On July 10, the World War II movie "Greyhound", produced, written and starred by Tom Hanks, landed on Apple TV+, a streaming media outlet. Affected by the epidemic, Sony has postponed the release of the film. In May, streaming apple TV+ bought the film's 15-year broadcast rights. >>> Tom Hanks' Greyhound will be streamed for $70 million
Set in February 1942, Ernest Klaus, played by Tom Hanks, as captain of the first destroyer in the United States, the Greyhound, led an international convoy of 37 Allied warships to cross the treacherous North Atlantic for the first time while facing a swarm of Nazi Germany's U-boats.
World War II military fan Tom Hanks starred in the films "Saving Private Ryan" and "The Greyhound".
As the film's producer, actor and screenwriter, Tom Hanks has long demonstrated his fascination with the theme of World War II, not only starring in "Pink League" (1992) and "Saving Private Ryan" (1998) two films set in World War II, but also working with partner Steven Spielberg to produce a series of classic World War II background series such as "Company of Brothers", "Pacific War" and "Air Combat Heroes". So he would adapt a 65-year-old novel into the film Greyhound.
background
Allied fleet Atlantic vs. German submarine "Wolf Pack"
The Greyhound is based on the 1955 novel The Good Shepherd by writer C. S. Forrest, a British novelist active in American literature and a former RAF fighter pilot and commander, so he was particularly good at writing war novels. The Greyhound is set in one of the battles of the Battle of the Atlantic. In World War II, in order for European allies to be able to sustain their fighting power, the United States and Canada needed to maintain the passage of vital sea lanes for the delivery of goods and personnel to Europe, and the Atlantic Ocean was the only way to go. The strategy adopted by the Allies was to send a fleet of merchant ships escorted by warships and aircraft across the Atlantic. Moving about 40 ships as a tightly knit unit, though, was no easy task, and it was even harder not to be spotted by the cunning Germans. And the center of the Atlantic Ocean, already beyond the cover of the Allied air forces, this area is known as the "Dark Trench", and it is also the place where the fleet is most vulnerable to German attacks.
The film Greyhound is based on the novel The Good Shepherd.
On the other hand, Germany tried to cut off the Allied supply lines by controlling the Atlantic Ocean, so that the anti-fascist Allies in Europe would not have enough troops, food, and weapons, American soldiers would not land in Normandy, and Germany would achieve partial victories in Britain, the rest of Europe, and even the Soviet Union, thus ending the war. The German strategy was a U-boat-based wolf pack tactic that sneaked across the Atlantic to search for and attack allied fleets, once invincible.
By early 1942, German U-boats had begun to wreak havoc directly on the east coasts of North and South America, easily crushing allied merchant ships that were weakly defended. Between January and July 1942, 86 ships sank off the coast of North Carolina, killing more than 1,100 merchant ship crews. By the winter of 1942, however, the situation began to reverse, and the Frigates built by the Allies were familiar with and mastered the tactics of defeating German submarines, and German U-boats were increasingly hunted. German U-boats had to face increasingly powerful convoys, which forced them to use "wolf pack" tactics for swarm attacks. Deadly battles ensued at sea, but the Germans did not have enough submarine troops to cover the vast waters of the Atlantic. Some 41 U-boats were sunk in May 1943 alone, after which Germany decided to withdraw them.
The film "Greyhound" depicts a German submarine with a "wolf's head".
The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest-running battle of World War II, spanning almost the entire entire battle of World War II (beginning on September 3, 1939 and ending on May 8, 1945), and the loss of supply lines was a constant concern for the Allies. To underscore the importance of this battle, Winston Churchill coined the name "Battle of the Atlantic", which was meant to allude to the Battle of Britain.
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"Fiction" that stands up to history
Although Greyhound is rooted in World War II history, the story is not directly based on a true event. The story of the original novel "The Good Shepherd" is fictional, but after a lot of historical research, the information is quite solid, especially the details of the protagonist's combat command are deeply depicted, so that for a long time, the book was used as a textbook for the United States Naval Academy.
Tom Hanks plays Commander Ernest Klaus.
The Naval Commander played by Tom Hanks is also a fictional character, and his name has been changed from George Klaus in the novel to Ernest Klaus in the movie. The Greyhound destroyer did not exist in the historical Nakano, but the "Greyhound" ship in the movie has the number "548" printed on the hull, and the word "DD-548" is also under the title at the end. It was confirmed that the DD-548 was a canceled Fletcher-class destroyer of the U.S. Navy.
In addition, the international convoy of 37 Allied warships led by Tom Hanks in the film is called the "HX-25" fleet, and the destination is Liverpool. The true Convoy "HX-25" set sail in Halifax, Canada, on 5 March 1940 and arrived in Liverpool on 20 March 1940. Consists of 25 merchant ships, 1 ocean escort and a fleet of 4 to 6 escort ships (depending on the date). Three ships were left behind during the voyage, one of which was attacked by air.
The Allied fleet in Greyhound.
In addition to "Greyhound", the films "Hunting U-571" (2000) and "Attack from the Bottom of the Sea" (1981) are also based on the confrontation between German U-boats and Allied destroyers in the "Battle of the Atlantic", especially "Attack from the Bottom of the Sea" directed by the famous German director Wolfgang Petersen, which reflects on war and human nature from the perspective of the Germans, and excellently reproduces the bad environment, boredom and nervous atmosphere experienced by the German army, which was attacked by "Reich" in 2010. The magazine ranked 25th out of 100 greatest films of all time.
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The two warships of the United States and Canada are matched with +CG
The film cost $50.3 million to produce, which is a small and medium-sized film for a World War II movie. In terms of shooting, the film adopts the method of "real scene + CG" to present the sea battlefield.
Much of the film's plot unfolds in the ship's navigator's cabin and the close-up spaces of the wheelhouse, and these scenes are recreated in the background of the studio, which coincides with the claustrophobic and terrifying environment of the plot. Seascapes and battle scenes rely on reliable CG technology, with frequent panoramic and high-altitude drone footage expanding the visual range.
From top to bottom, the film is the USS Greyhound, the Royal Canadian Navy frigate USS Montreal, and the US destroyer USS Kidd.
Some of the live-action shooting of the film was done aboard the Royal Canadian Navy frigate USS Montreal and the US destroyer USS Kidd (DD-661). The latter was a Fletcher-class naval destroyer named after Rear Admiral Isaac Campbell Kidd, who died on the bridge of the USS Arizona during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The Kidd docked at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA, for many years and has been a tourist attraction. The main reason the filmmakers chose to shoot on this historic battleship was that Kidd was the only surviving World War II destroyer, and it was well maintained and still in a state of wartime readiness.
Highlights
Hand-to-hand combat between warships and submarines on the sea is well documented
There is a highlight in the film, because the German U-boat was damaged and could not dive, and engaged in a close-range head-to-hand combat with the Greyhound at sea. Most battles between warships and U-boats take place at long distances and below the surface, and it is rare for destroyers and submarines to "fight bayonets" at close range, but there have been instances of engagement in history.
In the film, the Greyhound fights hand-to-hand with a German submarine on the sea.
On November 1, 1943, the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Borie DD-215 and the German submarine U-405 clashed in real time, and when the U-boat attempted to ram the U-boat, a wave caused its bow to fall on top of the U-boat, leaving both sides in a deadly entanglement. The submarine was too close to the destroyer's machine guns, so the crew fired with rifles, submachine guns, and machine guns. That night, the U-405 submarine was engulfed by the sea and buried at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The next day, the destroyer "Pori" was badly damaged and sank to sea.
Beijing News reporter Teng Chao
Edited by Huang Jialing Proofreader Wu Xingfa