneth Braden from the underwater demolition team is sent to a Japanese island to photograph secret radio codes.
- DirectorBlake EdwardsStarsCary GrantTony CurtisJoan O'BrienDuring World War II, a commander finds himself stuck with a decrepit (and pink) submarine, a con man executive officer, and a group of army nurses.
- DirectorGeorge WaggnerStarsJohn WaynePatricia NealWard BondDuring WWII, a submarine's second in command inherits the problem of torpedoes that don't explode. When on shore, he is eager to win back his ex-wife.
- DirectorJonathan MostowStarsMatthew McConaugheyBill PaxtonHarvey KeitelA German submarine is boarded by disguised American submariners trying to capture their Enigma cipher machine.
- DirectorArchie MayoStarsTyrone PowerAnne BaxterDana AndrewsA submarine lieutenant and his commander fall in love with the same girl.
- DirectorDavid TwohyStarsBruce GreenwoodDavid CrowMatthew DavisStrange happenings occur on a WW II submarine.
- DirectorLloyd BaconByron HaskinRaoul WalshStarsHumphrey BogartRaymond MasseyAlan HaleAn American tanker is sunk by a German U-boat, and the survivors spend 11 days at sea on a raft. Their next assignment - bound for Murmansk through the sub-stalked N. Atlantic.
- StarsAndrew BuchanKen DukenLindsay DuncanDramatisation of the true story of the sinking of the liner Laconia by a German U-boat in 1942 through the eyes of six survivors.
- DirectorAaron SchneiderStarsTom HanksElisabeth ShueStephen GrahamSeveral months after the U.S. entry into World War II, an inexperienced U.S. Navy commander must lead an Allied convoy being stalked by a German submarine wolf pack.
- DirectorCharles FrendRobert HamerStarsArthur YoungWalter FitzgeraldRalph MichaelRescue of the tanker MV San Demetrio by parts of her own crew after she had been set afire in the middle of the Atlantic by the German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer and then had been abandoned.
- DirectorJoseph PevneyStarsGlenn FordErnest BorgnineDiane BrewsterA submarine commander is forced to blow up a Japanese ship with prisoners.
- DirectorRay EnrightStarsRandolph ScottAlan CurtisNoah Beery Jr.The true story of Carlson's Raiders and their World War II attack on Makin Island.
- DirectorJohn FarrowStarsWilliam HoldenNancy OlsonWilliam BendixSubmarine commander Ken White reminisces about his wartime years aboard submarine USS Tiger Shark and struggles with feelings of personal guilt.
- DirectorTony GiglioStarsWilliam H. MacyTil SchweigerThomas KretschmannWhen American submarine Swordfish is torpedoed the survivors are picked up by a passing German U-boat but an outbreak of meningitis threatens all aboard.
- DirectorTetsuo ShinoharaStarsYoshikuni DôchinMitsuru FukikoshiMutsutoshi FuruhataWorld War II story alternates between the past and present, linked by a fateful song. Japanese sub I-77 battles an American destroyer off the coast of Okinawa. Before heading to war, the captain received a final present from his lover, the score to a song titled Manatsu no Orion. 64 years later, his granddaughter discovers the score and the significance behind the song.
- DirectorNathan JuranStarsRonald ReaganNancy ReaganArthur FranzThe daring exploits of a submarine commander whose mission is to chart the minefields in the waters of Japan during World War II.
- DirectorFrank McDonaldStarsRichard ArlenWendy BarrieNils AstherGerman spies use a stolen shortwave transmitter prototype to broadcast top secret shipping info to an offshore Japanese sub. To nab the spy ring, the U.S. government has the West Coast's top radio engineers fired and shadowed.
- DirectorWilliam A. GrahamStarsJames CaanDavid SumnerNorman BowlerDuring World War II, the British Royal Navy used experimental midget submarines to raid German warships in Norway.
- DirectorAlbert H. KelleyStarsJohn LitelAlan BaxterEric BloreShip engineer Jim Taggert is rescued from a torpedoed tramp steamer by Joe Morgan, an American gangster that found New York too hot for him, and has become a fisherman operating from an out-of-the-way island off of the coast of South America. Morgan makes his headquarters at the Halfway House run by the parents of Maria Styx as a bar and dance resort catering to the planters and traders of the island. Taggert finds himself practically a prisoner along with a group of American girls acting as entertainers at the resort. Taggert shadows Morgan in his activities in a remote cove and finds that Morgan is supplying German U-boat commanders with torpedoes, but does not know that Morgan has rigged the torpedoes with clock devices that explode when at sea and sinks the U-boats.
