{ "id": "ep18jg67z7", "slug": "action-in-the-north-atlantic", "title": "Action in the North Atlantic", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "label": "War and historical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.war-action-and-adventure", "label": "War action and adventure", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.war-action-and-adventure" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.war-action-and-adventure.war-action-films-released-through-1999", "label": "War action films released through 1999", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.war-action-and-adventure.war-action-films-released-through-1999" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.war-action-and-adventure.war-action-films-released-through-1999.yr-1934-1962", "label": "Released 1934 to 1962", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.war-action-and-adventure.war-action-films-released-through-1999.yr-1934-1962" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "label": "United States · 1800 to 1945: War and historical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800", "label": "United States · 1800 to 1945", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "label": "War and historical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Action in the North Atlantic is a 1943 Warner Bros. war film directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring Humphrey Bogart and Raymond Massey as Merchant Marine officers surviving U-boat attacks on a convoy to Murmansk; also known by the working titles Heroes Without Uniforms and Torpedoed.", "snippet": "Action in the North Atlantic is a 1943 Warner Bros. war film directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring Humphrey Bogart and Raymond Massey as Merchant Marine officers surviving U-boat attacks on a convoy to Murmansk; also known by the working titles Heroes Without Uniforms and Torpedoed.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.war-action-and-adventure.war-action-films-released-through-1999.yr-1934-1962", "markdown": "# Action in the North Atlantic\n\n**Action in the North Atlantic** is a 1943 American black-and-white war film from Warner Bros. that dramatizes the work of the [United States Merchant Marine](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-states-merchant-marine), the civilian fleet that carried supplies to the Allies under German U-boat attack during World War II. Directed by [Lloyd Bacon](https://www.edgepedia.org/lloyd-bacon) and produced by Jerry Wald, it runs 126 minutes and stars [Humphrey Bogart](https://www.edgepedia.org/humphrey-bogart) as First Lieutenant Joe Rossi and Raymond Massey as Captain Steve Jarvis, merchant officers who survive the torpedoing of their tanker and sail a Liberty ship in a convoy bound for Murmansk in the Soviet Union.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24027-ACTION-IN-THE-NORTH-ATLANTIC)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | 12 June 1943 (New York premiere around 21 May 1943); 126 minutes, black and white, RCA Sound[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24027-ACTION-IN-THE-NORTH-ATLANTIC) • [2](https://www.classicmoviehub.com/facts-and-trivia/film/action-in-the-north-atlantic-1943/) |\n| Principal cast | Humphrey Bogart (Lt. Joe Rossi), Raymond Massey (Capt. Steve Jarvis), Alan Hale (\"Boats\" O'Hara), Julie Bishop (Pearl O'Neill), Ruth Gordon (Sarah Jarvis), Sam Levene (\"Chips\" Abrams), Dane Clark (Johnny Pulaski)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24027-ACTION-IN-THE-NORTH-ATLANTIC) |\n| Key crew | Director Lloyd Bacon; producer Jerry Wald; screenplay John Howard Lawson from a story by Guy Gilpatric; cinematography Ted McCord; music Adolph Deutsch[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24027-ACTION-IN-THE-NORTH-ATLANTIC) |\n| Recognition | Academy Award nomination for Best Original Story (Guy Gilpatric)[3](https://uboat.net/special/movies/item/7) |\n| Production cost | Budget about $2.2 million; worldwide revenue about $3.5 million[4](https://cinegraph.org/movies/action-in-the-north-atlantic-1943) |\n| Wartime use | Screened in Merchant Marine schools as training material; the War Shipping Administration judged its technical content would \"aid considerably the training program\"[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24027-ACTION-IN-THE-NORTH-ATLANTIC) |\n| Later controversy | Placed on a 1947 HUAC blacklist over the \"Tovarisch!\" greeting scene at Murmansk[3](https://uboat.net/special/movies/item/7) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nCaptain [Steve Jarvis](https://www.edgepedia.org/steve-jarvis) commands the oil tanker Northern Star, with Joe Rossi as his first officer. A German submarine torpedoes the ship in the North Atlantic, and the U-boat then rams and sinks the survivors' lifeboat; the men drift for eleven days on a wooden raft before rescue.[5](https://www.netflixmovies.com/action-in-the-north-atlantic-1943) After leave ashore, during which Rossi marries the singer Pearl O'Neill, the crew signs on to the Liberty ship Sea Witch, which joins an international convoy carrying supplies to the Soviet port of Murmansk.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24027-ACTION-IN-THE-NORTH-ATLANTIC)\n\nThe convoy is attacked by a wolfpack of German submarines and by aircraft. The Sea Witch is singled out by one submarine; Jarvis is seriously wounded in an air battle, and Rossi, acting captain, orders his own decks set afire to lure the submarine to the surface, where the ship's guns and a ramming maneuver destroy it. The ship reaches Murmansk, where Soviet workers greet the mariners with shouts of \"Tovarisch!