It sold so well that the publisher Cassell later issued an expurgated cadet edition for younger readers.
Balcon assigned directorial duties to Charles Frend, one of his most trusted associates. Frend was a notable exponent of documentary-influenced feature films, including The Foreman Went to France (1942) and San Demetrio, London (1944), which were characteristic of many Ealing wartime productions, and similar elements were present in The Cruel Sea. These films, together with Frend's Scott of the Antarctic (1948), would, as Robert Murphy has written in Ealing Revisited, 'best represent Balcon's plans for Ealing to make ambitious films celebrating Britain and the British character'
The craggy-featured, gravelly-voiced Jack Hawkins was immediately recognized as the perfect fit for the lead role of Capt Ericson, the gruff commander of the corvette HMS Compass Rose and, upon his elevation, the frigate HMS Saltash Castle. Donald Sinden, in his first film appearance, was cast as young reserve officer Lt Lockhart, who becomes Ericson’s ‘Number One’, a former freelance journalist with an enthusiasm for sailing.
This story is from the January 25, 2023 edition of Country Life UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the January 25, 2023 edition of Country Life UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds
