IN WHICH WE SERVE
WRITTEN & PRODUCED BY NOEL COWARD
DIRECTED BY NOEL COWARD/ DAVID LEAN
TWO CITIES FILMS
BRITISH LION CORPORATION/ UNITED ARTISTS
Information from IMDb
Plot Summary
This is the story of a British Naval ship, HMS Torrin,
from its construction to its sinking in the Mediterranean during action in World War II.
The ship's first and only commanding officer is the experienced Captain E.V. Kinross
who trains his men not only to be loyal to him but to the country
and most importantly, to themselves.
They face challenges at sea and also at home.
They lose some of their shipmates in action and some of their loved ones
in the devastation that is the blitz.
Throughout it all, the men of the Torrin serve valiantly and heroically.
Written by garykmcd
Full Cast
Noel Coward ... Captain E. V. Kinross R.N. / Captain 'D'
Derek Elphinstone ... No. 1
Michael Wilding ... Flags
Robert Sansom ... Guns
Philip Friend ... Torps
Chimmo Branson ... Midshipman
Ballard Berkeley ... Engineer Commander
Hubert Gregg ... Pilot
James Donald ... Doc
Michael Whittaker ... Sub
Kenneth Carten ... Sub-Lieutenant R.N.V.R.
John Varley ... Secco
Bernard Miles ... Chief Petty Officer Hardy / Walter Hardy
Caven Watson ... Brodie
John Mills ... Ordinary Seaman 'Shorty' Blake
Geoffrey Hibbert ... Joey Mackeridge
Frederick Piper ... Edgecombe
Lionel Grose ... Reynolds
Leslie Dwyer ... Parkinson
Charles Russell ... Fisher
John Singer ... Moran
Robert Moreton ... Coombe
John Boxer ... Hollett
Kenneth Evans ... Posty
Johnnie Schofield ... Coxswain
Franklyn Bennett ... Commander Spencer (as Franklin Bennett)
Charles Compton ... No. 1. 'Tremoyne'
Walter Fitzgerald ... Colonel Lumsden
Gerald Case ... Jasper
Celia Johnson ... Mrs. Alix Kinross
Daniel Massey ... Bobby Kinross
Ann Stephens ... Lavinia Kinross
Joyce Carey ... Mrs. Kath Hardy
Kay Walsh ... Freda Lewis
Kathleen Harrison ... Mrs. Blake
Dora Gregory ... Mrs. Lemmon
Penelope Dudley-Ward ... Maureen (as Penelope Dudley Ward)
Barbara Waring ... Mrs. Macadoo
Eileen Peel ... Mrs. Farrell
Lesley Osmond ... Nell Fosdick
Josie Welford ... Emily
Kay Young ... Barmaid
Trixy Scales ... Mona Duke (as Trixie Scales)
George Carney ... Mr. Blake
Wally Patch ... Uncle Fred
Michael Anderson ... Albert Fosdick (as Mickey Anderson)
Jill Stephens ... May Blake
Everley Gregg ... Nurse
Roddy Hughes ... Photographer
Norman Pierce ... Mr. Satterthwaite
Juliet Mills ... Freda's Baby
Neville Chamberlain ... Himself (archive sound) (voice)
Richard Attenborough ... Young Powder Handler (uncredited)
John Brabourne ... Soldier in the Dunkirk Sequence (uncredited)
Leslie Howard ... Voice (uncredited)
Produced
Noel Coward .... producer
Anthony Havelock-Allan .... associate producer
Herbert Smith .... executive producer in charge of production (uncredited)
Writing Credits
Noel Coward
Original Music
Noel Coward
Clifton Parker (uncredited)
Cinematography
Ronald Neame
Trivia
The Hays office tried to delete the words "God", "hell", "damn", and "bastard" from the American release. Uproar from England forced the office to back down on everything except "bastard".
Shorty Blake's (John Mills) baby, born in the air raid that kills Walter Hardy's (Bernard Miles) wife and mother-in-law, is played by one-year-old Juliet Mills.
Noel Coward was a friend of Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was Captain of the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Kelly from the outbreak of the Second World War until Kelly was sunk by enemy action in May, 1941. Coward wrote the screenplay for this movie based on Mountbatten's experiences on HMS Kelly. Coward's character in the film, Captain E. V. Kinross R.N. / Captain 'D', was also based on Mountbatten's experiences.
There was a tragedy during the shooting of the film, during a relatively straightforward special effects scene of an explosion in a gun turret. After the first take, Lean (Coward wasn't present) was dissatisfied. Chief electrician Jock Dymore, keen to get the scene wrapped before lunch, climbed onto the set with a bottle full of the flash-powder used for the explosive effect. The containers they were using were still white hot from the first take, and the resulting blast killed Dymore and seriously injured two others.
First film directed by David Lean.
Michael Anderson, who plays Albert Fosdike (billed as "Mickey Anderson"), was the First Assistant Director, but "won" the part when the original actor, William Hartnell, turned up late for his first day of shooting. Noel Coward berated Hartnell in front of cast and crew for his unprofessionalism and then fired him. Anderson, who'd filled in for Hartnell while they'd rehearsed, got his moment of glory (once a false moustache had been found).
