The Sea Shall Not Have Them (1954)

★ 7.2 1h 31m IMDb

During the autumn of 1944, RAF Hudson, carrying a VIP passenger in possession of highly secret information, is shot down and ditches in the North Sea. Fighting the elements and trying to keep up morale, the occupants of the aircraft's dinghy talk about their lives awaiting the rescue they hope will come. The film's title reflects the motto of the RAF's Air Sea Rescue Service, one of whose high speed launches battles against its own mechanical problems, enemy action, time and the weather to locate and rescue the downed crew and the vital secret papers they carry.

The Sea Shall Not Have Them

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Cast

Michael Redgrave
Michael Redgrave as Air Commodore Waltby Died 1985 · Bristol, Gloucestershire, England, UK Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave, CBE (20 March 1908 – 21 March 1985) was an English stage and film actor, director, manager and author. He is the father of actors Vanessa, Corin and Lynn Redgrave..
Dirk Bogarde
Dirk Bogarde as Flt Sgt Mackay Died 1999 · Hampstead, London, England, UK Sir Dirk Bogarde (born Derek Niven van den Bogaerde; 28 March 1921 – 8 May 1999) was an English actor, novelist, and screenwriter. Initially a matinée idol in films such as Doctor in the House (1954)...
Jack Watling
Jack Watling as Flying Officer Harding Died 2001 · Chingford, Essex, England, UK Jack Watling is an English actor, who transitioned from a successful film career in the forties to an equally successful television career from the 1960s onwards. He is the father of the actress Debo...
Bonar Colleano
Bonar Colleano as Sgt Kirby Died 1958 · New York City, New York, USA Bonar Colleano was an American born British stage and film actor who tragically died in a car crash in Birkenhead aged just 34..
Anthony Steel
Anthony Steel as Flying Officer Treherne Died 2001 · Chelsea, London, England, UK From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Anthony Maitland Steel (21 May 1920 – 21 March 2001) was an English actor and singer. Description above from the Wikipedia article Anthony Steel (actor), licens...
Nigel Patrick
Nigel Patrick as Flt Sgt Slingsby Died 1981 · Clapham, London, England, UK From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Nigel Patrick (born Nigel Dennis Wemyss; 2 May 1913 - 21 September 1981) was an English actor and stage director born into a theatrical family. Description abov...

Audience Reviews

CinemaSerf 7/10 Jul 08, 2024
Despite the fact that much of this film appears to have been filmed in a London lido, it still manages to engender quite a bit of peril. The passengers of a shot down plane are adrift in the Channel in a lifeboat with limited rations, cold and wet, praying for rescue before discovery by the Nazis or death by more long-drawn out means. It's got many of the usual ingredients of a wartime adventure, but is told in quite an interesting manner - each of the passengers having their few minutes of fame to explain why they are in their current predicament. Their would be rescuers are having quite a few problems of their own, and the whole thing builds nicely to quite an exciting denouement. The cast - Dirk Bogarde, Michael Redgrave, Nigel Patrick and Anthony Steele work efficiently, if not sparklingly, together within the confines of their dinghy; their tolerances of their environment and of each other - regardless of rank - stretches patience and tests tempers in a plausible fashion. At times I felt I was on the boat with them - a testament to the intense direction from Lewis Gilbert who manages to compensate for the limited resources available to the film, and create quite a compelling, realistic looking story.

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