.gif)
The Cruel Sea (film)
Encyclopedia
The Cruel Sea is a 1953 British film from Ealing Studios
starring Jack Hawkins
and (in his first film) Donald Sinden
, with Denholm Elliott
, Stanley Baker
, Liam Redmond
, Virginia McKenna
and Moira Lister
. It was directed by Charles Frend
and produced by Leslie Norman
(father of TV movie critic, Barry Norman
).
It was based on the best selling novel The Cruel Sea
by Nicholas Monsarrat
. It is a strikingly accurate portrayal of the war between the Royal Navy and Germany's U-boat
s from the viewpoint of the British naval officers and seamen who served in escort vessels during World War II
, although the screenplay by Eric Ambler
omitted some of Monsarrat's grimmest images.
) - This is a story of the Battle of the Atlantic, the story of the ocean, two ships, and a handful of men. The men are the heroes; the heroines the ships. The only villain is the sea, the cruel sea, that man has made more cruel...
Set at the start of 1940 just as the Battle of the Atlantic begins, Lieutenant Commander
George Ericson, after service in the British Merchant Navy, is recalled to the Royal Navy
as a member of the RNR and given command of HMS Compass Rose, a newly-built Flower class corvette
intended for convoy
escort duties. His officers are mostly newly-commissioned and without much experience at sea, if any.
Despite these initial disadvantages, the ship's company gains hard experience and becomes an effective fighting unit. At first, their worst enemy is the weather, since German submarines lack the range to attack shipping far into the Atlantic. When French ports fall to the Germans, U-boats can attack convoys anywhere in the Atlantic - ironically making bad weather the convoys' greatest advantage. The junior officers mature and the ship crosses the Atlantic many times, escorting convoys, often in brutal weather, during the course of which they witness the sinking of many merchant vessels they are charged with protecting and the tragic deaths of merchant navy crewmen. After close to three years of service, including one U-boat sunk, the Compass Rose is herself torpedoed
and her crew forced to abandon ship. Ericson survives this ordeal along with his First Lieutenant, Lockhart (Donald Sinden
), although most of the crew are lost
Together with his now-promoted "Number One", Ericson takes command of a new ship, HMS Saltash Castle a new frigate
(though in the film the frigate was portrayed by a Castle-class corvette
), and they continue the monotonous, but vital, duty of convoy escort. Late in the war, they sink another U-boat, Saltash Castles only 'kill'. As the war ends, the ship is shown returning to port, as a guard to a number of German submarines that have surrendered.
Compass Rose was portrayed by the Flower-class corvette HMS Coreopsis (K32). The Admiralty had disposed of all the wartime corvettes, but eventually she was located in Malta by one of the film's technical advisers, Capt. Jack Broome DSC RN (who had been escort commander of the ill-fated Convoy PQ 17). Coreopsis had been loaned to the Hellenic Navy
and re-named Kriezis, and was now awaiting a tow back to England and the breaker's yard. Compass Rose carries the pennant number
"K49", which was in reality the number of HMS Crocus.
Saltash Castle was portrayed by Castle-class
corvette HMS Portchester Castle
(pennant F362, as in the film).
from its origins in 1902 (1981), Pavilion
Ealing Studios
Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in West London. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on the site ever since...
starring Jack Hawkins
Jack Hawkins
Colonel John Edward "Jack" Hawkins CBE was an English actor of the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s.-Career:Hawkins was born at Lyndhurst Road, Wood Green, Middlesex, the son of master builder Thomas George Hawkins and his wife, Phoebe née Goodman. The youngest of four children in a close-knit family,...
and (in his first film) Donald Sinden
Donald Sinden
Sir Donald Alfred Sinden CBE is an English actor of theatre, film and television.-Personal life:Sinden was born in Plymouth, Devon, England, on 9 October 1923. The son of Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes , he grew up in the Sussex village of Ditchling, where their home doubled as the...
, with Denholm Elliott
Denholm Elliott
Denholm Mitchell Elliott, CBE was an English film, television and theatre actor with over 120 film and television credits...
