The Cruel Sea (1953)

"You know, when you lose a ship, it's like losing a bit of yourself."

I'm becoming increasingly fascinated by British war films made in the decade or so after the Second World War, after a few years had passed and there had been time for reflection on this extraordinary event that had twisted everybody's lives out of shape for six long years, with unimaginable pressure and stress. There's a lot of action, yes, but also a lot of inherent philosophical musing, humanity, and deconstruction of the "stiff upper lip" trope, which never was straightforward.

On the surface, this is the saga of a ship- well, mostly the one ship- and it's crew, as they live and develop over the six years of the War on an Atlantic convoy, protecting the merchant navy from u-boats. There are bit action set pieces- rescuing mainers whose vessels have sunk, chasing u-boats and, indeed, abandoning ship and trying to survive overnight on a tiny little raft.

Yet this is, more than anything, a film about people, in all their complexity. One of the crew hopes to marry his shipmate's sister, only for her to be killed in an air raid. An officer dies a watery death, knowing his wife is sleeping with another man. The first officer wonders whether proposing to his partner is the right thing or not- is there a place for permanence among the uncertainties of war?

This is by no means one of the very best of its genre, but the cast is solid and the script, if not quite first class, is raised up by its themes and subject matter. And, if nothing else, it taught me how to pronounce "coxswain".

The Prisoner: Many Happy Returns

”Where is this?”

Seven episodes in and I’m still fascinated in what plots can be got out of such a seemingly limited premise. This episode centres around a conceit which could be done only once; Number Six genuinely escapes-  but his own curiosity in locating the Village leads him to return in the conceptually cleverest way possible.

It’s a weird, and simple, premise- Number Six wakes up alone in the Village. No people, no Rover; nothing to prevent his escape. So escape he does, as simple as that, and we go through the motions of seeing him build a raft, stow away on a gun running vessel, make his way to an obviously real London, and speak to the rather nice lady who now lives in his flat and drives his car. So, he’s free, and that’s seemingly it- although he seems to have no close personal friends or relatives. And he certainly seems to be well-trained in the James Bond stuff. National Service, probably.

But Number Six is curious, and wants to find where the Village is. So, with help from his former establishment employers (was he a spy?) he traces its location- just outside the entrance to the Med, apparently; is this official? And, as a final act of hubris, he flies over it, only to be forcibly ejected back into the Village where he finds the same nice lady, who has prepared a birthday cake and a terrible pun. It’s all rather clever. This is another good one, even though it’s nearly 22 minutes until anybody speaks. And there’s no Number Two, no regular cast aside from Patrick McGoohan himself. Most unusual.