In Which We Serve (1942)
Directors: Noël Coward, David Lean
Starring: Noël Coward, John Mills, Bernard Miles
Honors:
It is a product of propaganda and dedication by British
filmmaker Noël Coward that produced this British World War II picture. Inspired
by actual events In Which We Serve
was a film commissioned partially by the British government, but was left in
the complete control of its filmmaker, resulting in an admired example of
British wartime cinema. A staggered picture, its story focuses on the strife of
men serving through naval battles, while reminding audiences of why it is
important to fight for country.
In Which We Serve
is a wartime drama sharing a story of survivors from a sunken British naval
destroyer clinging to their life raft recalling the loved ones and events that
brought them to this point. After the British naval destroyer, the HMS Torrin,
is sunken by an air attack during the Battle of Crete, its surviving members hold
steadfastly to a small life boat. In between intermittent gun fire from enemy
aircraft we are taken on flashbacks with a select few of the crew to moments in
their lives that lead to this point. The plot primarily revolves around two
men, Captain Kinross (Noël Coward) and crewmember Shorty Blake (John Mills).
Their flashbacks both share their ways of how they came to be members of the
Torrin and their relationships with their loving wives. Kinross’ story shares
how he as a stern leader is respected and builds a kinship with his crew. Blake’s
story tells how a young man’s life is quickly swept up in war and at the same
time meets the young lady that becomes his wife (Kathleen Harrison). When hope
looks lost the men are rescued and shortly thereafter are disbanded with a
speech by Kinross urging that although they lost their ship they must be
inspired to fight harder than ever before to win this war.
In retrospect the film is a propagandist material. However, in
its own way was used to inspire audiences in a way that reminded men and women
that the wr had a deeper meaning worth fighting for. Its intentions were to
stir citizens to strain harder in their support for the war effort, inspired by
those lost in the field of service to both country and family. To watch the
feature in a contemporary sense it plays off as drab, a bit too overly-pure and
clean despite that fact the ship sinks and the men take it as a defeat. Very
little is done in a sense of character building as the crew simply soldier on
in their service in the end with no actual result. It was a product of its
time, displaying a sense of wartime duty as inspiration to a nation and its
allies that this war was a fight to protect everything they love through a
difficult period of change.
As Noël Coward was approach in 1941 with the idea of making
a propaganda feature, the well-known playwright and stage director only
accepted the project if he had complete creative control of the project. With
this unique opportunity appointed to him Coward was inspired by the story of
the HMS Kelly as its crew fought hard in battle and used it as the basis of
this. It would in fact it be Coward’s very first motion picture. With his
control over the feature Coward was not only the writer and director, but he cast
himself as the film’s star as Captain Kinross. With Coward’s known flamboyant
manners, history wearing dressing gowns, and his overall effeminate demeanor,
producers were worried that Coward would be unable to convince audience that he
can play a character of such a masculine nature, but he was allowed to as he
pleased with before mentioned creative control .
Coward’s first draft of the picture was so large in scale
and scope that it would have been believed to have run well over four hours in
length if fallowed. The idea was to have the audience become attached with the
characters as they traveled the seas together and learn much about each crew member. The climatic finale would be the battle where the ship was attacked
and the men were rescued leaving us with the inspirational speech by Captain
Kinross. To squeeze all these ideas Coward wanted into the feature he had to
reconstruct the film in reverse, starting with the battle and telling what was
the most keys portions in flashback to build the emotion of why these men
serve.
With literally no experience in movie making Coward became
very aware that he relied on the assistance of his film crew to help guide him
through production. With his experience in stage work Coward focus on the
performances of the actors, letting the crew to manage the technical aspects he
had no knowledge of. With his complete lack of filmmaking awareness Coward
would recruit editor David Lean as co-director to help him with the staging
shots because of Lean’s understanding of how a motion picture comes together in
the end. This experience was Lean’s first directorial venture, and as
production moved forward it soon became apparent that Lean was the man in
charge of the film’s look, while Coward only focused solely on the actors.
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| Mills with Harrison. |
The film features a pair of England’s more celebrated film
actors in very early roles in their careers. John Mills who plays Shorty Blake,
one the film’s key characters, claimed that Noël Coward wrote the role just for
Mills. Mills would state the character of Blake was created simply to “give him
(Mills) a job.” The 33 year old actor was a veteran of Coward stage productions
and himself had ten years of film experience, but this feature would be a major
step for the actor as it was his first major starring role in a career of many.
 |
| A very young Richard Attenborough |
Appearing in a minor role as a frightened crew member who
leaves his post in dramatic battle that Kinross uses as a growth moment for
this crew is a 19 year-old Richard Attenborough. From this, his film debut
role, Attenborough would for a short period be somewhat be type casted as he
found himself in many roles as frightened characters, but ultimate would turn
himself into one of the more respected British actors decades later.
At the time of In
Which We Serve’s release the film
was praised by critics for its emotional portrayal of human struggle and the
painful veracities of the then present wartime. Despite its rather dowdy acting
of the film’s creative mind, Coward, the overall cast was highly praised. Most criticism
of the picture came from the British Royal Navy itself as naval officers
thought the sinking of the ship gave a poor image of this branch of the British
armed services. The Royal Naval would nickname the picture “In Which We Sink”
because of how long it took to see the Torrin disappear into the waves through
the course of the picture.
The film’s timing and subject matter led to the feature
receiving many accolades from distinguished film circles. The feature would be
nominated for two Academy Awards, and despite not winning either, the Noël
Coward was awarded an honorary Oscar for his achievement with the production of
the feature. Others would deem the
picture so important for its time that it was named best picture of the year,
including Best Picture awards by the National Board of Review and the New York
Film Critics Circle.
As time marched forward and we all can look back on this
picture with a greater eye with historical scope in both the industry and the
world, we get a chance to see the picture for what it was. It remains a fine
example of what British filmmakers were producing about during the time of the
war. However, the film is a bit flat and
stale. Cowards acting, which is of that stately British manner, comes off as
deep or emotional as cardboard, leaves me wanting more. John Mills’ performance contains much more
body in depth of his character. It is clear that this picture was meant as
propaganda, and delivered where the producers and filmmakers wished it to,
inspiring British citizens and its allies to continue the good fight for the
sake of what they hold dear.
In the end the film was interesting to observe, but not very
entertaining to watch. It was meant for a certain people at a certain time and
with the passage of decades it does not stir the same emotions it would have in
1942. A product of war In Which We Serve
reminds us how a generation needed to motivate themselves in a period when the
world was last at odds with each other.
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