Noël Coward? The contemporary and present image is usually that of a debonair, slightly effete gentleman who, in his own words was determined to travel through life first class. With his clipped, 'upper-class' (he was the son of a London piano salesman and an ambitious mother) accent - never more apparent than in the scenes with Celia Johnson (today, they would occasion ribaldry). His appearances, both on and off stage, dressed in a silk dressing-gown/smoking-jacket, drawing on a cigarette in a long holder, epitomised the strange inter-war period. Writer and producer of successful, light comedies, such as Private Lives, Blithe Spirit, This Happy Breed and the saga Cavalcade, he exuded what one critic described as a combination of cheek and chic. Many of his songs have become well-known quotations:
Mad about the boy,
It's funny but I'm mad about the boy...
Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun.
Don't put your daughter on the stage, Missis Worthington...
The stately homes of England
How beautiful they stand,
To prove the upper classes
Have still the upper hand.
Don't let's be beastly to the Germans...
Thus, he was hardly the actor imagined to play the Captain of a naval destroyer in the Second World War, based on the real exploits and sinking of HMS Kelly, Captain Lord Louis Mountbatten's ship. A close friend (some argue they were lovers) of Mountbatten and keen to support the war, Coward launched this patriotic movie, which he not only directed, scripted and was its main star, but also composed the music.
The ITV DVD of the Film
The opening credits extol the Royal Navy and the film is dedicated to the Service. It starts This is the story of a ship. The HMS Torrin is shown being built in a shipyard and floated; then it is straight off to the Battle for Crete in the eastern Mediterranean. After successfully sinking enemy ships, the destroyer comes under attack from German bombers. It is hit and rapidly capsizes. Some of the crew, including the Captain (Coward) swim to a Carley float, and are every so often straffed by enemy planes.
In the Carley float
Then, through the clever use of flashbacks, the story of the ship and some of these crew are told. It is effective, as these back-stories show the individuality of war (Sergeant York's individual tale is told chronologically). These scenes are effective, particularly the ones at Christmastime - where Celia Johnson gives a moving speech which, while admitting she has a great rival in her husband's ship, pays her own tribute to the cause.
Celia Johnson and Noël Coward
There are some fine English actors on show, several very early on in their movie careers. The 34-year-old John Mills plays Ordinary Seaman 'Shorty' Blake and recalls in a flashback how he met Freda Lawrence (actress Kay Walsh, aged 31) in a train compartment. She is related to the HMS Torrin's Chief Petty Officer Walter Hardy (35-year-old Bernard Miles). Another flashback finds the now-married Freda sheltering with her baby under the stairs in the Hardys' home. It is blitzed and both Hardy's wife and mother-in-law are killed. Freda and child survive. The ensuing letter to the ship (not yet sunk) brings out some solid acting from Mills and Miles. Another young actor, in his first film, was the 31-year-old Richard Attenborough, who played Young Stoker. Having lost his nerve during a bombardment of the ship, the Captain subsequently treats him humanely but disciplined for the future.
Another British destroyer rescues the little group and telegrams are sent home to their loved ones. Captain Kinross addresses the ship's survivors (about half the crew had been saved) in a military depot in Alexandria. Coward, in fact, used Mountbatten's speech to the survivors of HMS Kelly for this finale.
A Poster for the 1942 Film
The film was the second most popular movie at the British box office in 1943, earning $1.8 million in rentals in the USA. The realistic action scenes were shot by the young David Lean - Coward first being persuaded, then acknowledging, that he had not the skills for the job. In fact, Coward soon became bored with the mechanics and time taken over film-making and only came to the studio for his own scenes. The interior shots were filmed at Denham Studios, Buckinghamshire; other scenes were shot at Plymouth's naval dockyard and the Isle of Portland. The destroyer HMAS Nepal played the ship
There are some memorable moments: the sing-song on the Carley float (Roll out the Barrel etc.) fading to re-emerge in an old-time Music Hall; the close-up of Attenborough's face, when his Captain is both supporting and reprimanding him; the noise and heat in the bowels of the ship; the meeting of John Mills and Kay Walsh in the railway carriage; the bickering between the Hardys in their parlour. Stark realism is the key, with some excellent acting and sound, honest directing. Only a few in the Admiralty failed to join in the praise; they dubbed the film In Which We Sink.
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