Observing his shipmates, a discordant collection of Nazis and Axis sympathizers fleeing the allied forces in a submarine headed to South America, German general Andreas von Halberstadt quips, "It looks like Noah's Ark. Now, all we need is the deluge." The deluge follows quickly as cramped quarters, dueling agendas and the cunning of a kidnapped French doctor (Henri Vidal) who knows he's marked for death once he's no longer needed threaten the escape voyage. Director Rene Clement and his cinematographer, Henri Alekan, used the submarine setting to generate almost unbearable tension. Clement filmed most of the claustrophobic action on a French soundstage, using breakaway walls to create some amazing camera movements. Clement's best films -- including The Battle of the Rails (1946) and Forbidden Games (1952 -- deal with World War II. Critics have hailed this long neglected feature, recently restored, as his masterpiece. The fascinating cast includes Marcel Dalio, at the time the only star name included, Michel Auclair, whom Clement had met helping Jean Cocteau with La Belle et la Bete (1945), and Florence Marly, the beautiful Czech actress best known for her performance as a seductive space vampire in the cult classic Queen of Blood (1966).

By Frank Miller