, Stanley Baker
Stanley Baker
Sir Stanley Baker was a Welsh actor and film producer.-Early career:William Stanley Baker was born in Ferndale, Rhondda Valley, Wales. In the mid-1930s his parents moved to London, where Baker spent most of his formative years...
, Liam Redmond
Liam Redmond
Liam Redmond was an Irish actor known for his stage, film and television roles.-Early life:Redmond was one of four children born to carpenter Thomas and Eileen Redmond...
, Virginia McKenna
Virginia McKenna
Virginia A. McKenna OBE is a British stage and screen actress, author and wildlife campaigner.-Early career:McKenna trained as an actress at the Central School of Speech and Drama then worked on stage in London's West End theatres before making her motion picture debut in 1952...
and Moira Lister
Moira Lister
Moira Lister de Gachassin-Lafite, Vicomtesse d’Orthez was an Anglo-South African film, stage and television actress, and writer.-Early life:...
. It was directed by Charles Frend
Charles Frend
Charles Frend was an English film director.Charles Frend started his career at British International Pictures in 1931 and after editing Hitchcock's Waltzes from Vienna moved to Gaumont British Pictures in 1933 where he worked as an editor on Alfred Hitchcock's movies Secret Agent , Sabotage and...
and produced by Leslie Norman
Les Norman
Leslie A. Norman was a British director and producer. His career spanned nearly fifty years, from 1930 until 1978, and in that time he tried his hand at many different jobs, including editor, producer, and writer...
(father of TV movie critic, Barry Norman
Barry Norman
Barry Leslie Norman, CBE is a British novelist, impresario, film critic and media personality. He was the BBC film critic on television from 1972 to 1998.-Early life:...
).
It was based on the best selling novel The Cruel Sea
The Cruel Sea (book)
The Cruel Sea is a 1951 novel by Nicholas Monsarrat. It follows the lives of a group of Royal Navy sailors fighting the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II....
by Nicholas Monsarrat
Nicholas Monsarrat
Commander Nicholas John Turney Monsarrat RNVR was a British novelist known today for his sea stories, particularly The Cruel Sea and Three Corvettes , but perhaps best known internationally for his novels, The Tribe That Lost Its Head and its sequel, Richer Than All His Tribe.- Early life :Born...
. It is a strikingly accurate portrayal of the war between the Royal Navy and Germany's U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
s from the viewpoint of the British naval officers and seamen who served in escort vessels during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, although the screenplay by Eric Ambler
Eric Ambler
Eric Clifford Ambler OBE was an influential British author of spy novels who introduced a new realism to the genre. Ambler also used the pseudonym Eliot Reed for books co-written with Charles Rodda.-Life:...
omitted some of Monsarrat's grimmest images.
Plot
The film begins with a voice-over by Ericson (Jack HawkinsJack Hawkins
Colonel John Edward "Jack" Hawkins CBE was an English actor of the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s.-Career:Hawkins was born at Lyndhurst Road, Wood Green, Middlesex, the son of master builder Thomas George Hawkins and his wife, Phoebe née Goodman. The youngest of four children in a close-knit family,...
) - This is a story of the Battle of the Atlantic, the story of the ocean, two ships, and a handful of men. The men are the heroes; the heroines the ships. The only villain is the sea, the cruel sea, that man has made more cruel...
Set at the start of 1940 just as the Battle of the Atlantic begins, Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...
George Ericson, after service in the British Merchant Navy, is recalled to the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
as a member of the RNR and given command of HMS Compass Rose, a newly-built Flower class corvette
Flower class corvette
The Flower-class corvette was a class of 267 corvettes used during World War II, specifically with the Allied navies as anti-submarine convoy escorts during the Battle of the Atlantic...
intended for convoy
Convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...
escort duties. His officers are mostly newly-commissioned and without much experience at sea, if any.
