In Which We Serve

Starring: John Mills, Noel Coward Director: David Lean, Noel Coward Original UK Premiere: 1942 Dvd Release: 28th January, 2002 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: Black & White, Full Screen, PAL, Special Edition, Region 2 Encoding

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In Which We Serve is a 1942 war film which tells the story of the British destroyer HMS Torrin, as told in flashbacks by the survivors as they cling to a life raft. The story is loosely based on the exploits of Lord Louis Mountbatten, who commanded the destroyer HMS Kelly, sunk during the battle of Crete. The characters reflect British society of the time, deeply divided by class or by sex. Nevertheless, each man & woman is dedicated to doing what they must to make it through the war. The one exception is a sailor who runs away from his gun during a battle; he is haunted by his cowardice. Noel Coward wrote, directed & starred in the movie. Other actors included Richard Attenborough, John Mills, Bernard Miles, Celia Johnson, Ann Stephens & Daniel Massey. It won an Honorary Academy Award, presented to Coward for his outstanding production achievement. It was also nominated for Oscars for Best Picture & Best Writing, Original Screenplay.

DVD Extras: The image is presented in a close approximation of the original 1.37:1 Academy ratio using a print that is good for its age but which would benefit from some restoration, several scenes showing notable damage. The sound is robust mono, though the main title music is very distorted. Speech is very clear. Extras are the original trailer, a stills gallery set to music from the film & a 23-minute retrospective documentary. This last is excellent, containing information on how to simulate bullets hitting water using condoms, & interviews with surviving members of the production including Sir John Mills & cinematographer Ronald Neame.

Based on the true story of Lord Louis Mountbattens destroyer HMS Kelly, In Which We Serve is one of the most memorable British films made during World War II. Unfolding in flashback as survivors cling to a dingy, constantly strafed by the Luftwaffe, the film recounts the history of HMS Torrin through various battles to her sinking off the coast of North Africa, interwoven with the onshore lives of her crew. The film was the inspiration of Noel Coward, who desperately wanted to do something for the war effort, & he produced, wrote the screenplay, composed the stirring musical score & starred as Captain Edward Kinross. Coward also officially co-directed, though in reality he soon handed the reigns over to David Lean, whose directorial debut this became. There is a fine performance from Celia Johnson, anticipating her character in Lean & Cowards Brief Encounter & excellent support from John Mills, as well as a star-making debut from an uncredited Richard Attenborough. The use of real navy & army personal as extras, together with lavish studio production & authentic shipboard location footage lends the film a sense of realism unusual for the time. A landmark in the careers of many of the most important names in British film, this moving & occasionally harrowing classic has a vital place in the development of British cinema.

Sir John Mills is a British actor. Born John Lewis Ernest Watts Mills in Felixstowe, Suffolk, he took an early interest in acting, making his professional debut at the London Hippodrome in 1927. Mills made his film debut in The Midshipmaid & came to prominence as Colley in the 1939 film version of Goodbye, Mr Chips, opposite Robert Donat. He took the lead in Great Expectations in 1936 & subsequently made his career playing traditionally British heroes such as Sir Robert Falcon Scott in Scott of the Antarctic. In 1941, he married the dramatist, Mary Hayley Bell & their two daughters, Juliet & Hayley, are both actresses. For his role as the village idiot in Ryans Daughter - a complete departure from his usual style - Mills won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Altogether he appeared in over a hundred films. In 1976, he was knighted. In recent years, he has appeared on television only on special occasions. His most famous television role is probably as the title character in Quatermass for ITV in 1979. Posters Of Ice Cold In Alex

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Sir Noel Peirce Coward was an English actor, playwright & composer of popular music. Born at Teddington, Middlesex, he began performing in the West End at an early age. Coward’s first professional engagement & that which launched his long career, was on 27 January 1911 in a children’s play, The Goldfish. After this appearance, he was sought after for children’s roles by other professional theatres. He was featured in several productions with Sir Charles Hawtrey, a victorian actor & comedian, whom Coward idolized & to whom he virtually apprenticed himself until he was twenty. It was from Hawtrey that Coward learned comic acting techniques & playwriting He starred in one of his first full-length plays, the inheritance comedy Ill Leave It To You, in 1920 at the age of twenty. After enjoying some moderate success with the Shaw-esque The Young Idea in 1923, the controversy surrounding his play The Vortex - which contains many veiled references to both drug abuse & homosexuality - made him an overnight sensation on both sides of the Atlantic. Posters Of The Italian Job

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Sir David Lean was a British film director, best remembered for big-screen epics such as Lawrence of Arabia. He was born in Croydon, Surrey & started at the bottom, as a clapperboard assistant. By 1930 he was working as an editor on newsreels, including Gaumont Pictures & Movietone. His career in mainstream films began Escape Me Never & he went on to edit Gabriel Pascals Pygmalion & Major Barbara & Powell & Pressburgers Forty-Ninth Parallel & One of our Aircraft is Missing. His first work as a director was in partnership with Noel Coward on In Which We Serve. He came into his own with Brief Encounter & directed several films based on classic novels, such as Great Expectations. The Sound Barrier is a display of British stiff upper lip, while Hobsons Choice, which Lean also produced, is a stylish comic update of King Lear set in Victorian Manchester. With the advent of colour, Lean became well-known as the director of blockbusters such as The Bridge on the River Kwai, for which he won an Academy Award, followed by another for Lawrence of Arabia. Posters Of Doctor Zhivago

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