Cruel Sea, The (Blu-ray) (1953)

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General		Extras
Category	War	Interviews-Cast-Sir Donald Sinden (32:30) Theatrical Trailer-(3:48) Gallery-Photo
Rating
Year Of Production	1953
Running Time	126:23
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Charles Frend
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Jack Hawkins Donald Sinden John Stratton Denholm Elliot Virginia McKenna Stanley Baker
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	Alan Rawsthorne

     In 1940 Commander Ericson (Jack Hawkins) takes command of the Compass Rose, a small escort corvette. He is the only professional naval officer assigned to the ship, the rest of the officers are lawyers or bank clerks, the men raw. His Number 1, Lieutenant Bennett (Stanley Baker), is a bully and an obnoxious drunk, but fortunately for the ship he is hospitalised with an ulcer before the ship is assigned to action duty escorting a convoy. Instead the senior sub-lieutenant, Lockhart (Donald Sinden), becomes Number 1 forming a good working relationship with Ericson and the other officers including Morell (Denholm Elliott) and Ferraby (John Stratton). For the next couple of years the Compass Rose, and the men in her, escort convoys in the North Atlantic and on the Gibraltar run facing U-boats, German bombers and the sea itself. The Compass Rose herself is torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic with great loss of life, but Ericson and Lockhart survive and take command of a new corvette, the Saltash Castle, escorting convoys to Russia, adding ice and snow to the other perils they face at sea.

     The Cruel Sea is based on the best-selling novel by Nicholas Monsarrat, with a screenplay by Eric Ambler, himself an award winning author with novels including The Mask of Dimitrios to his credit. The film is directed by Charles Frend, who initially made his name as an editor, receiving an Oscar nomination for Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), but he also directed films such as Scott of the Antarctic (1948) so is no stranger to films that are based on real events. For, while fictional, The Cruel Sea is very much based on the wartime experiences of Monsarrat who, as a Lieutenant Commander, served on corvettes escorting convoys in the North Atlantic.

     While set during the war, The Cruel Sea is, as are so many of the classic black and white British war films of the 1950, not really about the action, although there is enough of that as well as some very tense sequences when nothing happens! Instead, the film is about the men who crew these small ships in such perilous conditions; their families, girlfriends, wives, faithful and unfaithful. There are no false heroics, no gung-ho histrionics, and for most of the film the U-boats are an unseen threat, their presence signalled only by burning, sinking merchant ships, the Compass Rose’s own torpedoing sudden and without warning. It is also worth noting that, less than a decade after the war, the film does not demonise the U-boat crew members; near the end of the film when the Saltash Castle successfully stalks and destroys a U-boat, surviving Germans are rescued from the sea with the comment that they “are not unlike us”.

     Jack Hawkins had a long and successful career but arguably he was never better than in The Cruel Sea. At the start his Commander Ericson is capable and professional but as the film progresses and he is required to make some terrible decisions that condemn men to their deaths, he becomes more war weary but also more driven, even to the point of exhaustion, beginning to question his own humanity. Donald Sinden is also very good, a very young Denholm Elliott will be of interest to those who only know his older version in the Indiana Jones films while Stanley Baker makes an impact as an unpleasant officer.

     The Cruel Sea was the most successful film at the UK box office in 1953. It is not hard to see why. Filmed on real corvettes, it is a wartime drama that is human and feels authentic, just the sort of classic war film the British made so well in the 1950s. It is, indeed, so well-made that it is no surprise that the film still holds up so well after 65 years.

Video

     The Cruel Sea is presented in the 1.33:1 aspect ratio, in black and white, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code. The original ratio was 1.37:1.

     This is a clean restored print. Blacks, grey scales and shadow detail are very good, detail clear enough to see these models of exploding merchant ships when hit by torpedoes. Contrast and brightness are consistent except in the stock footage noted below. Stock footage of convoys at sea, merchant ships or attacks by German bombers is softer and does have a range of artefacts, such as the vertical scratch at 31:57, but otherwise blemishes are minor, such as motion blur against the grid wall chart in the operations room. Pleasing grain is present.

     English subtitles for the hearing impaired are available.

Video Ratings Summary

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Audio

     Audio is English LPCM 2.0 mono. The film was released in theatres with a mono audio track.

     Dialogue is always clear and easy to understand. The effects, including the crash of the waves impacting on the ship, explosions of torpedoes and depth charges, engines and the 4” gun shots have a good depth. A nice touch is the loud “ping” of the ASDIC in an otherwise silent scene. The music by Alan Rawsthorne is dramatic when it needed to be. There is obviously no surround or subwoofer use. There is no hiss or crackle.

     There are no lip synchronisation issues.

Audio Ratings Summary

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Interview with Sir Donald Sinden (32:30)

     In this recent interview Sinden is candid and amusing as he speaks about his memories of filming The Cruel Sea providing anecdotes, both funny and scary, such as he being unable to swim and almost drowning, shooting at sea, Jack Hawkins, censorship, accidents and the influence of the film.

Trailer (3:48)

Behind the Scenes Stills Gallery

     12 on location stills. Silent, they can be advanced using the remote or automatically.

     This Australian Region B Blu-ray Edition of The Cruel Sea is the same as the Region B UK release. There does not appear to be a US release at present.

     It is great to see classic 1950s black and white British war films being remastered and getting a release on Blu-ray. The Cruel Sea is a typical understated and authentic feeling British war film with a good cast, human characters and no false heroics. 65 years after its release, it remains a powerful and very watchable film about men in peril from the cruel sea.

     The video is very good, the audio is the original mono. The extras are minor but the interview is welcome. Fans of classic British war films or the cast will not be disappointed.

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