Cinema
The Cruel Sea
Charles Frend · 1953
Synopsis
A voice announces the story of an ocean, of two ships and of a handful of men: the men are the heroes, the ships the heroines, and the only villain is the sea, which man has made crueller. Late 1939. Ericson, a merchant navy officer recalled to the navy, is given command of a new corvette, the Compass Rose. There he finds two young sub-lieutenants who have never served at sea, Lockhart and Ferraby, a brutal first lieutenant, Bennett, and a winter sea that tests everyone.
Context
The film is drawn from Nicholas Monsarrat's novel published in 1951; the author had served in the navy on the Atlantic convoys. In it the commander drops his depth charges on a submarine that has been located while survivors from his own side are floating above it, then gets drunk and weeps. Michael Balcon, head of the studio, saw the cut two days later and had the scene redone for a more restrained emotion; several takes followed, but it was the first, with Jack Hawkins's tears, that was kept. The technical adviser, Jack Broome, had commanded the escort of an Arctic convoy.
Who it is for
Two hours six, in English with subtitles or in a French version; the story follows two ships, from the beginning to the end of the war.
Prizes and reception
The highest-grossing film in Britain in 1953, according to the press of the time and historians of war cinema.
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