John Mills claimed that Noel Coward wrote the part of Shorty Blake specifically for him in order "to give him a job".
Celia Johnson's screen debut.
Noel Coward was nervous at the prospect of directing and asked his friend John Mills if he could recommend someone to help him. Mills suggested "the best editor in the country", David Lean.
The idea for the film sprang out of Noel Coward's friendship with Winston Churchill (the two often painted together) and his desire to do something more substantial than urbane comedies to help the war effort for his friend. Coward acutely felt that with the coming of war, the world of which he wrote - bright young things scampering around drawing rooms - was a world that no longer existed.
Noel Coward's first draft screenplay ran for four hours.
Before accepting the assignment, David Lean asked Coward how the credits would read. Coward suggested that they would say "helped by David Lean" but Lean insisted that they read "Directed by Noel Coward and David Lean". It was his only request and one that Coward readily agreed to.
After about three weeks of shooting, Coward realized that (a) Lean knew a lot more about the film-making process than he did and (b) he didn't care much for the long hours. So Coward effectively handed the entire directorial reins over to his partner at that point.
Celia Johnson's lengthy scene in which she makes a moving toast to her rival - her husband's ship - was done in one take.
When dive bombers fire on the survivors clinging to a life raft, the effect of the strafing fire hitting the water was achieved by blowing gusts of air into submerged condoms. These would then float to surface after the director had shouted cut.
A full-size replica of a destroyer was built to represent HMS Torrin in the Denham Studios outside London.
The entire royal family, including Princess (and later Queen) Elizabeth, came to visit the set one day.
When the film opened in September 1942, the Admiralty praised it for its authentic portrayal of navy life.
Lord Mountbatten's contribution cannot be discounted - even in the middle of a war, he was able to procure real sailors to play extras.
The actors hated the scenes where they were hanging onto the life raft: a combination of weeks spent in cold oil-slicked water, under hot lights in soaked clothing meant that it was a particularly smelly experience.
Noel Coward vetoed the casting of James Mason in a key role because of his stance on the war.
The role of Lavinia Kinross was originally intended for 5 year old Anna Massey, as her brother Daniel Massey had been cast as her film brother Bobby Kinross. According to her memoirs however she screamed so much at the audition that the role had to be recast.
This was Richard Attenborough's first screen role (he had been recommended for his small but important part by director turned agent Albert Parker). He is uncredited purely because of an oversight.
During filming, stories would continually appear in the Daily Express, ridiculing the production. The paper's proprietor, Lord Beaverbrook, couldn't understand how an effete actor like Noel Coward could possibly portray a Mountbatten-type character. Coward got his own back by including a shot of one of the paper's more infamous headlines from 1939, proclaiming "No War This Year".
The film was shown to all new Royal Navy recruits after it was released to give them an idea and an impression of what life in the Navy was like.
Several scenes of Torrin underway are of K-class destroyer HMS Kashmir (F12). The scene of Torrin under tow includes 1940 newsreel footage of Lord Mountbatten's heavily-damaged K-class destroyer HMS Kelly. Both ships were sunk by German dive bombers on 23 May 1941 during operations off Crete.
This film's dedication states: "This film is dedicated to the Royal Navy whereupon under the good providence of God, the wealth, safety and strength of the kingdom chiefly depend."
The film utilized actual real war combat footage.
At 42:05, the echoed "What's your name?" can be heard sampled towards the end of Morrissey's 'Lifeguard Sleeping, Girl Drowning' from the album 'Vauxhall and I'.
Although there were doubts as to whether Noel Coward could convincingly portray a hardened naval
The film is dedicated to the Royal Navy, "whereon under the good providence of God, the wealth, safety and strength of the Kingdom chiefly depend."
Goofs
Factual errors
When soldiers evacuated from Dunkirk are disembarking they are shown carrying Lee Enfield No.4 rifles. This model of Lee Enfield was not issued to troops until later in the war. They should have been shown with the earlier model Short Magazine Lee Enfield. In most (all?) other scenes the correct model for the period is shown.
Revealing mistakes
During the scene in which two Army officers returning from Dunkirk join Kinross on the bridge of his ship, the way the cigarette smoke rises betrays the fact this scene was shot indoors.
When a scene is shown in the wardroom, the point of view changes to simulate the ship moving. However the sherry or wine in the glasses does not move at all showing that it is the camera that is moving rather than the 'ship' (or set).
As Shorty and Freda travel by train on their honeymoon,the rear-projection background (of the view from the train window) runs from left to right. However, when Captain Kinross and his wife enter the compartment and we see the opposite window, the projection runs the same way, making it look as if the train is repeatedly changing direction.
Filming Locations
D&P Studios, Denham Studios, Denham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK
Denham Studios, Denham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK (studio)
Dunstable Downs, Hertfordshire, England, UK (picnic)
Plymouth, Devon, England, UK
Portland, Dorset, England, UK
