Sons of the Sea (1939 film)

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Sons of the Sea
"Sons of the Sea" (1939).jpg
British trade ad
Directed by Maurice Elvey
Written by George Barraud
Gerald Elliott (screenplay) (as W.G. Elliott)
Maurice Elvey (screenplay)
Reginald Long (dialogue)
D. William Woolf (scenario)
Produced byK.C. Alexander
Starring Leslie Banks
Kay Walsh
Mackenzie Ward
Cecil Parker
Cinematography Eric Cross
Edited by Douglas Myers
Production
company
British Consolidated
Distributed byGrand National Pictures (UK)
Release date
  • 11 March 1940 (1940-03-11)(UK) [1]
Running time
82 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Sons of the Sea is a 1939 British colour drama film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Leslie Banks, Kay Walsh, Mackenzie Ward and Cecil Parker. [2] [3]

Contents

Plot

In Britain in 1939, the head of Dartmouth Naval College is murdered. His successor, Captain Hyde, believes that he himself was in fact the intended target of the assassination. He soon begins to realise that both British and foreign intelligence agents are at work. He enlists the help of his son, a reluctant sea cadet, to smoke them out.

Cast

Production

Sons of the Sea was filmed during the summer of 1939, just before the outbreak of the Second World War, something explored in the themes of the film.The film's credits claim the film was "Made with full Admiralty co-operation".

It is the only feature film to be shot using the Dufaycolor process, [4] with a limited colour palette. [5] Since restoration, it has been shown on BBC television [6] and more recently on Talking Pictures TV.

Release

The film premiered in London on 11 March 1940, at the then recently opened Cinephone cinema at 241 Oxford Street,[ citation needed ] with the attendance of the main star, Leslie Banks. [1]

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The film is in Dufaycolour throughout with delicate pastel shades. There are many delightful shots – Dartmouth ferry, the ensign against a blue sky, red cliffs and the sea below, the cadets on parade. The story is plausible and extremely well acted. Leslie Banks gives the right air of authority as the Captain, and Simon Lack makes a youthfully human but delightful Philip. The dialogue is natural and easy, and the theme is genuinely patriotic without being embarrassingly so." [7]

Kine Weekly wrote: "Flawless Dufaycolor photography gilds the propitious and exciting project. ... There is clever and natural character drawing – MacKenzie Ward jumps right into his own as a disarming foreign agent – to round off the healthy, inspiring and exhilarating illusion. ... Maurice Elvey, doyen of British film directors, brings all his experience and proven flair for popular showmanship to bear on his treatment of this picture." [8]

Today's Cinema's reviewer commented that "With its topically appealing title, its surge of espionage incident, its stirring angles of filial devotion and its panoramic backgrounds of cadets on parade performing this or that manoeuvre, the development has all the essentials which make for popular success." [9]

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References

  1. 1 2 The Times, 11 March 1940, page 6: Cinephone, premiere "Sons of the Sea" Linked 2018-08-17
  2. "Sons of the Sea". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  3. "Sons of the Sea (1939)". BFI. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012.
  4. "BFI Screenonline: Cinematography Tour". screenonline.org.uk.
  5. Street, Sarah (2012). Colour Films in Britain: The Negotiation of Innovation 1900-1955. British Film Institute/Palgrave Macmillan. doi:10.3366/jbctv.2014.0234. ISBN   9781844573127 . Retrieved 20 May 2023.
  6. MJ Simpson (25 April 2015). "MJ Simpson: film reviews and interviews". mjsimpson-films.blogspot.co.uk.
  7. "Sons of the Sea" . The Monthly Film Bulletin . 6 (61): 202. 1 January 1939 via ProQuest.
  8. "Sons of the Sea" . Kine Weekly . 273 (1699): 15. 9 November 1939 via ProQuest.
  9. MacKenzie, S. P. (1 May 2001). British War Films 1939-45. Continnuum-3PL. p. 18. ISBN   9781852852580 . Retrieved 20 May 2023.