Film Review
Inspired by a true story,
San Demetrio London is typical
of the wartime dramas that came out of Ealing Studios during WWII - a
subtle propaganda film that championed the role of the ordinary man and
showed that circumstances and character, not background, are the things
that made someone a hero. The film's stark realist approach
typifies the Ealing house style at this time, thanks to the influence
of seasoned documentary filmmakers Harry Watt and Alberto Cavalcanti,
who joined Ealing in 1940, having worked for the GPO film unit.
The film was directed by Charles Frend, who had made two previous war
films for Ealing and would later direct another naval-themed classic,
The
Cruel Sea (1953). When Frend fell ill during the
shoot, screenwriter Robert Hamer took over, making an auspicious (and
uncredited) film debut. Hamer would go on to direct two
of Ealing's best-loved films:
It Always Rains on Sunday (1947) and
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949).
The events depicted in this film are ones that would have had an
immediate resonance with its British audience. With U-boats
doing their utmost to cut off essential supplies, the country was under siege
and the threat of a full-scale Nazi invasion had not gone away. The struggle
of ordinary men trying to keep their tanker seaworthy and return her
safely to port was a story that most Brits could easily relate to and
the film's upbeat ending would have provided a welcome moral
boost. By the time this film was released, the tide had begun to
turn and Ealing, in common with the other British film studios, was
beginning to look towards the future and ask the question: what kind of
country would Britain become after the war?
San
Demetrio London offers one vision, of a more egalitarian society where
the invidious social divisions of the past are conspicuous by their absence
and where all men profit equally from their labours - in short, a socialist
Utopia.
© James Travers 2009
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
In the autumn of 1940, the oil tanker
San
Demetrio London arrives in Galveston Texas to pick up a load of
petroleum that is desperately needed by a besieged Britain. On
the way back to England, the tanker comes under fire from German
U-boats. Another ship in the convoy is sunk and the tanker
looks as though it might blow when it receives a hit. When the
captain gives the order for the tanker to be abandoned, the crew make a
desperate bid to escape in three lifeboats. Two of the lifeboats
are soon picked up by another ship but the third drifts in turbulent
waters for several days before returning to the tanker. To the
amazement of the men in the lifeboat, the tanker is still afloat.
Having put out the fires, the men manage to repair the damage to the
tanker. They decide to take the ship back to England, knowing
full well that if they run into U-boats a second time they will be
unlikely to survive...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.