The Silent Enemy (1958 film)

The Silent Enemy
Original US release film poster by Reynold Brown
Directed byWilliam Fairchild
Screenplay byWilliam Fairchild
Based onCommander Crabb
by Marshall Pugh
Produced byBertram Ostrer
Raymond Anzarut
StarringLaurence Harvey
Dawn Addams
John Clements
Michael Craig
Sid James
CinematographyOtto Heller
Edited byAlan Osbiston
Music byWilliam Alwyn
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal-International
Release date
  • 4 March 1958 (1958-03-04)
Running time
112 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Silent Enemy is a black and white 1958 British action film directed by William Fairchild and starring Laurence Harvey, Dawn Addams, Michael Craig and John Clements.[1] Based on Marshall Pugh's 1956 book Commander Crabb, the film follows the publicity created by Lionel Crabb's mysterious disappearance and likely death during a Cold War incident 2 years earlier (April 1956).The film depicts events in Gibraltar harbour during the World War II Italian frogman and manned torpedo attacks, although the film's depiction of the events is highly fictionalised[citation needed]. It was the first Universal Pictures film in SuperScope.

Enlisted men refer to Crabb as "Crabbie" throughout, alluding to his crabby nature.

  1. ^ "The Silent Enemy". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 1 February 2024.