At the start of World War II, Cmdr. Ericson is assigned to convoy escort HMS Compass Rose with inexperienced officers and men just out of training. The winter seas make life miserable enough, but the men must also harden themselves to rescuing survivors of U-Boat attacks, while seldom able to strike back. Traumatic events afloat and ashore create a warm bond between the skipper and his first officer.
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Character
Earnest, classical in form, grave and resolved.
- earnestironic
- classical in formformally daring
- gravecomic
- resolvedopen-ended
- warmbleak
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“Is Jack Hawkins the best thing in The Cruel Sea?”
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Reviews on TMDB
Written by TMDB members; each links to the original. Not part of Tastebuds's numbers.
- CinemaSerfon TMDB · Aug 20247/10
This has to be one of my favourite wartime adventures that really quite powerfully illustrates not only the perils of those sailing the Atlantic during the Second World War but the courage of the ordinary folks drafted in to man these tiny ships at the mercy of the weather and the U-boats. "Ericson" (Jack Hawkins) has been put in command of an convoy escort that's staffed by a rather obnoxious former used-car salesman "Bennett" (Stanley Baker) and two green-around-the-gills sub-lieutenants "Ferraby" (John Stratton) and "Lockhart" (Donald Sinden). Initially, their task is mainly to keep afloat in the turbulent waters but as continental Europe falls to the Nazis, the threat from Grand Admiral Doenitz's wolf-pack system of submarine attacks makes their jobs even more deadly. With their enemy largely unseen and highly manoeuvrable, it's difficult enough to see one let alone attack it, but they've all got a job to do. There's a strong dynamic here between Sinden and Hawkins and the story is peppered with back references to the lives ashore of many of the crew who have families in a homeland that is constantly being bombed. It was made long after the war finished, but it still manages to
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Cast
- Jack HawkinsEricson
- Donald SindenLockhart
- Denholm ElliottMorell
- John StrattonFerraby
- Stanley BakerBennett
- Liam RedmondWatts
- Meredith EdwardsYeoman Wells
- Bruce SetonTallow
- John WarnerBaker
- Barry LettsRaikes
Crew
- Charles FrendDirector
- Eric AmblerScreenplay
- Nicholas MonsarratNovel
- Gordon DinesDirector of Photography
- Peter TannerEditor
- Leslie NormanProducer
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