#604: LEAN, David & COWARD, Noël: In Which We Serve (1942)

DAVID LEAN DIRECTS NOËL COWARD {Spine #603}

LEAN, David & COWARD, Noël (United Kingdom)
In Which We Serve [1942]
Spine #604
Blu-ray

In the midst of World War II, the renowned playwright Noël Coward engaged a young film editor named David Lean to help him realize his vision for an action drama about a group of Royal Navy sailors — roles that would be filled by Coward himself, Bernard Miles, and John Mills, among others — fighting the Germans in the Mediterranean. Coward and Lean ended up codirecting the large-scale project — an impressive undertaking, especially considering that neither of them had directed a film before (this would be Coward's only such credit). Eloquently cutting between a major naval battle and flashbacks to the men's lives before they left home, In Which We Serve is a sensitive and stirring piece of propaganda and was a major screen breakthrough for both men, as well as an Oscar nominee for best picture.

114 minutes
Black & White

Monaural

1:37:1 aspect ratio

Criterion Release 2012

Director/Writers

Screenplay by Noël Coward.

David Lean was 34 and Coward was 43 when they directed In Which We Serve.

The Film

Lord Louis Mountbatten was the commander of the HMS Kelly, commissioned on August 23, 1939 and sunk on May 23, 1941 during the Battle of Crete.

Mountbatten agreed to help Coward produce the film, on the condition that it not appear too directly autobiographical. (The exception was the final speech Coward gives to the crew — that is verbatim Mountbatten.)

Coward produced a script stuffed with world events that would have run 8 or 9 hours — it was up to Producer Anthony Havelock-Allan and DP Ronald Neame to cut the thing down to size — concentrating on the ship — the HMS Torrin — and its crew and families.

Coward knew he lacked the technical expertise to actually direct the thing, so Lean was brought on board. Although it was his directorial debut, his fantastic editing skills made him the perfect choice. Coward’s acting was fine and the rest of cast — John Mills as Shorty Blake; Bernard Miles as Walter Hardy; Celia Johnson, her film debut, was Alix; Kay Walsh, Lean’s wife, as Freda; and Joyce Carey as Kath put in memorable performances.

Most of the credit must go Lean, who boldly featured close-ups of torpedoes being loaded, as well as leisurely long shots, like Coward’s final goodbye to his crew.

A magnificent film.

Film Rating (0-60):

56

The Extras

The Booklet

Forty-eight page booklet featuring an essay by Terrence Rafferty.

“Good wartime propaganda films are as rare as good wars. Noël Coward and David Lean’s In Which We Serve, which had its premiere in Great Britain in September 1942, when the nation was entering the fourth year of hostilities with the Axis powers, was clearly and unabashedly conceived as a morale booster for a battered, Blitz-weary people. But unlike almost every movie of its type from the Second World War, In Which We Serve retains a great deal of its aesthetic and moral force even now, seven full decades after the dark days of its making — that terrible time when the outcome of the Allies’ good fight against Nazism and fascism was still in doubt. The film is, as we are informed by its grave-sounding narrator (Leslie Howard, uncredited), ‘the story of a ship,’ and to a surprising degree, it keeps that apparently modest promise: it fulfills its mission, and then some.”

Commentary

None.

Interview

About the film with Coward scholar Barry Day.

On Coward, his work in film, his relationship with Mountbatten, and all that time in the water tank. Day says that he got so sick of it, they eventually used this clip from The Scoundrel (1935):

:

A Profile of “In Which We Serve”

A short documentary from 2000 on the making of the film.

Short and sweet.

Audio recording

Of a 1969 conversation between actor Attenborough and Coward at London’s National Film Theatre.

Nice to hear from the fellows 27 years later.

Trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

34

56 + 34 =

90

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