1953 Movie poster - Directed by Charles Frend
With The Cruel Sea (1953), we are back in the watery territory of In Which We Serve (1942), only this time we are on a newly-built Flower-class Corvette and not a Destroyer. Jack Hawkins (Lieutenant-Commander George Ericson) begins the movie with a voice over: This is a story of the Battle of the Atlantic, the story of an ocean, two ships, and a handful of men. The men are the heroes; the heroines are the ships. The only villain is the sea, the cruel sea, that man has made more cruel... Hawkins is well-cast in his role, showing determination and grit and other qualities of leadership, but also the sensitivity (in one shot he sheds tears) to empathise with his crew and their travails. One scene shows him getting drunk and collapsing on a chair in his cabin. Another sees him having flash-backs when abandoning the Compass Rose, as he stands on the bridge of his new ship. As he later remarks: You knew how to keep watch on filthy nights, and how to go without sleep, how to bury the dead, and how to die without wasting anyone's time.
Hawkins and his officers on Compass Rose
He is ably supported by other crew members: Donald Sinden as Sub-Lieutenant Keith Lockhart, who later agrees to serve under Hawkins in their new ship, rather than have a command of his own. A major plus of the DVD, is a wonderfully amusing interview with Sir Donald Sinden, reminiscing about the making of the film and giving away several trade secrets! He couldn't swim, so he lay on top of a stunt man swimming below the water! As an aside, I was privileged to watch Sinden in his award-winning portrayal of Lord Foppington in Vanbrugh's The Relapse in 1967 at the Aldwych, London. One of the best theatre experiences I have ever had. Denholm Elliott, a star amongst supporting actors, (New York Times), was good as Sub-Lieutenant John Morell, having to cope with an errant showgirl wife (when Morrell dies after the ship's sinking, Commander Ericson visits the widow, to find her cavorting with another man!); Virginia McKenna (Denholm's wife for in 1954) was an appealing ingénue in just her third film; only Stanley Baker, seemed too much of a caricature martinet - but, once a second-hand car salesman, he swiftly departed through an 'illness' suggested to him by the other officers; it was very pleasing to see an old favourite of mine Andrew Cruickshank (remember Dr. Cameron in the Dr. Findlay TV series!) as the ship's doctor.
HMS Coreopsis (K32) playing the Compass Rose (K49)
Although in five years, Commander Erickson only managed to sink two U-boats, the action scenes were vivid and the moment when he has to steam over swimming survivors to drop depth charges on a U-boat hiding beneath them, is genuinely moving. A crew member shouts out bloody murderer at him. He is later supported by three captains, whom he has rescued, when they meet up in Gibraltar. It is war, but there will be thoughts...and for thoughts there is gin. One captain assures him: No one murdered them. It's the War. The Compass Rose supported 11 convoys in its first year, travelled 98,000 miles overall, and all too often watched merchant ships being blown apart. It was like a stain spreading over the sea. The occasion when the Compass Rose has to stop for repairs is also gripping - showing close-ups of the crew's faces when, ordered to be silent, the noise of the repairers' banging sounds ultra loudly.
Sinden describes in his reminiscences the ship regularly sailing out into the Channel for the shooting of the film. Other locations used were Plymouth Naval Dockyard and Portland Harbour. Only the interior scenes where shot at the Ealing studios AND, of course, the huge open-air water tank at Denham Studios (shades of In Which We Serve). It was an acre in size, ten-foot deep with two enormous wave-making machines. As with the latter film, it was obvious they were no longer in the open sea!
Ericson gets a new ship - a Castle-class frigate, HMS Saltash Castle (in reality HMS Portchester Castle) on the terrifying route to and from Murmansk - the filming was so realistic of the sheer horror of it all. A propos of my previous Blog, I now strike the Navy off my list! It will be between the RAF and Army, if I had to join up.
There are some good bits of dialogue: When you lose a ship, it's like losing a bit of yourself; and, when some enemy sailors climb aboard, They don't look very different from us, do they?; Lockhart, saying of his relationship with Ericson: we're rather like David and Jonathan.
The movie was the most successful film at the British Box Office in 1953; Jack Hawkins was voted the most popular star with British audiences. Typically, like most British war movies of the time, it performed poorly in the USA. Pathetic. The myopia of films needing John Wayne etc as the hero. This was a far better, more deeply felt movie than Sands of Iwo Jima. Sir Michael Balcon was asked what had been his greatest achievement during his regime, he replied: I think perhaps The Cruel Sea, because when we saw that for the first time, we realised that we really had brought it off. It seemed to just gel and be absolutely right. Simon Heffer, in The Daily Telegraph of May 2020, wrote it is simply the greatest war film ever made. The screenplay was by Eric Ambler.
The 2015 DVD
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