\" (Comrade!), and the film closes on a tribute to the merchant mariners.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24027-ACTION-IN-THE-NORTH-ATLANTIC) • [6](https://www.cinnamondb.com/movie/action-in-the-north-atlantic-1943)\n\n## Production\n\nThe film began as a planned two-reel documentary tribute to the Merchant Marine, but as the war progressed Warner Bros. expanded it into a full-length feature with more opportunity for dramatic action.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24027-ACTION-IN-THE-NORTH-ATLANTIC) Because of the heavy losses suffered by merchant ships in the early months of American involvement in the war, producer Jerry Wald had the film in production just five weeks after receiving the assignment; two ships were built on Warner stages before screenwriter John Howard Lawson completed the script, which carried the working title \"Torpedoed\" (an alternate title was Heroes Without Uniforms).[7](https://www.tcm.com/articles/373/action-in-the-north-atlantic) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24027-ACTION-IN-THE-NORTH-ATLANTIC)\n\nStudio-bound realism. The entire film was shot on Warner Bros. sound stages, since the War Department's wartime restrictions barred filming at sea.[7](https://www.tcm.com/articles/373/action-in-the-north-atlantic) • [2](https://www.classicmoviehub.com/facts-and-trivia/film/action-in-the-north-atlantic-1943/) The elaborate special effects needed a controlled environment: the old freighter destroyed in the film burned for several days in a tank on the studio's Stage Nine, its flames produced by dozens of gas jets operated from a valve console. Director Lloyd Bacon and his assistant sometimes wore masks against the heat and smoke, and Bacon once nearly choked to death from smoke inhalation. The production ran 45 days over schedule, shooting from September 3 to late November 1942.[7](https://www.tcm.com/articles/373/action-in-the-north-atlantic) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24027-ACTION-IN-THE-NORTH-ATLANTIC)\n\nThe technical advisor was Richard Sullivan, a 23-year-old Merchant Marine cadet who was one of two survivors of a U-boat attack on his vessel.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24027-ACTION-IN-THE-NORTH-ATLANTIC) Contemporary press releases announced [Edward G. Robinson](https://www.edgepedia.org/edward-g-robinson) and [George Raft](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-raft) as intended stars before Bogart and Massey were cast.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24027-ACTION-IN-THE-NORTH-ATLANTIC)\n\n## Wartime purpose and reception\n\nThe film was conceived as a morale booster and tribute at a moment when the U-boat campaign was killing merchant seamen in large numbers; German submarines sank hundreds of vessels and killed more than 9,000 American merchant mariners during the war.[8](https://time.com/4303121/world-war-ii-merchant-marine/) TIME called it \"a celluloid glorification of the U.S. merchant marine\" and noted its lineage from pulp serials, while observing that Warner Bros. was allowed to fly a special Maritime Service Victory Flag for making it.[9](https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0%2C33009%2C885002-1%2C00.html) [The New Yorker](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-new-yorker)'s David Lardner, reviewing it in May 1943, judged the tribute generous and the acting effective, while finding the picture too long.[10](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1943/05/29/1943-05-29-038-tny-cards-000013502)\n\nThe War Shipping Administration valued the film's technical content enough to use it in Merchant Marine schools, and the studio donated three prints for official use at the Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York, and at cadet basic schools in [San Mateo, California](https://www.edgepedia.org/san-mateo-california), and Pass Christian, Mississippi.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24027-ACTION-IN-THE-NORTH-ATLANTIC) Henry J. Kaiser, the shipbuilding magnate, wanted it shown to all his war builders as a morale measure.[7](https://www.tcm.com/articles/373/action-in-the-north-atlantic)\n\nRace and politics. According to a September 1942 article in the [Pittsburgh Courier](https://www.edgepedia.org/pittsburgh-courier), Bogart wanted to include a black Merchant Marine captain in the film, saying that \"the color of a man's skin should have nothing to do with his rights in a land built upon the self-evident fact that all men are created equal.\" The character did not appear.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24027-ACTION-IN-THE-NORTH-ATLANTIC) The historian Penny Summerfield of the [University of Manchester](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-manchester) notes that the 1943 film gave the Merchant Navy rare attention in the context of the leftward drift of wartime politics while still avoiding the depiction of non-white merchant seamen.[11](https://doi.org/10.1093/tcbh/hwr001)\n\nThe film's pro-Soviet elements aged badly. When the convoy reaches Murmansk, Soviet workers greet the mariners with shouts of \"Tovarisch!\", and in 1947 the [House Un-American Activities Committee](https://www.edgepedia.org/house-un-american-activities-committee) placed the film on a blacklist, treating the dialogue as a subversive message planted by Communists.