The HMS Aylesbury is sunk by the the German raider Essen. Only two men survive and are rescued by the damaged German ship. When the Germans make for an isolated harbour to repair the damage the suffered during the fight one of the men decides he must do all he can to delay the repairs and give the Royal Navy time to locate and destroy the ship. In 1940, Canadian sailor Andrew Brown is prisoner on a battle damaged German raider and he plans to delay the raider's at-sea repairs until a British naval task-force can destroy it. I never heard of this film before I ran across it on Amazon.Com. I was amazed by this as I'm a military historian and I already have an extensive WWII film library. Upon first viewing I found the whole front story stultifying. I love Michael Rennie as an actor but I found his whole "stiff upper lip" "I love you I truly do" performance to be unbelievably stiff. And the mother, were talking early 20th Century morals here, I no more believe her spending a week bonking a stranger than I do her then allowing him to walk away. And her then compounding it by having his love child out of wedlock AND NEVER TELLING HIM??? Puhlease. Eyewash….<br/><br/>When we're finally at sea though the movie comes into its own. Of course the ships are way to modern to be WWII vintage craft and the Nazi's are portrayed as "right good fellows" (they are our allies at the time now against those nasty Bolshiviks so be nice to em) and there's nary a swastika in sight. Good ripping yarn if I do say so myself but could'a been much more if the Victorian morals hadn't derailed the film.<br/><br/>Da Worfster I have always admired the work of C.S. Forester. Some of his most enduring books are about English Captain Horatio Hornblower who served during the French Napoleonic and revolutionary War. In this movie called "Sailor of the King" my favorite actor Jeffrey Hunter plays Signalman Andrew Brown who is aboard H.M.Ship Ansley when it is sunk by a German Crusier. Another favorite actor Michael Rennie who is well remembered as Klatuu from 'The Day the Earth stood still' plays Capt. Richard Saville who longs to do battle with the German navy. In Forester's original work, he had Brown as Saville's son even though neither know of the other. In the movie it is only hinted that both men are related even when both are brought before the King to be decorated and knighted. The movie itself is well directed by Roy Boulting and if you look closely, you'll see Bernard Lee who later became James Bonds' boss at MI6. This is a fine movie and one which is listed as a early Classic in the annals of Military movies. Easily recommended for all. ****
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295 weeks ago