christineedney-51763 I have only just watched this film as I thought it might be too distressing. My father fought through the Battle of the Atlantic under Captain Walker's convoy. He could never talk about it, yet before he died in 2003 he wrote a very detailed description of what happened with names, dates, etc. He must have kept a diary. He was Petty Officer (the youngest in the Royal Navy) on HMS Vanoc which destroyed the Ace of the German U-Boat fleet, U-99. He was mentioned in Despatches twice. Met my mother in Liverpool, married 1942. I was born later. His account of his war years can now be obtained on Amazon (or by contacting me): Scuppers to Skipper by W.P.Edney

Leofwine_draca Another fine British war movie of the 1950s. This one tackles the subject of the war in the Atlantic and features the crew of a British warship as they tackle the U-Boat menace. The film is based on a non-fiction novel by Monsarrat and thus has a ring of authenticity to it. There's certainly no jingoism or flag-waving here, just a sweaty and suspenseful account of what it's like to fight submarines in a theatre where the sea itself is an enemy.The cinematography is fine and the story gives a fair balance to both characters and plot. As is usual for this era, the cast is very fine, ranging from Jack Hawkins as the rugged sea commander to Denholm Elliott and Donald Sinden as his fresh-faced recruits. Stanley Baker has another stand-out turn as the sausage-loving first officer. Even Virginia McKenna is here, years before she became known for her work on BORN FREE. I wouldn't call THE CRUEL SEA quite top-tier material but it's certainly an enthralling and moving film nonetheless and above average for its genre.

tieman64 A classic of British cinema, director Charles Frend's "The Cruel Sea" documents five years in the lives of a motley group of British sailors. They're tasked with escorting Allied convoys during World War 2, but it's a seemingly impossible task; Germany's U-boat fleets prowl the seas and feast incessantly on British ships.Unlike most naval films of the era, "The Cruel Sea" is grim, depressing, gritty, pessimistic, suffused with futility and captures well the nuts and bolts banality of wartime. Occasionally the film's ship-board action gives way to several land-based, melodramatic subplots, which borrow heavily from the then burgeoning "kitchen sink" movement. Ealing Studio legend Jack Hawkins stars as the world-weary captain of a torpedo corvette.8/10 – Frend directed a number of British war films, but "The Cruel Sea" was his best. See too "Das Boot", "The Sand Pebbles", "The Last Detail", "Damn the Defiant", "Run Silent Run Deep" and "Sink the Bismarck!".

Werner I recall to have seen this movie when i was a maybe 15 years old and mainly recalled the grim and bitter search for the U-Boat in the Murmansk Convoy Section. Much time has passed and Amazon Germany does now feature this in the Forgotten War Movie Section !. Certainly a film that must not be forgotten ! At the same time German TV featured a 30 year anniversary of "The Boat U-96" with the key actors. The Cruel Sea now is moving towards 60 years coming since it was released and it did not lose much. It is grim, based on obvious real life experience and well cast. Even Stanley Baker impresses as the Snorker Bully with an ulcer. Get it when you can.