- DirectorHarald ReinlStarsDieter EpplerSabine SesselmannJoachim FuchsbergerIn 1939 German U-boat captain Günther Prien receives orders to infiltrate the British Royal Navy base at Scapa Flow and sink British warships.
- StarsChris BroylesBill PatersonThe story of the World War II effort by Nazi Germany to disrupt Allied shipping with U-boat attacks and the Allied efforts to prevent it.
- DirectorGünther RittauStarsHerbert WilkHeinz EngelmannJoachim BrenneckeThis Nazi propaganda film follows the exploits of a German submarine as it prowls the North Atlantic.WWII Nazi propaganda film.
- DirectorLew LandersStarsBruce BennettVirginia FieldJohn BealGerman agents infiltrate an Iceland port used by the US Navy for anti-sub patrols protecting convoys. Their goal is to block the harbor and trap the patrols. The officers in charge must stop the plot before the subs are left unchecked.
- StarsEdward MulhareThis documentary looks at the Nazi submarine threat, their fleet known as the "Wolf Pack," and how it almost helped to defeat the Allies in World War II.
- DirectorHerbert SelpinStarsAlexander GollingEva ImmermannRichard HäusslerNazi propaganda film showing the development of the German navy's submarine fleet.WWII Nazi Propaganda Film
- DirectorFrank BeyerStarsUlrich MüheUlrich TukurKaoru KobayashiIn 1945 an advanced type of German U-boat loaded with atomic technology en route for Japan and escorted by Japanese naval officers receives news that Germany has capitulated.
- DirectorPen TennysonStarsClive BrookJohn ClementsEdward ChapmanA tale of the highs and lows of life protecting the vital convoys between America & England during WWII.
- DirectorCharles FrendStarsJack HawkinsDonald SindenJohn StrattonThe World War II adventures of a British convoy escort ship and its officers.
- CreatorJohannes W. BetzTony SaintStarsFranz DindaTom WlaschihaRick OkonAn inexperienced U-boat crew has to survive a secret mission and a young German woman is torn between loyalty for her home country and the French resistance in this WWII drama.
- StarsJürgen ProchnowHerbert GrönemeyerKlaus WennemannA World War II German U-Boat crew have a terrifying patrol mission in the early days of the war.
- DirectorBob McNaughtStarsJoan CollinsRichard BurtonBasil SydneyIn 1942, a cargo ship jammed with British evacuees from Singapore is sunk by a Japanese sub. A small lifeboat carries a beautiful woman, an army officer, a bigoted administrator and a black seaman. Only the seaman knows the woman is a nun. The men reveal their true selves under the hardships of survival. Told in flashback while, in the present, the officer (Biscuit) searches for the nun (Sea Wife).
- DirectorLew LandersBudd BoetticherStarsJohn HowardMarguerite ChapmanBruce BennettAn American yacht is sunk by a Japanese submarine on its way to Pearl Harbour, and when the single survivor is picked up by a US submarine, the commander tries desperately to warn the mainland of the imminent attack.
- DirectorFrank TashlinStarsBob HopePhyllis DillerJeffrey HunterDuring WW2, Sgt. O'Farrell's Pacific unit is demoralized when a Japanese submarine torpedoes an American supply ship containing beer.
- DirectorMario Van PeeblesStarsNicolas CageTom SizemoreThomas JaneDuring World War II, an American navy ship is sunk by a Japanese submarine leaving 890 crewmen stranded in shark infested waters.
- StarsJamie LeeAndrew LambertWalter WittigThe story of the World War II Battle of the Atlantic in which Nazi Germany's U-boat fleet attempted to strangle Allied naval shipping.
- DirectorRené ClémentStarsMarcel DalioHenri VidalFlorence MarlyIn the last days of World War II, a group of Nazis and their sympathizers try to escape from reckoning using a submarine.
- DirectorShinji HiguchiCellin GluckStarsKoji YakushoSatoshi TsumabukiToshirô YanagibaA drama set during World War II where a submarine carrying a secret weapon attempts to stop a planned third atomic bombing of Japan. Based on Harutoshi Fukui's novel Shuusen no Lorelei.
- DirectorLeonard BuczkowskiStarsWienczyslaw GlinskiAleksander SewrukJan MachulskiBased on a true story of the Polish submarine ORP Orzel (Eagle). In September 1939, Orzel docks in the neutral Estonian harbor of Tallin. Under pressure from Germany, the Estonians have interned the boat. With only a small amount of fuel on board and his charts having been confiscated, Commander Grabinski decides to escape to England through the Baltic Sea.
- DirectorLew LandersBudd BoetticherStarsBruce BennettErik RolfJohn AbbottAn American sailor poses as a German spy in this implausible World War II action drama that is reportedly based on the actual experience of Archie Gibbs, a seaman detained aboard a German submarine. Gibbs assumes the identity of a German whose ship has been sunk.
