Hacker Cinema
The Cruel Sea
1953 · Film · 126 min
Directed by Charles Frend
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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War historian Antony Beevor discussed that stereotype thusly:
''Patriotism also permeated those British war movies of the 1950s and 60s – The Dam Busters, Reach for the Sky, The Cruel Sea, The Heroes of Telemark, The Battle of the River Plate, Cockleshell Heroes. It camouflaged itself in self-deprecation, but the rousing march music in the finale always braced our belief in the rightness of our cause. We have long made fun of all the period cliches, unable to believe that anyone talked like that. But when researching my new book Arnhem: The Battle for the Bridges, I found that German officers really did say to the British paratroopers taken prisoner: “For you the war is over.” One of my favourite remarks, recorded at the time by a junior doctor, is the reaction of Colonel Marrable, the head of an improvised hospital in the Netherlands, when Waffen-SS panzergrenadiers seized the building. Still puffing gently on his pipe, he says to his medical staff: “Good show, chaps. Don’t take any notice of the Jerries. Carry on as if nothing has happened.” I have always been doubtful about the notion of “a national character”, but a national self-image certainly existed during the war and for some time afterwards.''
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/may/29/antony-beevor-the-greatest-war-movie-ever-and-the-ones-i-cant-bear
Some UK war movies fall into the "wars really suck" category - an obvious example being The Cruel Sea based on the novel by Nicholas Monsarrat who served in Royal Navy during the Battle of the Atlantic:
"This is a story of the Battle of the Atlantic, the story of the ocean, two ships, and a handful of men. The men are the heroes; the heroines the ships. The only villain is the sea, the cruel sea that man has made more cruel."
There are some splendid UK films about the Battle of the Atlantic - my favourite being The Cruel Sea.
NB The author of the novel on which the The Cruel Sea is based, Nicholas Monsarrat, wrote a moving account of his own service - Three Corvettes - which is one of the few books that has reduced me to tears. Funnily enough I happened to read the book while flying over the North Atlantic...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Monsarrat
"The Cruel Sea" was also made into an excellent movie with some genuinely shocking moments for a film made in 1953.
However, I am particularly fond of Nicholas Monsarrat's "Three Corvettes" his non-fiction account of his wartime experiences, one of the few books that has moved me to tears.
I don't know - naval warfare in WW2 could be pretty grim.
I can recommend Nicholas Monsarrat's "Three Corvettes" on his wartime naval experiences - I happened to buy this without knowing much about the book in Heathrow before a flight over the North Atlantic to the US. One of the relatively small number of books that has moved me to tears.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Monsarrat
He also wrote the novel "The Cruel Sea" which was made into one of the best naval war movies of WW2.