HISTORICAL NAVAL CHARACTERS IN FICTIONAL FILM (3)
So, I got over the lack of Archie (what, he's not real?) in Justin Reay's talk and settled down to enjoy the discussion of cinematic depictions of real sailors.
He started with Battle of the River Plate, a film I have great affection for, with Peter Finch playing Hans Langsdorff. Then he touched on In which we Serve, which has Noel Coward as Captain E. V. Kinross, a thinly veiled portrayal of Louis Mountbatten when he had HMS Kelly. Mountbatten is a big local hero; he lived at Broadlands and is buried in Romsey Abbey. My girls all went to the school named after him and the school houses take the names of his ships.
Next was another Hampshire hero, Lionel Crabb, portrayed by the lovely Laurence Harvey in The Silent Enemy and then one of my favourites, Das Boot, a film which Reay rightly praised for its realism.
He could have mentioned many more. My mind was racing thinking of all the films I've enjoyed such as Cockleshell Heroes and how depiction of our naval history has become something we've almost taken for granted.
He started with Battle of the River Plate, a film I have great affection for, with Peter Finch playing Hans Langsdorff. Then he touched on In which we Serve, which has Noel Coward as Captain E. V. Kinross, a thinly veiled portrayal of Louis Mountbatten when he had HMS Kelly. Mountbatten is a big local hero; he lived at Broadlands and is buried in Romsey Abbey. My girls all went to the school named after him and the school houses take the names of his ships.
Next was another Hampshire hero, Lionel Crabb, portrayed by the lovely Laurence Harvey in The Silent Enemy and then one of my favourites, Das Boot, a film which Reay rightly praised for its realism.
He could have mentioned many more. My mind was racing thinking of all the films I've enjoyed such as Cockleshell Heroes and how depiction of our naval history has become something we've almost taken for granted.