- DirectorYutaka Osawa
- DirectorDouglas SirkStarsMacdonald CareyMärta TorénRobert DouglasPosing as an ex-German medical officer, a U.S. Navy intelligence officer sets out to rescue a kidnapped scientist and sink a German submarine hiding off the coast of South America.
- DirectorC.M. Pennington-RichardsStarsEdward JuddJames Robertson JusticeLaurence PayneDuring WWII, the British Royal Navy uses a captured German submarine to trick the enemy and protect their supply convoy.
- DirectorLew LandersStarsTom NealAnn SavageJ. Carrol NaishMedical researchers find mold on a remote South Pacific Island and develop penicillin in their secret laboratory.
- DirectorAnthony CarrasStarsTab HunterFrankie AvalonScott BradyIn 1944, an American submarine must transport an Underwater Demolition Team on a secret mission in the Japanese-infested waters of the South Pacific.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsKenneth MacKennaFrank AlbertsonJ. Farrell MacDonaldU.S. Navy divers race to save the crew of a foundered submarine as the sailors hopelessly prepare to die.
- DirectorIsoji SekiyaRyuichi YokoyamaStarsRoppa FurukawaThe film portrays a submarine attack on an enemy cargo ship. Though this, too, was to boost patriotism, Japanese children particularly enjoyed the scenes in which the kitchen crew cooked in the submarine kitchen. Released in November of the same year, the food shortage was quite serious in Japan, and the abundant food supply in the submarine kitchen -- vegetables, fruit, fish, rice, and more which were already luxury items in Japan at the time -- was prepared into various dishes along with a merry, rhythmic song. Fuku-chan was one of the most popular newspaper comic strip boy-characters in Japan at the time.WWII Japanese propaganda short film.
- DirectorPaul WendkosStarsCliff RobertsonGia ScalaTeru ShimadaIn 1942 submarine commander Jeff Conway secretly photographs Japanese aircraft carriers in the Coral Sea but his submarine is damaged and he's forced to surrender.
- DirectorAleksandr IvanovStarsDouglas AleksandrovAleksandr AllegrovMirza BabayevThe Great Patriotic War. The Soviet submarine T-9, having passed through the minefields of the North Sea, penetrates into the enemy port. Sailors sink enemy transport ships, but soon find out that they were late - enemy troops and weapons have already been unloaded and sent to the front. Captain Kostrov finds himself in a situation where the combat mission is almost impossible, but he must complete it - for him it is a matter of honor or dishonor.
- DirectorLew LandersStarsMark StevensDorothy MaloneCharles WinningerCarrier pilot Lieutenant Bob Bingham (Mark Stevens) is rescued at sea by a submarine after he freezes at the controls and crashes, killing his two crewmen. He returns to civilian life but soon afterwards, looking for redemption, applies for submarine duty. At the New London, Conn., training base he renews acquaintance with Commander Heywood (James Millican) and Lieutenant Gates (Douglas Kennedy), the skipper and engineering officers of the sub that rescued him at sea. Bingham falls in love with Navy nurse Lieutenant Susan Peabody (Dorothy Malone), daughter of Warrant Officer Peabody (Charles Winninger) and the steady girl friend of Gates. Heywood gets a submarine command at the outbreak of the Korean "police action" and Bingham and his friend, Lieutenant Graham (Bill Williams), are part of the officer's group on Heywood's sub.
- DirectorCharles FrendBruno VailatiStarsLilli PalmerJames MasonGabriele FerzettiAn Italian submarine captain tries to navigate his sub through enemy waters whilst being stalked by a British commander (James Mason). The Italian sub manages to make it into the neutral port of Tangiers, followed by the British commander.
- DirectorBoris VolchekStarsPyotr VelyaminovDonatas BanionisElena DobronravovaThe Lucky Pike is a spacious submarine, manned by a picturesque and good hearted crew, in this World War II melodrama.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsJohn BelushiDan AykroydTreat WilliamsHysterical Californians prepare for a Japanese invasion in the days after Pearl Harbor.
- DirectorStuart OrmeStarsDavid JasonIan Puleston-DaviesTony HaygarthA British Sub goes missing at the end of WWII, leaving only one survivor. Everyone believes it lost to the bottom of the Baltic Sea, then 40 years later it reappears without a crew. The British government sends for the one surviving crew member (David Jason), who is now a marine biologist. With a new crew, Jason proceeds to trace the last known happenings on the sub. But this submarine has a life of its own and the new crew soon start showing characteristics of the old crew.