The Sea Shall Not Have Them (1954)

Director:

Lewis Gilbert

Writers:

Lewis Gilbert (writer)
John Harris (novel)

Release Date:

June 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

SURGING DRAMA! Excitement that leaps from the screen!

Plot:

During WW2, a British bomber equipage is forced down in the British Chanel. Trying to keep the moral...

Plot Keywords:

Rescue | WWII | Sea | Based On Novel

Cast

Michael Redgrave	...	Air Commodore Waltby
Dirk Bogarde	...	Flight Sgt. MacKay
Anthony Steel	...	Flying Officer Treherne
Nigel Patrick	...	Flight Sgt. Singsby
Bonar Colleano	...	Sgt. Kirby
James Kenney	...	Cpl. Skinner
Sydney Tafler	...	Cpl. Robb
Griffith Jones	...	Group Capt. Todd
Jack Watling	...	Flying Officer Harding
Guy Middleton	...	Squadron Leader Scott
Ian Whittaker	...	A.C.2 Milliken
Paul Carpenter	...	Lt Patrick Boyle, Sea Otter Pilot
George Rose	...	Tebbitt
Victor Maddern	...	Gus Westover
Eddie Byrne	...	Petty Officer Porter

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Alliance Film Studios, St Margarets, Twickenham, Middlesex, England, UK

Company:

Angel Productions

Trivia:

The NFT in London planned to show this movie in the 1990s as part of a Lewis Gilbert season but had to cancel the screening when they found out no cinema prints existed.

Plucked From The Briny Deep

The Sea Shall Not Have Them is a gritty realistic war film from the United Kingdom about the men who serve on air sea rescue duty. No glamor here, just professional men doing a job, rescuing air crews down in the North Sea and English Channel. Good location photography on an old Royal Air Force rescue station give a ring of authenticity.

Four men are on a rubber dinghy in the North Sea after being shot down by a German fighter. Two of those men are Michael Redgrave and Dirk Bogarde. Redgrave is in fact got a briefcase with him containing plans for the V-2 rockets with which the British public shortly became acquainted with.

A rescue sea craft commanded by Anthony Steel is sent to find them and pick them up. Not so easy with a prevailing mist over the North Sea. The dinghy is also in fact drifting east towards the occupied Netherlands.

The best scenes in the film are on the dinghy. I'm reminded a bit of Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat which was an ocean liner compared to what our RAF airmen are occupying. Best acting honors go to Dirk Bogarde as the Flight Sergeant who is trying to keep the famous British stiff upper lip, but is losing out fast to the numbness and cold. It's bad for all of them in the ocean, check the scene in which Bogarde's fingers are so numb, he can't even light a rescue flare.

The Sea Shall Not Have Them is one superb piece of film making and even those who don't like war pictures will like this one very much.