The Key (1958)

During World War II, successive tugboat British Captains sent on dangerous salvage missions pass-on the key to a home-port apartment, where a lonely Swiss-Italian young war-widow lives.

Director:

Carol Reed

Writers:

Jan de Hartog (novel), Carl Foreman

Stars:

William Holden, Sophia Loren, Trevor Howard

Won 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
William Holden	...	Captain David Ross
Sophia Loren	...	Stella
Trevor Howard	...	Captain Chris Ford
Oskar Homolka	...	Captain Van Dam (as Oscar Homolka)
Kieron Moore	...	Kane
Bernard Lee	...	Cmdr. Wadlow
Beatrix Lehmann	...	Housekeeper
Noel Purcell	...	Hotel Porter
Bryan Forbes	...	First Mate Weaver
Sidney Vivian	...	Grogan
Rupert Davies	...	Baker
Russell Waters	...	Sparks
Irene Handl	...	Clerk
John Crawford	...	American Captain
Jameson Clark	...	English Captain

Storyline

During World War II, tugboats conduct what are called salvage missions, picking up disabled ships. Not well equipped with weaponry, the tugs are sitting ducks for enemy fire. As such, the crew working the tugs have precarious lives, many with deep seated emotional problems. Before the Americans join the war, ex-American military man David Ross is assigned to captain a tug for the British military. He is shown the ropes by an old friend, Captain Chris Ford. Chris currently shares a flat with a young beautiful Italian-Swiss woman named Stella, who came with the flat and who lives a reclusive life there. Chris is the latest in a long line of tugboat Captains who have lived there, each who has found another person to take over the flat and the associated looking after of Stella if anything is to happen to him. That person is given a key to the flat, the key only to be used if needed. The first in the series was Phillip Westerby, to whom Stella was to be married before Phillip was killed. ...

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Plot Keywords:

male male relationship | male female relationship | bare chested male | hairy chest | homosexual subtext | 

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Taglines:

Each night she was warm and waiting for him...and then one night she drew him gently to her...calling him softly by another man's name.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

Gary Cooper was writer and producer Carl Foreman's first choice for the lead.

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Goofs

(at 00:15) the salvaged cargo ship is white but while towed we suddenly see the black bow of another ship under the name "Wave Knight" being towed.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Captain Chris Ford: Say, can you tell me where Cmdr. Wadlow's office is?
Captain Van Dam: Has America come into the war?

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Connections

Referenced in McCullin (2012)

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Soundtracks

Flat Foot Floogie
(uncredited)
Music by Slim Gaillard and Slam Stewart
Lyrics by Bud Green
Sung by the chorus girls

User Reviews

Was Sophia a Jinx?

This is a curious film. A gritty, tough realistic movie during the action sequences at sea, but when the story shifts to land and Sophia Loren and the men her life, it's dull and lifeless.

Trevor Howard and Bill Holden are men numbers three and four in refugee Sophia Loren's life. The key is the key to her apartment which the guys make duplicates of and pass on to friends. Right after that's done, the giver is killed at sea.

Howard and Holden are tugboat captains assigned to tugs who go out to the open sea and pick up crippled freighters bringing needed war supplies to Great Britain during World War II and tow them in. The tugs are poorly armed and barely sea worthy and are easy marks for the

Germans. It's hard tough work and director Carol Reed does a superb job showing that. This is one of the least glamorized war movies I've ever seen. The men are fatalistic to say the least, but especially around Sophia as if the Nazis weren't enough to worry about.

Sophia Loren is a lovely thing of beauty and certainly a pleasure to watch, but her scenes with her two male co-stars have absolutely no spark at all.

If you watch this I recommend you fast forward the romance and get to the action.

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 June 1958 (UK)

Also Known As:

Stella

Filming Locations:

Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Highroad, Open Road Films (II)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

134 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1