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The Cruel Sea [1953]


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

Nicholas Monsarrat's novel is an unflinching, realistic and emotionally involving account of naval life during the Second World War in which the "heroes" are the men, the "heroines" the ships and the "villain" is not so much the German U-Boats lurking below as "the cruel sea" itself. This 1953 film has become a classic of British cinema largely because it is a straightforward, no-frills adaptation of the book and retain's much of the original's compelling yet almost understated dramatic focus. On convoy duty in the North Atlantic, the crew of HMS Compass Rose face as a matter of routine the threat of destruction from U-Boats as well as a constant struggle against the elements. The convoys themselves are Britain's only lifeline and their loss would lead to certain defeat, but in the early years of the war the ships sent to protect them can do almost nothing to prevent the U-Boat attacks. Jack Hawkins gives one of his finest performances as Captain Ericson, the commander who has to balance destroying the enemy against saving the lives of the men under his care. In one unforgettable scene--a crucial turning point for all the characters--he must decide whether to depth charge a suspected submarine despite the presence of British sailors in the water. As with the book, the individual officers and their lives are carefully delineated, helped by the strength of a cast of (then) young actors (notably Donald Sinden and Denholm Elliot). Ultimately what makes The Cruel Sea such an undeniable classic is that it has neither the flag-waving jingoism nor the war-is-hell melodrama so common to most war movies: instead it relates in an almost matter-of-fact way the bitterness of the conflict at sea fought by ordinary men placed in the most extraordinary of circumstances. --Mark Walker


A quiet masterpiece
Review date: 2008-08-22 Rating: 10 out of 10

I just watched this film for the third time. It is a quiet masterpiece, the kind of restrained, understated, emotional film that someone like Michael Bay or Jerry Bruckheimer couldn't make to save their lives.

Telling the story of ordinary men, and a few women, struggling to get through World War II without becoming monsters or going crazy, it is gripping, compelling, at times very frightening and full of understated pathos. For me, it is definitely a three-hanky movie, particularly the scenes where men are dying in the water, drifting away into the blackness, thinking their last thoughts.

What comes across most keenly is perhaps the constant, urgent need to suppress grief, and the sense of a whole generation who are forced to kill, see their loved ones die, and lose friends and family.

My parents fought in this war and I know they were damaged by it. This film has that same exhausted, bitter, desperately disillusioned feeling.

Brilliant performances from a whole slew of British character actors, including Jack Hawkins, Donald Sinden and Denholm Elliott and lots of lovely cameos.

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Reviews


Simply superb!
Review date: 2008-07-08 Rating: 10 out of 10

Simply superb, you will not read a better book about leadership, sacrifice and courage than this book. A wonderfully written book that brings home the realities of the longest battle in the second world war, the Battle for the Atlantic.

As a measure of how well regarded this book is by the Royal Navy, for those young RN officers undergoing training at Britannia Royal Naval College this book is given as a prize presented to the Cadet with the best performance in leadership.

A good companion to this book
Review date: 2008-06-11 Rating: 8 out of 10

Written by someone who experienced WWII in convoy escort duty, The Cruel Sea is quite realistic in a double sense: You get the drama of the war as well as the times when war is dull or frustrating, for example when an officer dumps paperwork onto subordinates. Realistic without being cynical is a good combination.

And if you'd like to read another book on this theme but with more of the immediacy of the war, try C. S. Forester's, The Good Shepherd, the classic account of a single convoy at the height of the war with U-boats as told by the captain of a US destroyer. Unfortunately, new it seems to be available only in an overpriced but ugly reprint, so you might want to find a used copy. I have a paperback version that I reread every few years.

--Michael W. Perry, editor of Chesterton on War and Peace: Battling the Ideas and Movements that Led to Nazism and World War II

A good companion to this book
Review date: 2008-06-11 Rating: 8 out of 10

Written by someone who experienced WWII in convoy escort duty, The Cruel Sea is quite realistic in a double sense: You get the drama of the war as well as the times when war is dull or frustrating, for example when an officer dumps paperwork onto subordinates. Realistic without being cynical is a good combination.

And if you'd like to read another book on this theme but with more of the immediacy of the war, try C. S. Forester's, The Good Shepherd, the classic account of a single convoy at the height of the war with U-boats as told by the captain of a US destroyer. Unfortunately, new it seems to be available only in an overpriced but ugly reprint, so you might want to find a used copy. I have a paperback version that I reread every few years.

--Michael W. Perry, editor of Chesterton on War and Peace: Battling the Ideas and Movements that Led to Nazism and World War II

Eerie
Review date: 2007-04-28 Rating: 10 out of 10

Like all the reviewers of this film I admire it passionately. I too revere every one of the actors/actresses who gave such memorable contributions to this extraordinary film which has everything and yet, no reviewer to date has mentioned the import of the late, private scene in the film - on the bridge - between the dogged, but insistent concussed Captain, (Jack Hawkins) and his doubting Thomas, No.2 officer (Donald Sinden), that there is a silent enemy beneath the bows of the vessel they and their crew know as She.

When Donald Sinden finally, threw in his lot and wholeheatedly committed himself to the Captain I believed in the eerie, ineffable, mysterious and untaught and was/am convinced of an invincible brotherhood.

I watched the film over but that particular scene has never registered in the same way. Perhaps I'm nuts.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Donald Sinden
John Warner
Jack Hawkins
John Stratton
Denholm Elliott

Creators:
Jack Hawkins (Primary Contributor)
Donald Sinden (Primary Contributor)
Gordon Dines (Cinematographer)
Peter Tanner (Editor)
Leslie Norman (Producer)
Michael Balcon (Producer)
Eric Ambler (Writer)
Nicholas Monsarrat (Writer)

Director(s):

Recording label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
EAN: 7321900380850
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Black & White, PAL,
Release date: 2005-04-18
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 121 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1953-08-19
Language: English (Original Language)

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