Monsarrat's brilliant best seller comes surging to life


In this seagoing military drama set in World War II, Lt. Comdr. Ericson (Jack Hawkins) is made captain of a British corvette, a small escort vessel used to guide and protect convoys traveling through the Atlantic. Ericson had his confidence severely shaken during his last command, in which he lost his ship and most of its men following an attack by a German U-boat. As he leads a new and largely inexperienced crew aboard the H.M.S. Compass Rose, Ericson is once again thrown into a life-and-death dilemma that forces him to choose between destroying an enemy ship and sparing the lives of his own men. The Cruel Sea featured breakthrough early performances from Denholm Elliott and Virginia McKenna, and it was based on a best-selling novel by Nicholas Monsarrat, who stipulated that the film rights could be sold only to a British company.

The Cruel Sea is a 1953 British film from Ealing Studios starring Jack Hawkins and Donald Sinden, with Denholm Elliott, Stanley Baker, Liam Redmond, Virginia McKenna and Moira Lister. It was directed by Charles Frend and produced by Leslie Norman.
It was based on the best selling novel The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat. It is a portrayal of the war between the Royal Navy and Germany's U-boats from the viewpoint of the British naval officers and seamen who served in escort vessels during World War II, although the screenplay by Eric Ambler omitted some of Monsarrat's grimmest images.

The film was the most successful movie at the British box office in 1953 and caused Jack Hawkins to be voted the most popular star with British audiences.[8] It also earned £215,000 (approximately £4.9million by 2013 standards) in the USA, a high figure for British movies at the time.[9]
Halliwell's Film Guide described the film as a "competent transcription of a bestselling book, cleanly produced and acted.

Release Date: August 19, 1953


Distrib: Universal