Despite these initial disadvantages, the ship's company gains hard experience and becomes an effective fighting unit. At first, their worst enemy is the weather, since German submarines lack the range to attack shipping far into the Atlantic. When French ports fall to the Germans, U-boats can attack convoys anywhere in the Atlantic - ironically making bad weather the convoys' greatest advantage. The junior officers mature and the ship crosses the Atlantic many times, escorting convoys, often in brutal weather, during the course of which they witness the sinking of many merchant vessels they are charged with protecting and the tragic deaths of merchant navy crewmen. After close to three years of service, including one U-boat sunk, the Compass Rose is herself torpedoed
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
and her crew forced to abandon ship. Ericson survives this ordeal along with his First Lieutenant, Lockhart (Donald Sinden
Donald Sinden
Sir Donald Alfred Sinden CBE is an English actor of theatre, film and television.-Personal life:Sinden was born in Plymouth, Devon, England, on 9 October 1923. The son of Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes , he grew up in the Sussex village of Ditchling, where their home doubled as the...
), although most of the crew are lost
Together with his now-promoted "Number One", Ericson takes command of a new ship, HMS Saltash Castle a new frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
(though in the film the frigate was portrayed by a Castle-class corvette
Castle class corvette
The Castle-class corvettes were an updated version of the much more numerous Flower-class corvettes of the Royal Navy, and started appearing during late 1943...
), and they continue the monotonous, but vital, duty of convoy escort. Late in the war, they sink another U-boat, Saltash Castles only 'kill'. As the war ends, the ship is shown returning to port, as a guard to a number of German submarines that have surrendered.
Cast
Ranks stated are those at the start of film. Ericson and Lockhart are both later promoted.- Jack HawkinsJack HawkinsColonel John Edward "Jack" Hawkins CBE was an English actor of the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s.-Career:Hawkins was born at Lyndhurst Road, Wood Green, Middlesex, the son of master builder Thomas George Hawkins and his wife, Phoebe née Goodman. The youngest of four children in a close-knit family,...
as Lieutenant-Commander George Ericson RNR - Donald SindenDonald SindenSir Donald Alfred Sinden CBE is an English actor of theatre, film and television.-Personal life:Sinden was born in Plymouth, Devon, England, on 9 October 1923. The son of Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes , he grew up in the Sussex village of Ditchling, where their home doubled as the...
as Sub-Lieutenant Keith Lockhart - John Stratton as Sub-Lieutenant Gordon Ferraby
- Denholm ElliottDenholm ElliottDenholm Mitchell Elliott, CBE was an English film, television and theatre actor with over 120 film and television credits...
as Sub-Lieutenant John Morell - John Warner as Sub-Lieutenant Baker
- Stanley BakerStanley BakerSir Stanley Baker was a Welsh actor and film producer.-Early career:William Stanley Baker was born in Ferndale, Rhondda Valley, Wales. In the mid-1930s his parents moved to London, where Baker spent most of his formative years...
as First Lieutenant James Bennett RANVR - Bruce SetonBruce SetonMajor Sir Bruce Lovat Seton of Abercorn, 11th Baronet , better known as Bruce Seton, was a British actor and soldier....
as Petty Officer Tallow (CoxswainCoxswainThe coxswain is the person in charge of a boat, particularly its navigation and steering. The etymology of the word gives us a literal meaning of "boat servant" since it comes from cox, a coxboat or other small vessel kept aboard a ship, and swain, which can be rendered as boy, in authority. ...
) - Liam RedmondLiam RedmondLiam Redmond was an Irish actor known for his stage, film and television roles.-Early life:Redmond was one of four children born to carpenter Thomas and Eileen Redmond...
as Chief ERA Jim Watts - Virginia McKennaVirginia McKennaVirginia A. McKenna OBE is a British stage and screen actress, author and wildlife campaigner.-Early career:McKenna trained as an actress at the Central School of Speech and Drama then worked on stage in London's West End theatres before making her motion picture debut in 1952...
as Second Officer Julie Hallam - Moira ListerMoira ListerMoira Lister de Gachassin-Lafite, Vicomtesse d’Orthez was an Anglo-South African film, stage and television actress, and writer.-Early life:...
