The Cruel Sea (1953)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	War	Theatrical Trailer
Rating	?
Year Of Production	1953
Running Time	121:12
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Charles Frend
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Jack Hawkins Donald Sinden John Stratton Denholm Elliot Virginia McKenna
Case	?
RPI	Box	Music	Alan Rawsthorne

    The Cruel Sea  is based on the novel of the same name by Nicholas Monsarrat. It concerns the ships Compass Rose and Saltash Castle both at different times under the command of Captain Ericson (Jack Hawkins), who together with first officer Lt. Lockhart (Donald Sinden) and their crew carry out convoy escort duty in the Atlantic ocean during a period of World War II in which these large supply convoys are at the mercy of German U-boats who hunt the slow moving vessels with great determination. Except for the captain, who has been seconded from the merchant navy, the rest of the crew and officers are raw recruits who have only had minimal training. The narration provided at a couple of points during the film perfectly captures the mood engendered by the story being told here.

    "This is the story of the Battle Of The Atlantic. A story of 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."

    "We sailed on 11 convoys that year and all the time the enemy grew stronger. It was like a stain spreading over the sea, poisoning it mile by mile. For us the Battle Of The Atlantic was becoming a private war. If you were in it you knew all about it, how to keep watch on filthy nights and how to go without sleep, how to bury the dead and how to die without wasting anyone's time."

    Without overdramatisation, this movie has perfectly captured what it must have been like to participate in a war as a crew member of a convoy escort. The officers and crew experience in equal parts boredom, terror and elation while carrying out their assigned duties.

    Jack Hawkins' performance is particularly moving during one sequence in which he must run down the survivors of a torpedoed ship in order to depth charge the enemy submarine submerged below them. Afterwards, he is filled with a remorse that is both palpable and convincing.

    The Cruel Sea was nominated for the 1954 Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay. Recommended for all World War II buffs.

Video

    The picture is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and it is not 16x9 enhanced. This is very close to, but not quite, the original aspect ratio of 1.37:1.

    Sharpness  varies from reasonably sharp to slightly soft. The shadow detail is always quite adequate. Minor edge enhancement has been applied to the image.

    This black and white production exhibits a satisfactory grey scale.

    The source material used for this transfer is in reasonably good condition so for the most part film artefacts are mostly small and therefore not too intrusive. It should be noted, though, that there are larger marks such as that at 15:32 and that some scenes exhibit much more damage than average. Some archival footage that has been used, for example between 13:25 and 13:33, is in particularly bad condition with very significant film artefacts present. Film grain is evident at all times. There's a couple of instances of minor aliasing. No compression artefacts were noted.

     No subtitles have been provided on this disc.

     There is no layer change on this single layered DVD-5 disc.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The single English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono audio track has an expected dated quality. Minor hiss is present but is not intrusive at normal listening levels.

    The dialogue was generally clear and understandable although the occasional word was a bit hard to make out. No problems were noted concerning the audio sync.

    The musical score was both strident and dramatic and as such was an eminently suitable match for the story being told here.

    Both the surround channels and subwoofer were silent.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    Unfortunately, the extras are limited to just a theatrical trailer.

Menu

    The menu, displayed in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 without 16x9 enhancement, consists of a black and white image with colour text for the menu options. Neither animation nor audio are provided.

Theatrical Trailer

    A typical trailer of the period, this runs for 3:39 in black and white with an aspect ratio the same as the movie at 1.33:1. The audio is Dolby Digital 2.0 mono.

    It appears that The Cruel Sea has been released in Region 2, as in Region 4, as part of the 4 disc The British War Collection. The content and features of the R2 disc are identical to those of the R4. This title has not been released in Region 1.

    The Cruel Sea captures the essence of the Battle Of The Atlantic in which men and their vessels are pitted against both the prowling German U-boats and the power of the sea.

    The video definitely shows the age of the source materials but is as good as you could expect without significant restoration.

    The audio quality exhibits a dated quality but is otherwise completely adequate.

    The extras are minimal.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall