The Cruel Sea (1953 film)
| The Cruel Sea | |
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Original British film poster
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| Directed by | Charles Frend |
| Produced by | Leslie Norman, Norman Priggen & Michael Balcon (executive producer) |
| Written by | Eric Ambler |
| Based on |
The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat |
| Starring |
Jack Hawkins Donald Sinden Denholm Elliott Virginia McKenna Stanley Baker |
| Music by | Alan Rawsthorne |
| Cinematography | Gordon Dines |
| Edited by | Peter Tanner |
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Production
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| Distributed by |
GDF (UK) Universal-International (US) |
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Release date
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Running time
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126 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Cruel Sea is a 1953 British war film starring Jack Hawkins, Donald Sinden, Denholm Elliott, Stanley Baker, Liam Redmond, Virginia McKenna and Moira Lister. The film, which was made by Ealing Studios seven years after the end of the Second World War, was directed by Charles Frend and produced by Leslie Norman. It is based on the best selling novel of the same name by former naval officer Nicholas Monsarrat, though the screenplay by Eric Ambler omits some of Monsarrat's grimmest moments.
The film portrays the conditions in which the Battle of the Atlantic was fought between the Royal Navy and Germany's U-boats. It is seen from the viewpoint of the British naval officers and seamen who served in convoy escorts. The film begins with a voice-over by Ericson (Jack Hawkins);
This is a story of the Battle of the Atlantic, the story of an ocean, two ships, and a handful of men. The men are the heroes; the heroines are the ships. The only villain is the sea, the cruel sea, that man has made more cruel...
Opening in the autumn of 1939, just as war breaks out, Lieutenant-Commander George Ericson, a British Merchant Navy officer in the Royal Naval Reserve, is recalled to the Royal Navy and given command of HMS Compass Rose, a newly built Flower class corvette intended for convoy escort duties. His sub-lieutenants, Lockhart and Ferraby, are both newly commissioned and without experience at sea. The new first lieutenant, James Bennett (Stanley Baker), is an abusive martinet.
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Wikipedia