as Elaine Morell - June ThorburnJune ThorburnJune Thorburn was a popular English actress whose career was cut short by her death in an air crash.-Early life:Thorburn was born in Karachi when the city was still in a non-independent India...
as Doris Ferraby - Megs JenkinsMegs JenkinsMuguette Mary "Megs" Jenkins was an English character actress who appeared in British films and television programmes.-Life and career:...
as Tallow's sister, Gladys - Meredith EdwardsMeredith Edwards (actor)Gwilym Meredith Edwards was a Welsh character actor and writer.He was born in Rhosllannerchrugog, Denbighshire, Wales, the son of a collier. He became an actor in 1938, first with the Welsh National Theatre Company, then the Liverpool Playhouse...
as Yeoman of Signals Wells - Glyn HoustonGlyn HoustonGlyn Houston , is an actor best known for his television work. He is the brother of the late film actor Donald Houston.-Early life:...
as Leading-Seaman Phillips - Alec McCowenAlec McCowenAlexander Duncan "Alec" McCowen CBE is an English actor. He is known for his work in numerous film and stage productions. He was awarded the CBE in the 1985 New Year's Honours List.-Personal:...
as Leading-Seaman Tonbridge
The novel
Monsarrat drew on his own wartime experience as an Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) officer in the writing of his novel. The film reproduces most of the plot of the story, including the constant danger, the privation, the boredom, the grim humour of the sailors in time of war, and the women who are left behind. Filmed only seven years after the end of the war, The Cruel Sea does not give all of the detail of the book - to give just one example, Monsarrat's account of a chain of grinning skeletons floating in their roped-together life jackets - but Eric Ambler's screenplay, the actors' portrayals, and Charles Frend's direction convey the atmosphere of the book.The ships
Hellenic Navy
The Hellenic Navy is the naval force of Greece, part of the Greek Armed Forces. The modern Greek navy has its roots in the naval forces of various Aegean Islands, which fought in the Greek War of Independence...
and re-named Kriezis, and was now awaiting a tow back to England and the breaker's yard. Compass Rose carries the pennant number
Pennant number
In the modern Royal Navy, and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth, ships are identified by pennant numbers...
"K49", which was in reality the number of HMS Crocus.
Saltash Castle was portrayed by Castle-class
Castle class corvette
The Castle-class corvettes were an updated version of the much more numerous Flower-class corvettes of the Royal Navy, and started appearing during late 1943...
corvette HMS Portchester Castle
HMS Portchester Castle (K362)
HMS Portchester Castle was a Castle-class corvette built in 1943 and scrapped in 1958. She was the only ship of the Royal Navy to be named after Portchester Castle in Hampshire, and was used for the 1952 film The Cruel Sea, in which she played Saltash Castle.-Construction:She was launched on 21...
(pennant F362, as in the film).
See also
- Frederic John WalkerFrederic John WalkerCaptain Frederic John Walker, CB, DSO and three Bars, RN was a British Royal Navy officer noted for his exploits during World War II...
, the most successful anti-submarine warfare commander during the Battle of the Atlantic. - Denys RaynerDenys RaynerDenys Arthur Rayner DSC & Bar, VRD, RNVR fought throughout the Battle of the Atlantic. After intensive war service at sea, Rayner became a writer, a farmer, and a successful designer and builder of small sailing craft - his first being the Westcoaster; his most successful being the glass fibre...
, a real-life commander of Ericson's type. - The Enemy BelowThe Enemy BelowThe Enemy Below is a 1957 war film which tells the story of the battle between the captain of an American destroyer escort and the commander of a German U-boat during World War II. It stars Robert Mitchum, Curt Jürgens, David Hedison and Theodore Bikel. The movie was directed and produced by Dick...
Further reading
George Perry, Forever Ealing: A history of Ealing StudiosEaling Studios
Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in West London. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on the site ever since...
from its origins in 1902 (1981), Pavilion
External links
- HMCS Sackville, the only surviving Flower class corvette, located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada