Siluri umani (1954)

The Italian navy in the second world war, was strong and efficient, but somehow only had negative results to saw (good for us Greeks). But there was one area of the naval war in which the Italians were not only the first but also the best. The unorthodox naval war of modern times was their invention, and no other navy, including the British, was ever capable to match them.

This film, made only a few years after the real event, tells the story of the most famous and successful enterprise they ever accomplished, against the British navy in Crete, in 1941. We follow the training and the personal stories of the members of this group of special men who prepare themselfs for a most dangerous mission and finally we see the scene of the attack, very well made for the time. The film is patriotic rather than antiwar but since Italy was on the side that lost the war, you get to see a lot less propaganda than in the American films of the kind.