The Cruel Sea (1953)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Charles Frend

Writers:

Eric Ambler (screenplay)
Nicholas Monsarrat (novel)

Release Date:

19 August 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

Monsarrat's brilliant best seller comes surging to life

Plot:

The World War II adventures of a British convoy escort ship and its officers.

Plot Keywords:

Sea | Convoy | U Boat | Ship | Survivor

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 nominations

Cast

Jack Hawkins	...	Ericson
Donald Sinden	...	Lockhart
John Stratton	...	Ferraby
Denholm Elliott	...	Morell
John Warner	...	Baker
Stanley Baker	...	Bennett
Bruce Seton	...	Tallow
Liam Redmond	...	Watts
Virginia McKenna	...	Julie Hallam
Moira Lister	...	Elaine Morell
June Thorburn	...	Doris Ferraby
Megs Jenkins	...	Tallow's sister
Meredith Edwards	...	Yeoman Wells
Glyn Houston	...	Phillips
Alec McCowen	...	Tonbridge
Leo Phillips	...	Wainwright
Dafydd Havard	...	Signalman Rose
Fred Griffiths	...	Gracey
Laurence Hardy	...	Sellars
Sam Kydd	...	Carslake
John Singer	...	Gray
Barry Steele	...	Broughton
Gerard Heinz	...	Polish captain
Gerik Schjelderup	...	Norwegian captain
Gaston Richer	...	French captain
Andrew Cruickshank	...	Scott Brown
Barry Letts	...	Raikes
Kenn Kennedy	...	Allingham
Harold Goodwin	...	Asdic operator
George Curzon	...	Admiral at party
Anthony Snell	...	R.N. lieutenant
Ronald Simpson	...	R.N. captain
Don Sharp	...	Lieutenant-Commander
Herbert C. Walton	...	The waiter
Jack Howard	...	A survivor
Russell Waters	...	A.R.P. warden
Harold Jamieson	...	A.R.P. warden
Warwick Ashton	...	Petty Officer instructor
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Walter Fitzgerald	...	Warden (uncredited)
Paddy Joyce	...	Sonar Operator (uncredited)
Richard Leech	...	Sailor (uncredited)

Directed by
Charles Frend

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Eric Ambler		screenplay
Nicholas Monsarrat		novel

Produced by
Leslie Norman	....	producer
Michael Balcon	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Alan Rawsthorne

Cinematography by
Gordon Dines		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Peter Tanner

Art Direction by
Jim Morahan

Makeup Department
Barbara Barnard	....	hair stylist
Sidney Turner	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Hal Mason	....	production supervisor
L.C. Rudkin	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Norman Priggen	....	assistant director
Peter Dixon	....	second assistant director (uncredited)
Tom Pevsner	....	third assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Bert Davey	....	assistant art director (uncredited)
Norman Dorme	....	draughtsman (uncredited)
Tony Rimmington	....	junior draughtsman (uncredited)
Jack Shampan	....	draughtsman (uncredited)

Sound Department
Stephen Dalby	....	sound supervisor
Leo Wilkins	....	sound recordist
Mary Habberfield	....	dubbing editor (uncredited)
Eric Stockl	....	sound assistant (uncredited)
Don Wortham	....	sound assistant (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Sydney Pearson	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Geoffrey Dickinson	....	special processes

Camera and Electrical Department
Paul Beeson	....	photographer: second unit
Jo Jago	....	photographer: second unit
John R.F. Stewart	....	radar photography
Chic Waterson	....	camera operator
Bob Penn	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Herbert Smith	....	focus puller (uncredited)
Ken Westbury	....	clapper loader (uncredited)
Hugh Wilson	....	focus puller: second unit (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Anthony Mendleson	....	wardrobe

Editorial Department
Roy Baker	....	second assistant editor (uncredited)
Alastair McIntyre	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Ernest Irving	....	conductor: Philharmonia Orchestra
Gerard Schurmann	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)
Gerard Schurmann	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
R.S. Abram	....	technical advisor (as Commander R.S. Abram, D.S.C., R.N. {Retd})
J.E. Broome	....	technical advisor (as Captain J.E. Broome, D.S.C., R.N. {Retd})
Jean Graham	....	continuity

Production Companies

• Ealing Studios

Distributors

• General Film Distributors (GFD) (1953) (UK) (theatrical) (released through) (as General Film Distributors Limited)
• Universal Pictures (1953) (USA) (theatrical)
• Parvisfilmi (1953) (Finland) (theatrical)
• CBS Television Network (1972) (USA) (TV)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (1978) (Finland) (TV)
• Republic Pictures Home Video (1994) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (1988) (UK) (VHS)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1964) (2007) (Finland) (TV)

Other Companies

• Admiralty, The  the producers acknowledge with gratitude the co-operation of (as the Admiralty)
• Philharmonia Orchestra, The  music played by

Runtime:

126 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-8 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:Approved (PCA #16500)

Filming Locations:

Ealing Studios, Ealing, London, England, UK

Company:

Ealing Studios

Trivia:

On boarding the castle class frigate, Ericson and Lockhart question whether there is actually a castle called 'Saltash Castle'. There is a castle in Saltash but it is more correctly called Trematon Castle.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The U-53, a type VIIB u-boat, was sunk on 23 February 1940 in the North Channel by HMS Gurkha, not late in the war.

Quotes:

Lockhart: Sir, reports from HQ say that there are five U-boats in this area.
Capt. Ericson: Five? It was good of them to tell us!
Lockhart: [Later that evening] Now they say there are nine U-boats operating around this area.
Capt. Ericson: Nine? Good grief, we must be very popular this evening!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Profile of 'A Town Like Alice' (2001) (V)

Superb unsentimental rendering of North Atlantic Action in W.w.II

I first read this book when I was 14 (and had my father take it back from me when I had to ask "what's 'urinate' mean, dad?"). Monserrat is a master at the depiction of men at war - from his extraordinary technical knowledge to his ability to convey the fatigue, the cross feelings living in close quarters, the bitterness, the moments of triumph or relief.

This film does Monserrat justice. This movie is the opposite of the "boys' own adventure" sorts of movies. There are no striking heroics - just the very real feeling of people performing onerous often dangerous duties as well as they're able - which is heroic itself. The movie does not skimp on the danger either - the shocking losses of ships in convoys that the corvette "protects", the extreme difficulty of finding and sinking U-boats, almost gives one the feeling, "what's the point of convoys?" (Imagine all surgeons operating with an average 3% survival rate - well, 3% recovery is better than none - but imagine the wear on the surgeons).

The film is gritty, and just has the feel of the 1940s in its bones. The sounds, the movement, the look of cities and harbors, the clothes - it's as if one's uncles' tales have all come to life.

Jack Hawkins and Donald Sinden are wonderful - almost always (and necessarily in wartime) stiff upper lip. The movie's moral dramas (bearing upon decisions the captain must make) are wonderfully conceived and executed.

This is truly a superb movie - a great credit to all who worked on it - a memorial to many. It's a completely different - and superior - genre to such movies as Pearl Harbor. I even prefer it to its natural rival, In Which We Serve - good though the latter is.