THE MOVIE

Review by Nathan Laird

The Cruel Sea tells the story of the battle for the North Atlantic during World War II as experienced by the crew of the newly built Compass Rose.

The inexperienced crew of the Compass Rose is placed under the command of Captain Ericson (Jack Hawkins) and after only three weeks of training they are assigned the task of guarding supply-carrying convoys from attacks by German U-Boats.

The films focuses on the experiences of Ericson and his officers, Lt Lockhart (Donald Sinden, Ferraby (John Stratton) and Sub-Lt Morrell (Denholm Elliot) and the terrible impact the war has on them.

The film expertly captures the tension, loneliness and psychological stress of guarding a convoy from an enemy who is swift, deadly and nearly impossible to catch with the primitive radar at the disposal of these ships at the time. It is an unsentimental and unflinching look at the effect that war has; which is a timely reminder given recent world events.

The film was adapted from the book of the same name by Nicholas Monsarrat and Eric Ambler was deservedly nominated for an Oscar for best screenplay. The performances elicited by director Charles Frend are uniformly excellent, with the outstanding Jack Hawkins as the ship’s Captain Ericson.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

The video is watchable but its quality is poor throughout, with the film used as the basis for the transfer to DVD showing its age, particularly where stock naval footage has been used. Scratches and grain are present throughout and there are a few minor video artefacts. Whilst the degradation in image quality for older lesser known films is to be expected a proper restoration can resolve such issues. The recent region 1 DVD release of Sunset Boulevard is a good example of the image quality that can be achieved. Unfortunately restoring films in this way does cost money and with lesser known films studios are reticent about the benefits of spending the money to restore the films. However in time it can only be hoped that the costs of restoration fall allowing more older films to be restored so that they can be seen as they were originally intended.

Audio:

The audio is mono and adequate for this film, with dialogue being generally crisp and clear. The films score and the battle sequences are reasonably well rendered.

THE EXTRAS

It’s a very bare bones affair with only the films unrestored trailer on offer, which is of passing historical interest.

SUMMARY

A taut and moving account of the battle for the North Atlantic during WWII and should be made compulsory viewing for George W. Bush and John Howard.