Single-Handed (1953)

Director:

Roy Boulting

Writers:

C.S. Forester (novel)
Valentine Davies (screenplay)

Release Date:

11 June 1953 (UK)

Genre:

Action | Drama | War

Plot:

A British naval officer has a brief affair with a woman in England and never knows that she bears him a son...

Plot Keywords:

British | Pow Escape | Prisoner Of War | Naval Combat | Semaphor

Cast

Jeffrey Hunter	...	Signalman Andrew 'Canada' Brown
Michael Rennie	...	Lt. Richard Saville
Wendy Hiller	...	Lucinda Bentley
Bernard Lee	...	Petty Officer 'Stokes' Wheatley
Peter van Eyck	...	Kapitan von Falk (as Peter Van Eyck)
Victor Maddern	...	Signalman Willy 'Misery' Earnshaw
John Horsley	...	Cmdr. John Willis
Patrick Barr	...	Capt. Tom Ashley, HMS 'Amesbury'
Robin Bailey	...	Cdr. John Stafford - HMS 'Stratford'
Officers and Men of H.M.S. Manxman
Officers and Men of H.M.S. Cleopatra
Officers and Men of H.M.S. Glasgow

Also Known As:

Brown on Resolution (UK) (working title)
C.S. Forester's Sailor of the King (USA) (complete title)
Sailor of the King (USA)

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Canada:G (video rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:U | USA:Approved (PCA #16141)

Filming Locations:

British Lion Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Productions

Trivia:

Although the movie is set in World War Two, the basic situation on which the story is loosely based is that of the World War One naval battles of Coronel in the South Pacific and the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic, both of which took place in 1914. As in the film, a British cruiser force was defeated in the first battle by a superior German force and then Royal Navy reinforcements sent from England allowed the British to triumph in the second encounter.

Goofs:

Continuity: While Brown is firing on the ship, his rifle keeps changing from a German Mauser 98 to a British Enfield. This becomes apparent in the close up views where the rear bridge peep sight is visible. The Mauser rear sight in on the barrel.

Movie Connections:

Version of Brown on Resolution (1935)

They Don't Make Adventure Stories Like This Anymore

Whichever of its titles you choose to like (I first saw this film as 'Sailor Of The King'), this is a fine adventure story.

The theme is inborn filial devotion to king, country (or Commonwealth), democracy, duty, and decency: inborn since the main character (played stirringly by Jeffrey Hunter as the ordinary bloke, Brown, who rises to the challenge of extraordinary circumstances) doesn't know who his father is, and the plot development tantalizes us with the nearness of the dispelling of Brown's ignorance.

I have heard that C.S. Forester wrote the novel as an adventure story for boys. No matter, the film builds slowly to a taut, exciting climax that viewers of all ages can thrill to.

Jeffrey Hunter was wonderfully handsome, and he could act; it would be lovely if such talent could also be found in today's (2003's) non-nutritional, unsatisfying crop of young male leads. Wendy Hiller's acting is always superb, and though she has a small part in 'Sailor of the King' she plays it with all her crackling, yet understated verve; Hiller's expressive, soulful eyes should have inspired the composition of a long, gorgeous symphony. Michael Rennie, another handsome and talented - and underappreciated - actor, gives a good effort too.

Though the plot is fictional, it doesn't matter a whit. 'Sailor Of The King' is a splendid adventure film, the likes of which "they just don't make anymore." This is the sort of film you can watch every six months, just for the pure joy of its congealing plot and the anxiety in its inspiring denouement. Pity 'Sailor Of The King' has not made it onto DVD.