The Cruel Sea (1953 film)
The Cruel Sea is a 1953 British war film based on the novel of the same title by Nicholas Monsarrat. The film starred Jack Hawkins, Donald Sinden, Denholm Elliott, Stanley Baker, Liam Redmond, Virginia McKenna and Moira Lister. The movie was made by Ealing Studios seven years after the end of the Second World War, and was directed by Charles Frend and produced by Leslie Norman.
The Cruel Sea
Leslie Norman, Norman Priggen & Michael Balcon (executive producer)
- GDF (UK)
- Universal-International (US)
- 24 March 1953 (UK)
- 19 August 1953 (US)
126 minutes
United Kingdom
English
$840,000 (UK)
$600,000 (US)[1]
The film portrays the conditions in which the Battle of the Atlantic was fought between the Royal Navy and Germany's U-boats, seen from the viewpoint of the British naval officers and seamen who served in convoy escorts. It is based on the best-selling 1951 novel of the same name by former naval officer Nicholas Monsarrat, though the screenplay by Eric Ambler omits some of the novel's grimmest moments.
Production[edit]
Casting[edit]
Although the role of the cowardly officer Bennett was an Australian in the book, the Englishman Donald Sinden was originally screen-tested for the part and the Welshman Stanley Baker was screen-tested for the part of Lockhart.[3] Subsequently, at Jack Hawkins' suggestion and after further screen-tests, the roles were swapped.[4]
Future director Don Sharp had a small role.[5] Virginia McKenna launched her career with her small role[6] and met her first husband, Denholm Elliott, on the set.[7]
Filming[edit]
The film was shot on location in Plymouth Naval Dockyard and the English Channel. Scenes showing the sailors in the water were shot in the open-air water-tank at Denham Studios. Other work was completed at Ealing studios. The brief scenes showing Petty Officer Tallow coming home on leave were filmed in Stepney, London. The crane jibs above the houses in the background were edited in as in reality, the docks were over a mile away.
Donald Sinden (playing Lockhart) suffered in real life from negative buoyancy, meaning that he was unable to float or swim in water, which was discovered while filming the sequence when the ship Compass Rose is sinking. Co-star Jack Hawkins (playing Ericson) saved him from drowning in Denham's open-air water-tank.
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
It was the most successful film at the British box office in 1953 and caused Jack Hawkins to be voted the most popular star with British audiences.[12]
Most British war films of this era performed poorly at the US box office; however, the film was one of the few to buck this trend.[13] It earned £215,000 (approximately £4.9million by 2013 standards) in the United States, a high figure for British films at the time.[14][15] (Variety reported this figure at US $600,000.[16][17]).
Legacy[edit]
In 1956, according to the documentary Fifties British War Films: Days of Glory, when Elstree Studios was being sold to the BBC, Sir Michael Balcon was asked what had been his greatest achievement during his tenure. 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. Sometimes you don't get that feeling, but with that one we all did."
It is ranked number 75 on the British Film Institute's list of the top 100 British films.
The film has cult-like status within the Royal Navy, with the mess deck tradition of “Cruel Sea Night” in which new mess joiners will watch the film whilst wearing life jackets and sprayed with water whenever HMS Compass Rose hits heavy weather or certain lines such as “Snorkers!” is said. This is a rite of passage for many members of the Royal Navy and is held with as high regard as crossing the line.[18]
Halliwell's Film Guide described the film as a "competent transcription of a bestselling book, cleanly produced and acted".[19]