♥♥♥♥♥
A beautifully crafted poster for Noël Coward and David Lean's In Which We Serve
We follow the crew of the destroyer Torrin, which fights the Germans in 1941 as part of WWII but unfortunately suffers shipwreck. This calamity takes place in the film's beginning. After this flashbacks illuminate the captain and navy-men, their families and the time leading up to the battle.
In Which We Serve is written, produced, co-directed and co-composed by debuting great English filmmaker Noël Coward (Brief Encounter (1945, writer)), who also stars in it as the captain. He co-directed it with debuting English master filmmaker David Lean (Great Expectations (1946)). The film was made with the full support of the Ministry of Information as a propaganda effort in support of the ongoing British involvement in the war.
Technically astute, In Which We Serve is a fast-paced and handsomely photographed (by Ronald Neame (The Secret Four (1939))) war drama with striking incorporation of real war images as well as of real sailors as extras. Coward acts with impressive dignity and calm, and John Mills (Deadly Advice (1994)) is also eminent. A young Richard Attenborough (Hamlet (1996)) does fine as a panic-stricken sailor. None of the other men seem to have any faults at all, which may be the only flaw to this great picture.
Related posts:
Noël Coward: The Italian Job (1969) - Braindead boilerplate heist action-comedy regurgitated by swinging London (co-star)
David Lean: Top 10: Best epic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Top 10: Best UK movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) - One of the greats
Great Expectations (1946) - Lean's first Dickens adaptation is pure cinema magic
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 240k £, approximately 967k $
Box office: In excess of 3.2 mil. $
= Big hit (projected return of 3.61 times its cost)
[In Which We Serve was released 17 September (UK) and runs 115 minutes. Shooting took place from February - June 1942 in England. Different sources dupe the film the year's most popular at the UK box office, or the second most popular. It reportedly grossed 300k £ in the Commonwealth, approximately 1.212 mil. $, and 2 mil. $ in rentals in North America, where it was also a big hit. With a cautious projected final gross of 3.5 mil. $, the film would rank as a big hit. The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Picture, lost to Casablanca, and Original Screenplay, lost to Norman Krasna for Princess O'Rourke. Coward won an honorary Oscar for the film, which also won 4 National Board of Review awards. Coward did not direct a feature again but instead racked in credits as a producer, composer, writer and actor. Lean returned with This Happy Breed (1944). As an actor Coward returned with uncredited voice performances in Blithe Spirit (1945) and Brief Encounter (1945) and finally with a physical performance in The Astonished Heart (1950). In Which We Serve is fresh at 90 % with a 7.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of In Which We Serve?
.jpeg)
