A pretty easy to follow and relaxed film but, come on, pro war propaganda? David Lean should know better.

A pretty easy to follow and relaxed film but, come on, pro war propaganda? David Lean should know better.

Out of the 13 David Lean directorial efforts I’ve now seen this is unfortunately the weakest and least entertaining of the bunch, I didn’t find much to care for in the characters and story and it’s clearly more focused on inspiring the 1942 British public’s hearts with pride for their military than it is on being a masterpiece. And that’s not to say every movie has to gun for that title, I’m only saying in reference to this movie specifically because I have a director in David Lean and a writer in Noël Coward who I’ve seen deliver that high level of quality so this outcome in comparison is without a doubt disappointing. As always John Mills charmed me the most out of the whole cast, his performances in every one of his Lean collabs I’ve seen did the same thing so I can’t say I’m surprised about that, I still need to see a lot more but he’s becoming one of my favorite character actors of the mid 20th century just with a handful of roles. I didn’t know Celia Johnson was in this before she showed up so that was a nice surprise too even if she was a bit sidelined and I was left wanting more of her, I’m sad she never got much traction as an actress outside of her stuff with Lean because she was seriously talented. Visually the war scenes honestly looked pretty good, really good for 1942 and that’s a big reason why this is a three and not lower, the explosions really didn’t look that far off what we have today, I’m shockingly impressed. Like I said earlier though this falls short with the story for me, one of the things I was actually having a good time with was John Mills and Kay Walsh’s relationship and even though it was a decently big plot-line I still wanted more scenes with those two sharing the camera, I loved their romantic chemistry in This Happy Breed so to see that blundered here was a bit upsetting. There’s not much more to add about this one, it’s a basic wartime propaganda film about how cool the British navy is but you still get a Noël Coward script, a John Mills lead, and David Lean visuals so you can’t really be too mad.

Out of the 13 David Lean directorial efforts I’ve now seen this is unfortunately the weakest and least entertaining of the bunch, I didn’t find much to care for in the characters and story and it’s clearly more focused on inspiring the 1942 British public’s hearts with pride for their military than it is on being a masterpiece. And that’s not to say every movie has to gun for that title, I’m only saying in reference to this movie specifically because I have a director in David Lean and a writer in Noël Coward who I’ve seen deliver that high level of quality so this outcome in comparison is without a doubt disappointing. As always John Mills charmed me the most out of the whole cast, his performances in every one of his Lean collabs I’ve seen did the same thing so I can’t say I’m surprised about that, I still need to see a lot more but he’s becoming one of my favorite character actors of the mid 20th century just with a handful of roles. I didn’t know Celia Johnson was in this before she showed up so that was a nice surprise too even if she was a bit sidelined and I was left wanting more of her, I’m sad she never got much traction as an actress outside of her stuff with Lean because she was seriously talented. Visually the war scenes honestly looked pretty good, really good for 1942 and that’s a big reason why this is a three and not lower, the explosions really didn’t look that far off what we have today, I’m shockingly impressed. Like I said earlier though this falls short with the story for me, one of the things I was actually having a good time with was John Mills and Kay Walsh’s relationship and even though it was a decently big plot-line I still wanted more scenes with those two sharing the camera, I loved their romantic chemistry in This Happy Breed so to see that blundered here was a bit upsetting. There’s not much more to add about this one, it’s a basic wartime propaganda film about how cool the British navy is but you still get a Noël Coward script, a John Mills lead, and David Lean visuals so you can’t really be too mad.

A good war time drama, you can really see a good film maker in here although it’s both Coward and Lean directing you can really see David Leans style shining through. Although I’m not a fan of war films this does well to establish good characters with Cowards writing and you really grow to like the crew. I enjoyed this.

A good war time drama, you can really see a good film maker in here although it’s both Coward and Lean directing you can really see David Leans style shining through. Although I’m not a fan of war films this does well to establish good characters with Cowards writing and you really grow to like the crew. I enjoyed this.

There’s glimmers of brilliance laced throughout but they’re suffocated by an uninteresting portrait of a naval ship’s crew full of the most proper and patriotic sailors put to screen. Wish there was life in this thing somewhere!

There’s glimmers of brilliance laced throughout but they’re suffocated by an uninteresting portrait of a naval ship’s crew full of the most proper and patriotic sailors put to screen. Wish there was life in this thing somewhere!

David Lean is a fantastic director and this is another example. In a time where there is a glut of wartime movies this one is able to stand out because of its narrative structure, camera work, can great ensemble of wonderful performances.

David Lean is a fantastic director and this is another example. In a time where there is a glut of wartime movies this one is able to stand out because of its narrative structure, camera work, can great ensemble of wonderful performances.