IN WHICH WE SERVE.

The life and times of the crew of HMS Torrin sunk during the battle of Crete; their struggle for survival in the sea sharply contrasted with their lives before the battle.

Whilst there is plenty of action in In Which We Serve, It is not these scenes (splendid though they are) for which it is perhaps best remembered; it is the human element: the intercutting of the men in the water with their lives ashore and events that happened prior to the sinking skillfully portrayed by Noel Coward and David Lean.

Coward writing, producing, even composing the rather memorable music and Lean starting off assisting Coward with the directing but by all accounts virtually directing it single handed when Coward tired of the job. Lean's influence is unmistakable; as with his slightly later productions it has a strong documentary feel and a precision that came from his distinguished film editing career which started with a very lowly job at Gainsborough Studios in 1927, becoming an assistant film editor at British Movietone News in 1930.

With promotion to Editor he worked his way through a variety of Paramount-British 'quota-quickies' before cutting a number of prestigious films including Pygmalion (1938), Major Barbara (1941) and One of Our Aircraft is Missing (1941).

Several of the cast seem to have done quite well out of appearing in the film - four of them being recognized in the Honours lists of later years: the veteran Sir John Mills, recently celebrating his 80th birthday was a mere 34 years old (but looking considerably younger) when he appeared as Ordinary Seaman Blake 'spliced' to Kay Walsh - it was his 24th film (Kathleen Harrison who played his mum was only ten years older than he was!). For Sir Bernard Miles it was only his third screen appearance, but cast as Chief Petty Officer Hardy he turns in a splendid performance and Sir Richard Attenborough made his debut as the frightened rating who deserted his post during battle.

There are many other creditable performances including Celia Johnson's but the master of them all is Noel Coward's (the fourth 'Sir'); when he is on screen all eyes are on him - he may be over the top? a little at times, but he can't be ignored.

As Captain E.V. Kinross (no mock heroics here) he has a commanding presence. simple and yet dignified. On its release in 1942 'In Which We Serve' won a number of awards: Best Motion- Picture of the Year by the New York Critics. It was listed it as one of the best 'English Language Films' by The National Board of Review. Noel Coward was given a special Academy Award for his work on the film which proved to be one of the top 24 money-making films of 42/43.

Rank Labs have produced very goods prints: they are certainly very sharp if not quite perfectly graded (a couple of scenes are just a little light) and the printing on colour stock has resulted in a slight green tint (shades of the dreaded 'colorization'?) that the real finicky might not like. The audience at the 13th BFCC thought the print was magnificent and several collectors commented on it afterwards and Movieland have had many letter of congratulations.

The sound is not quite as good as the picture. This is inherent in the master and I checked the recent BBC transmission and found it to be the same; there is some slight distortion and some optical soundtrack noise detectable (though no more than many other films from this vintage) mainly just over the opening title sequence.

Some of the sentiments and attitudes expressed in In Which We Serve might seem a little dated today but it still has the power to emotionally involve the viewer and more importantly it is still entertaining -never mind being a skillful bit of film making.

Without doubt a fine film: a classic worthy of inclusion in any film library.

This page was last updated 02 Dec 2002

©Copyright Info