Cruel Sea, The (Blu-ray Review)
- Review Date: Apr 16, 2025
- Format: Blu-ray Disc
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Director
Charles FrendRelease Date(s)
1953 (April 22, 2025)Studio(s)
Ealing Studios/Rank (Kino Lorber Studio Classics)- Film/Program Grade: A
- Video Grade: A
- Audio Grade: A
- Extras Grade: B+
Review
Arguably the greatest World War II naval film, The Cruel Sea (1953) eschews Hollywood war movie clichés and propaganda for an unusually realistic, deglamorized portrait of everyday wartime life. Based on the 416-page novel by Nicholas Monsarrat, the film was a critical and commercial success in Britain and, somewhat surprisingly, the U.S.
Narration at the start sets the film’s tone and establishes its main theme: “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...”
The adaptation by novelist Eric Ambler (A Night to Remember) follows two men from the start of the war in 1939 through to its end, though it’s as much an ensemble film, with characters entering and leaving the narrative, through death or illness or reassignment, just as they would in real life. Jack Hawkins (The Bridge on the River Kwai) both narrates and stars as Lt. Commander George Ericson, a British Merchant Navy officer in the Royal Naval Reserve. He’s given command of the HMS Compass Rose, a Flower-class corvette, charged with escorting convoys in the North Atlantic.
He is virtually the only man onboard with experience at sea. Newly-assigned Sub-Lts. Keith Lockhart (Donald Sinden) and Gordon Gerraby (John Stratton) are fresh from basic training. Even abusive martinet Lt. James Bennett (Stanley Baker) had been a used car salesman. Their lack of experience helps engage the viewer with the story; the audience learns about the ship and military protocol as they, and all look to their experienced captain for guidance. Further, we’re impressed by how quickly the men acclimate themselves.
Lt. Bennett is quickly replaced due to illness by Lockhart, promoted to “Number One” by the skipper. Where Gerraby tends to freeze under pressure, Lockhart is focused and methodical, even brushing up on First Aid techniques since there is no ship’s doctor, and both sailors and passengers of vessels sunk by the growing number of U-boats—at one point the ratio of German submarines to convoy ships is 1:1—need urgent medical care.
Sub-Lt. John Morell (Denholm Elliott), formerly a barrister, joins the Compass Rose, and the movie audience becomes acquainted with various other characters, particularly CPO/Coxswain Bob Tallow (Bruce Seton) and Chief Engine Room Artificer Jim Watts (Liam Redmond).
A U-Boat isn’t even glimpsed until the film is nearly over, and by war’s end they’ve managed to sink just two. The enemy remains a mostly-unseen, nebulous menace; when some German sailors are rescued, covered in fuel oil, Lockhart and others remark how indistinguishable they are from themselves. Rather, the ocean itself becomes a much harsher, unforgiving and relentless obstacle. The opening titles tip this off immediately: on big movie screens especially, the rocking swell of the water, up and down, probably made more than a few moviegoers seasick.
Many have called The Cruel Sea a semi-documentary. Certainly, it is filmed in that style, partly to match wartime stock shots, which it does very well. The film also boasts some well-executed visual effects, mostly miniatures and matte paintings. But the filmmakers also knew when less is more: its best and most haunting moments are psychological rather than explicitly shown. The first time a commercial ship is sunk by a U-boat, director Charles Frend cuts to a close-up of a sailor’s awed reaction to the ship going down, rather than show the sinking vessel. Later, amid concern that any noise will give their position away, the Compass Rose stops to picks up a group of oil-covered survivors, who ascend the netting up the side of the ship and in so doing bang their boots against its hull, creating enormous nervous tension among the crew.
Methodically-paced (presented here in its uncut, 126-minute length), it plays very authentic, with little moments throughout that contribute to its verisimilitude, such as a familiar buoy offering relief after each perilous convoy. Again and again the film avoids the obvious. An early scene has Coxswain Tallow visiting his sister with engineer Watts. Tallow is hoping to bring together the lonely widow and widower, who are instantly attracted to one another. This subplot ends tragically, but not at all in the way audiences might have anticipated.
One early scene has Hawkins’ captain gently correcting his new officers for saluting him indoors while they’re still wearing their caps. He’s not wearing his, and thus cannot return their salute. It’s a throwaway moment, but it goes a long way to establish Ericson’s experience yet easy-going manner, his new officer’s inexperience, and so forth. Hawkins is excellent throughout.
It’s interesting to compare his character with, for example, John Wayne’s submarine captain in the not dissimilar Operation Pacific, filmed about a year before. (Mild Spoilers) Both sacrifice men trying to stop U-boats threatening Allied ships, but where Wayne’s captain is merely grimly determined, suppressing any expression of feeling, Ericson is so overcome that his First Lieutenant finds him unashamedly on deck drunk with tears rolling down his cheeks. He’s trying to shake off, not very successfully, feelings of guilt by telling himself, “It’s just war.” Imagine that in a Wayne picture.
Other than Hawkins, the film’s producers seem to have made a deliberate effort to cast relative unknowns as the crew of the Compass Rose. The picture has no real story; it’s basically a series of well-written vignettes that generally (but not exclusively) focuses in on Ericson’s senior staff. Donald Sinden has the most to do as Ericson’s Number One, but Denholm Elliott, in an early role, is fine as an unhappily married man, while Stanley Baker appears early in the film as a First Lieutenant who tries to cover his own inadequacies by leading with an iron fist. Virginia McKenna has a small role as Sinden’s love interest; he wonders if they should be thinking about “permanent things” like marriage in the middle of a war with no clear end or outcome. All would of course become major stars of British cinema, but in early 1953 they were still fresh faces.
Previously released to DVD by Anchor Bay 20 years ago, Kino’s Blu-ray is licensed from StudioCanal, apparently sourcing the same video transfer as their earlier Blu-ray release in Britain. The black-and-white, 1.37:1 full-frame presentation is excellent, the image clean and sharp with excellent blacks. The DTS-HD Master Audio (2.0 mono) is also fine, supported by optional English subtitles. The disc is Region “A” encoded.
Extras include an older interview (running more than 30 minutes) with Donald Sinden (who died in 2014), quite the raconteur. (This was shot around the time Sinden was appearing on the series Judge John Deed.) Also included is a new audio commentary by film critic and author Simon Abrams, well-researched and fact-filled. A trailer rounds out the extras.
More than 70 years after its original release, The Cruel Sea is still gripping stuff, and the Blu-ray is a substantial upgrade from the earlier DVD. Highly Recommended.
- Stuart Galbraith IV