Atlantic Ferry

Last updated

Atlantic Ferry a.k.a. Sons of the Sea
Atlantic Ferry VideoCover.png
Directed by Walter Forde
Written byDerek MacIver (story)
Wynne MacIver (story)
Gordon Wellesley
Edward Dryhurst
Emeric Pressburger
Produced byMax Milder (uncredited)
Culley Forde (associate producer)
Starring Michael Redgrave
Valerie Hobson
Griffith Jones
Cinematography Basil Emmott [1]
Edited by Terence Fisher
Music by Jack Beaver
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release dates
  • 6 September 1941 (1941-09-06)(UK)
  • 7 February 1942 (1942-02-07)(U.S.)
CountriesUnited Kingdom
United States
LanguageEnglish
Budget£97,355 [2]
Box office£88,558 [2]

Atlantic Ferry (alternate U.S. title: Sons of the Sea) is a 1941 British film directed by Walter Forde and starring Michael Redgrave and Valerie Hobson. [3] It was made at Teddington Studios.

Contents

Plot

In 1837 Liverpool, brothers Charles and David MacIver have great faith in steam-powered ships. Their first attempt, the coastal freighter Gigantic, proves to be an embarrassing and costly failure, sinking immediately after being launched. David becomes discouraged and, to save their failing shipping firm, agrees to a merger proposed by longtime rival George Burns.

Charles, however, is undaunted, despite being turned down by every banker when he seeks new funding. He gives his share of the family firm to David and sets out on his own. He teams up with Nova Scotian Samuel Cunard and engineer Robert Napier, and they build the RMS Britannia. They win a British mail contract and make the first steamship crossing of the Atlantic, from Liverpool to Boston, in record time, despite a storm that threatens to sink the ship.

Romantic complications ensue when both brothers fall in love with Mary Ann Morison, the daughter of an important government shipping official. She agrees to marry David (before she becomes acquainted with his brother), but it is Charles who wins her heart.

Cast

Reception

The film received neutral-to-negative reviews. [4] [5] [6]

According to Warner Bros. records, it earned $87,000 domestically and $16,000 foreign. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cunard Line</span> British shipping and cruise line

The Cunard Line is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its four ships have been registered in Hamilton, Bermuda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Redgrave</span> English actor (1908–1985)

Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave CBE was an English actor and filmmaker. Beginning his career in theatre, he first appeared in the West End in 1937. He made his film debut in Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes in 1938.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valerie Hobson</span> British actress (1917–1998)

Babette Louisa Valerie Hobson was a British actress whose film career spanned the 1930s to the early 1950s. Her second husband was John Profumo, a British government minister who became the subject of the Profumo affair in 1963.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bessie Love</span> American actress (1898–1986)

Juanita Horton, better known as Bessie Love, was an American-British actress who achieved prominence playing innocent, young girls and wholesome leading ladies in silent and early sound films. Her acting career spanned nearly seven decades—from silent film to sound film, including theatre, radio, and television—and her performance in The Broadway Melody (1929) earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

<i>Morgan – A Suitable Case for Treatment</i> 1966 British film by Karel Reisz

Morgan – A Suitable Case for Treatment is a 1966 British comedy film directed by Karel Reisz and starring David Warner, Vanessa Redgrave, and Robert Stephens, with Irene Handl and Bernard Bresslaw. It was made by British Lion and produced by Leon Clore from a screenplay by David Mercer, adapted from his BBC television play A Suitable Case for Treatment (1962), in which the leading role was played by Ian Hendry. A film poster for the film is prominently shown in High-Rise (2015).

<i>Isadora</i> (film) 1968 biographical film by Karel Reisz

Isadora is a 1968 biographical drama film directed by Karel Reisz from a screenplay written by Melvyn Bragg, Margaret Drabble, and Clive Exton adapted from the books My Life by Isadora Duncan and Isadora, an Intimate Portrait by Sewell Stokes. The film follows the life of American pioneering modern contemporary dance artist and choreographer Isadora Duncan, who performed to great acclaim throughout the US and Europe during the 19th century. A co-production between the United Kingdom and France, it stars Vanessa Redgrave as Duncan and also features James Fox, Jason Robards, and John Fraser in supporting roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hal B. Wallis</span> American film producer (1898-1986)

Harold B. Wallis was an American film producer. He is best known for producing Casablanca (1942), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), and True Grit (1969), along with many other major films for Warner Bros. featuring such film stars as Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne, Bette Davis, and Errol Flynn. As a producer, he received 19 nominations for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

<i>The Spy in Black</i> 1939 film by Michael Powell

The Spy in Black is a 1939 British film, and the first collaboration between the British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. They were brought together by Alexander Korda to make the World War I spy thriller novel of the same title by Joseph Storer Clouston into a film. Powell and Pressburger eventually made over 20 films during the course of their partnership.

<i>The Incredible Mr. Limpet</i> 1964 film by Arthur Lubin

The Incredible Mr. Limpet is a 1964 American live-action/animated comedy film produced by Warner Bros. and based on the 1942 novel Mr. Limpet by Theodore Pratt. It is about a man named Henry Limpet who turns into a talking fish and helps the U.S. Navy locate and destroy Nazi submarines. Don Knotts plays the title character. The live action was directed by Arthur Lubin, while the animation was directed by Bill Tytla, Robert McKimson, Hawley Pratt, and Gerry Chiniquy at Warner Bros. Cartoons. Music includes songs by Sammy Fain, in collaboration with Harold Adamson, including "I Wish I Were a Fish", "Be Careful How You Wish" and "Deep Rapture". The film received mixed reviews. It was the final project for Warner Bros. Cartoons prior to its closure in May 1963.

<i>Great Expectations</i> (1946 film) 1946 film by David Lean

Great Expectations is a 1946 British drama film directed by David Lean, based on the 1861 novel by Charles Dickens and starring John Mills and Valerie Hobson. The supporting cast included Bernard Miles, Francis L. Sullivan, Anthony Wager, Jean Simmons, Finlay Currie, Martita Hunt and Alec Guinness.

RMS <i>Britannia</i> Cunard ocean liner

RMS Britannia was an ocean liner of the British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, later known as Cunard Steamship Company. She was launched on Wednesday 5 February 1840, at the yard of Robert Duncan & Company in Greenock, Scotland. The ship and her Britannia-class sisters, Acadia, Caledonia, and Columbia, were the first ocean liners built by the company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Napier (engineer)</span> Scottish marine engineer (1791 – 1876)

Robert Napier was a Scottish marine engineer known for his contributions to Clyde shipbuilding.

<i>The Sea Chase</i> 1955 film

The Sea Chase is a 1955 World War II drama film starring John Wayne and Lana Turner, and featuring David Farrar, Lyle Bettger, and Tab Hunter. It was directed by John Farrow from a screenplay by James Warner Bellah and John Twist based on the novel of the same name by Andrew Geer. The plot is a nautical cat and mouse adventure, with Wayne determined to get his freighter home to Germany during the opening months of World War II, chased relentlessly across the Pacific then Atlantic oceans by the Australian and then British navies.

<i>Action in the North Atlantic</i> 1943 film

Action in the North Atlantic is a 1943 American war film from Warner Bros. Pictures. It was produced by Jerry Wald, directed by Lloyd Bacon, and adapted by John Howard Lawson from a story by Guy Gilpatric. The film stars Humphrey Bogart and Raymond Massey as officers in the U.S. Merchant Marine during World War II.

<i>We Dive at Dawn</i> 1943 British film

We Dive at Dawn is a 1943 war film directed by Anthony Asquith and starring John Mills and Eric Portman as Royal Navy submariners in the Second World War. It was written by Val Valentine and J. B. Williams with uncredited assistance from Frank Launder. It was produced by Edward Black. The film's sets were designed by Walter Murton.

<i>Life Begins</i> (1932 film) 1932 film

Life Begins is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film starring Loretta Young, Eric Linden, Aline MacMahon, and Glenda Farrell. The film was adapted from the 1932 play of the same name by Mary M. Axelson. It was released by Warner Bros. on September 10, 1932. The film was praised for its honest portrayal of a maternity ward.

<i>They Flew Alone</i> 1942 British film

They Flew Alone is a 1942 British biopic about aviator Amy Johnson directed and produced by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Robert Newton and Edward Chapman. It was distributed in the UK and the US by RKO Radio Pictures.

SS <i>Letitia</i>

SS Letitia was an ocean liner built in Scotland for service with the Anchor-Donaldson Line. She continued to serve with its successor company Donaldson Atlantic Line. At the start of the Second World War in September 1939, the British Admiralty requisitioned the ship for service and had it converted to serve as an armed merchant cruiser. She was withdrawn from this service in 1941 to become a troop ship.

<i>Rulers of the Sea</i> 1939 film by Frank Lloyd

Rulers of the Sea is a 1939 American historical drama film directed by Frank Lloyd and starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Margaret Lockwood and Will Fyffe. The film's story is based on the voyage of the SS Savannah, the first steamship to cross the North Atlantic, from Britain to the United States. The film was made by Paramount Pictures, but featured Lockwood and Fyffe who were two of the leading stars of the British Gainsborough Pictures studios. The supporting cast features Alan Ladd.

<i>The Little Boss</i> 1919 silent film by David Smith

The Little Boss is a 1919 American silent romantic comedy film directed by David Smith and produced by Vitagraph Studios. The story and screenplay were by Rida Johnson Young, and it starred Bessie Love and Wallace MacDonald.

References

  1. Love, Bessie (1977). From Hollywood with Love: An Autobiography of Bessie Love. London: Elm Tree Books. p. 154. OCLC   734075937.
  2. 1 2 Steve Chibnall (2019) Hollywood-on-Thames: the British productions ofWarner Bros. – First National, 1931–1945, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 39:4, 687-724, DOI: 10.1080/01439685.2019.1615292 at p 714
  3. "Atlantic Ferry (1941)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 February 2019. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
  4. Anderson, L.C. (25 April 1942). "What the Picture Did for Me". Motion Picture Herald. p. 51. Put this one on the shelf. It won't suit folks who are accustomed to seeing good films made in America.
  5. "Sons of the Sea (1942)". TCM.
  6. "Sons of the Sea (1942)". AllMovie.
  7. The William Schaefer Ledger, Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1–31 p. 22 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551