Death Is Final. Review on The Cruel Sea Movie

If ever a film portrayed the horrors and terrors of war at sea then The Cruel Sea must rank with “In Which We Serve” and “Das Boot” at or near the top of a very short list.

Based on the book of the same name by Nicholas Monserrat, this film does not dramatise for effect and tells the story of what it was really like in England’s struggle for survival. I am assured by those who sailed the Gibraltar run and escorted the Merchant marine with precious supplies across the Atlantic, that life and death was exactly as portrayed.

The story is told from the viewpoint of Captain Ericson played by the excellent British actor Jack Hawkins and narrated by him when the occasion demanded. The scenes below deck are reminiscent of my time on warships of the line although I had the good fortune not to be involved in anything as brutal as out and out war. HMS Compass Rose, a flower class corvette, is home to Ericson an ex Merchant Navy captain and a crew of rank amateurs who are charged with the task of fighting the U-boats to keep our supply lines open.

The director Charles Frend got the very best out of the actors and actresses with Donald Sinden playing the part of Sub Lieutenant Lockhart who by virtue of the fact that he sailed a 5 tons yacht on the Solent and had five whole weeks of Navy training became the First Lieutenant. Other stars included Stanley Baker, Denholm Elliot, Virginia McKenna, Moira Lister and Meg Jenkins. The horrors of the man made hell that we call war, were vividly portrayed as the captain struggles with a decision of whether to attack a submarine or not. His problem was that the sub was just underneath a group of men in the water and in order to attack he would have to steam right through them and drop his depth charges in their midst. The tension of being totally and absolutely at the mercy of any U-boat in the vicinity, as the corvette has to heave to so that the chief engineer can arrange a repair to a prop shaft, is of mind numbing proportions. The musical sigh of relief when they survive the ordeal is the only difference between that and reality. The horrifying scenes of the cries of some of the crew of the Compass Rose as they are trapped below as the valiant corvette sinks to the bottom after being torpedoed, will haunt my memory for the rest of my life as it haunted Captain Ericson. Cast adrift in the cold and inhospitable Atlantic the few crew to survive the carnage fight the cold and the fuel oil in their lungs to stay alive in the hope that they will be picked up to carry on the fight. This film is not just about dying with least fuss to their fellow sailors and for a just cause but also about the human relationships between members of the crew and their loved ones ashore.

There are scenes that make for poignant viewing with tears but a misty look away. The Cruel Sea could almost be a documentary although there never was a ship called HMS Compass Rose but the naval traditions extended to ship’s captains making quotes in their ship-to-ship signals as they went about their worthy task. This excellent film nearly fifty years old, was produced by Leslie Norman, the father of the BBC film critic Barry Norman and is worthy of viewing by the younger generation of today, if only to remind them of a time when their grandparents lived, loved, suffered and died so that they may enjoy the fruits of a modern world. At the coming of the dawn we shall remember them.