[3](https://uboat.net/special/movies/item/7) Screenwriter John Howard Lawson, a fellow traveler who modeled his script partly on Soviet montage cinema with [Battleship Potemkin](https://www.edgepedia.org/battleship-potemkin) as a reference, was one of the Hollywood Ten and in 1948 was sentenced to a year's imprisonment for refusing to cooperate with HUAC.[7](https://www.tcm.com/articles/373/action-in-the-north-atlantic) • [12](https://www.timeout.com/movies/action-in-the-north-atlantic) Bogart's reply in the scene, \"I'm just thinking about the trip back,\" was often cut from American television broadcasts during the Cold War.[5](https://www.netflixmovies.com/action-in-the-north-atlantic-1943)\n\n## Later distribution\n\nThe film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Story for Guy Gilpatric.[3](https://uboat.net/special/movies/item/7) In a Lux Radio Theatre broadcast of 15 May 1944, which also featured George Raft, Raymond Massey and [Julie Bishop](https://www.edgepedia.org/julie-bishop) returned to the parts they had played in the film.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24027-ACTION-IN-THE-NORTH-ATLANTIC) In West Germany, the Allied Information Control Division withdrew the film from distribution after the scene in which a German submarine commander deliberately runs down a lifeboat caused disturbances in cinemas in Bavaria and Bremen.[13](https://cronfa.swansea.ac.uk/Record/cronfa51061/Download/51061__14714__7356b5c8e2d04a10a748481052823119.pdf)\n\nThe film remains available on streaming and home video and holds an IMDb rating of 7.0/10 from about 5,000 users.[14](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/action-in-the-north-atlantic) A 2004 study in The Journal of American Culture by W. Russel Gray examined it as a wartime propaganda vehicle that developed themes similar to those of [Casablanca](https://www.edgepedia.org/casablanca).[15](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228011832_Navigating_Propaganda%27s_Sea_Lanes_A_Fresh_Look_at_Action_in_the_North_Atlantic)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Action in the North Atlantic (1943), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24027-ACTION-IN-THE-NORTH-ATLANTIC)\n2. [Facts about Action in the North Atlantic, Classic Movie Hub](https://www.classicmoviehub.com/facts-and-trivia/film/action-in-the-north-atlantic-1943/)\n3. [Action in the North Atlantic, uboat.net Naval Warfare Movies](https://uboat.net/special/movies/item/7)\n4. [Action in the North Atlantic, Cinegraph](https://cinegraph.org/movies/action-in-the-north-atlantic-1943)\n5. [Action in the North Atlantic (1943) on Netflix, NetflixMovies.com](https://www.netflixmovies.com/action-in-the-north-atlantic-1943)\n6. [Action in the North Atlantic (1943), Cinnamon DB](https://www.cinnamondb.com/movie/action-in-the-north-atlantic-1943)\n7. [Action in the North Atlantic, by Scott McGee, Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/articles/373/action-in-the-north-atlantic)\n8. [World War II Shows Why We Need the Merchant Marine, by William Geroux, TIME](https://time.com/4303121/world-war-ii-merchant-marine/)\n9. [Cinema: The New Pictures, June 7, 1943, TIME](https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0%2C33009%2C885002-1%2C00.html)\n10. [Toilers of the Sea, by David Lardner, The New Yorker, May 29, 1943](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1943/05/29/1943-05-29-038-tny-cards-000013502)\n11. [Divisions at Sea: Class, Gender, Race, and Nation in Maritime Films of the Second World War, 1939–60, by Penny Summerfield, Twentieth Century British History](https://doi.org/10.1093/tcbh/hwr001)\n12. [Action in the North Atlantic, Time Out film review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/action-in-the-north-atlantic)\n13. [Censorship, Scripts, Suppression, and Selection, Swansea University repository](https://cronfa.swansea.ac.uk/Record/cronfa51061/Download/51061__14714__7356b5c8e2d04a10a748481052823119.pdf)\n14. [Action in the North Atlantic streaming online, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/action-in-the-north-atlantic)\n15. [Navigating Propaganda's Sea Lanes: A Fresh Look at Action in the North Atlantic, by W. Russel Gray, The Journal of American Culture 27(1), 2004](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228011832_Navigating_Propaganda%27s_Sea_Lanes_A_Fresh_Look_at_Action_in_the_North_Atlantic)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › War and historical films (individual works) › War action and adventure › War action films released through 1999 › Released 1934 to 1962*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/action-in-the-north-atlantic", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/action-in-the-north-atlantic.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Action in the North Atlantic\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/action-in-the-north-atlantic. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Action in the North Atlantic](https://www.edgepedia.org/action-in-the-north-atlantic)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/action-in-the-north-atlantic](https://www.edgepedia.org/action-in-the-north-atlantic). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Action in the North Atlantic\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/action-in-the-north-atlantic. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Action in the North Atlantic is a 1943 Warner Bros. war film directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring Humphrey Bogart and Raymond Massey as Merchant Marine officers surviving U-boat attacks on a convoy to Murmansk; also known by the working titles Heroes Without Uniforms and Torpedoed." }