The Cruel Sea (1953)
At the start of World War II, Cmdr. Ericson is assigned to convoy escort HMS Compass Rose with inexperienced officers and men just out of training. The winter seas make life miserable enough, but the men must also harden themselves to rescuing survivors of U-Boat attacks, while seldom able to strike back. Traumatic events afloat and ashore create a warm bond between the skipper and his first officer
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Simply A Masterpiece
Admirable film.
Absolutely brilliant
Blistering performances.
*Spoiler/plot- The Cruel Sea, 1953, Tells the story of a British navy 'corvette' ship and it's captain with crew in the dangerous North Atlantic WW2.*Special Stars- Jack Hawkins, Donald Sinden, Denholm Elliott, Stanley Baker *Theme- British Navy teamwork can conquer overwhelming odds against you. But sometimes the Sea gives no justice.*Trivia/location/goofs- B&W, British, Stanley Baker has a quick role in the early part of this film as a overbearing alcoholic command officer.*Emotion- An interesting story and well acted. This documentary-like story shows the hardship, loneliness, and the danger of everyday shipboard war service in the North Atlantic during WW2. This film crystallizes the action and adventure on the high seas and adds classic stature to this unforgettable war-time epic. The pacing was too slow to keep this film's watch-ability from hurting this worthy film of British civilian naval heroism.
Whenever I come to review a film I read first any other reviews unless, as in this case, there are several pages and then I read only the first page. Having just done that very thing it seems that all the reviews were written by people who had an extra knowledge of the subject, i.e. ex-naval personnel and/or those with relatives - fathers, brothers, cousins, possibly even husbands - who had served or are still serving in either the Royal navy or the Mercantile Marine. In other words people who were closer to the subject than someone like me, an impartial and dispassionate observer. I remember seeing this film on television years ago but retaining little memory of it. Seeing it again I found it competently made, well photographed, acted and directed, but was unable to detect any quality that would eclipse Noel Coward's definitive In Which We Serve. With that in mind it was perhaps unfortunate that someone involved - maybe the original novelist, Nicholas Monsarrat, maybe the scriptwriter, Eric Ambler - had seen fit to steal from Coward the situation of two shipmates connected to someone on shore who subsequently dies in an air raid. Coward wrote two chums whose wives shared the same house; here the only difference is that one of the shipmates is about to marry the sister of the other. It's watchable but, I feel, overpraised.
The best thing about this WWII naval picture is that it is so ordinary. What I mean by this is that there is no bigger-than-life Hollywood style hero who is invincible, but a collection of normal men showing great heroism collectively--sort of a tribute to the unsung heroes of the war. It's set aboard a convoy escort ship's captain and crew--through their tense moments, trials, successes and failures. In other words, its a WHOLE portrait of the war as seen through these sailors' eyes--the good, the bad and the mundane.The second best thing is the lovely look and feel--with great acting and direction. Jack Hawkins was, as always, wonderful but all the actors playing the crew did so well--and it's a tribute to the production and direction--this didn't just happen by chance.In many ways, this film plays a lot like the great British film "In Which We Serve"--though unlike "In Which", "The Cruel Sea" was made after the war. Both films together would make a wonderful night of movie viewing. Solid and exceptional.
Ealing Studios which has come down to us in history as the home studio of British comedies, particularly those of Alec Guinness produced this fine, but unusual product for its reputation. The Cruel Sea is a no frills drama set in World War II about the men serving on board a corvette class cargo escort ship.It's not glamorous duty this ship is involved in. They are just escorting vitally needed supplies to the western and later Russian fronts not to mention the bare necessities for the civilian population of Great Britain. The run to Murmansk on the Arctic Ocean was the most dangerous with the long coastline of occupied Norway home to innumerable bases for the U Boats to operate.Jack Hawkins does a fine job as the stalwart captain and a good cast as the crew supports him. Standing out is Stanley Baker who in an unusual part for him plays an insecure lieutenant who masks his insecurities with petty shows of tyranny. The usual plot situations involving navy films are all here. The film is similar in many ways to the Trevor Howard film, the Gift Horse which came out around the same time.The Cruel Sea got an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay, but lost to From Here To Eternity which won many Oscars that year. Definitely worth a look when broadcast.