Based on the best-selling 1951 novel by naval officer Nicholas Monsarrat, The Cruel Sea takes a deep dive into the Battle of the Atlantic.
Omitting some of the book’s most grim moments, the 1953 film is a documentary-style account of life on a British Royal Navy warship during World War 2.
The focus is from the viewpoint of British naval officers and seamen who served in convoy escorts as they came into contact with Nazi Germany’s U-boats.
Starring Jack Hawkins, Donald Sinden, Denholm Elliott and Virginia McKenna, this movie was ranked No 75 in the British Film Institute’s list of the Top 100 British Films.
Upon its release, The Cruel Sea was the most successful movie at the 1953 British box office, with Jack Hawkins being voted the most popular star with British audiences.
In his 1973 autobiography, Anything for a Quiet Life, Hawkins wrote of The Cruel Sea: “All of us in the film were sure that we were making something quite unusual, and a long way removed from the Errol Flynn-taking-Burma-single-handed syndrome. This was the period of some very indifferent American war movies, whereas The Cruel Sea contained no false heroics. That is why we all felt that we were making a genuine example of the way in which a group of men went to war.”
The Cruel Sea will air on BBC Two at 1 pm this Sunday and will be available on BBC iPlayer for a limited time afterwards.