Film Snail

6.8

In Which We Serve

NR·1942·115m

Drama

War

Drama

War

Summary

The story of the 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 Captain E.V. Kinross, who trains his men not only to be loyal to him and the country, but—most importantly—to themselves.

Cast

Noël Coward

Captain E. V. Kinross R.N. / Captain 'D'

John Mills

Ordinary Seaman Blake / Shorty Blake

Bernard Miles

Chief Petty Officer Hardy / Walter Hardy

Celia Johnson

Mrs. Kinross / Alix

Kay Walsh

Freda Lewis / Freda

Joyce Carey

Mrs. Hardy / Kath

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

Caven Watson

Brodie

Geoffrey Hibbert

Joey Mackeridge

Richard Attenborough

Young Stoker

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

Charles Compton

№ 1. "Tremoyne"

Walter Fitzgerald

Colonel Lumsden

Gerald Case

Jasper

Daniel Massey

Bobby Kinross

Ann Stephens

Lavinia Kinross

Kathleen Harrison

Mrs. Blake

Dora Gregory

Mrs. Lemmon

Penelope Dudley-Ward

Maureen

Barbara Waring

Mrs. Macadoo

Eileen Peel

Mrs. Farrell

Lesley Osmond

Nell Fosdick

Josie Welford

Emily

Kay Young

Barmaid

Trixie Scales

Mona Duke

George Carney

Mr. Blake

Wally Patch

Uncle Fred

Michael Anderson

Albert Fosdick

Jill Stephens

May Blake

Everley Gregg

Nurse

Roddy Hughes

Photographer

Norman Pierce

Mr. Satterthwaite

Juliet Mills

Freda's Baby

Leslie Howard

Narrator (voice) (uncredited)

Crew

Director

David Lean

Director, Writer

Noël Coward

Reviews

Geronimo1967

June 26, 2022

A film that continues to divide opinion even now as it recounts the exploits of HMS "Torrin" a Royal Navy destroyer during WWII. I have to say that I found this to be just a little too much of a propaganda instrument than I was comfortable with - but it was made during the war, and it is very easy to be sitting now judging the activities of those who were actually risking their lives on an hourly basis, and of those charged with maintaining morale. Noël Coward heads this up as an almost aristocratic and really rather wooden "Captain Kinross" but the ensemble cast - John Mills, Bernard Miles, Richard Attenborough, Kay Walsh and Joyce Carey are much more engaging as the nuts and bolts characters and their spouses. The story is related in flashback form as the ship has been torpedoed and the sailors are in the sea awaiting rescue (or death) and delivers a poignant and thought-provoking evaluation not just of wartime behaviour, but of attitudes too.