Single-Handed (1953)

Director:

Roy Boulting

Writers:

C.S. Forester (novel)
Valentine Davies (screenplay)

Release Date:

11 June 1953 (UK)

Genre:

Action | Drama | War

Plot:

A British naval officer has a brief affair with a woman in England and never knows that she bears him a son...

Plot Keywords:

Illegitimate Child | British | Galapagos Islands | Prisoner Of War | Warship

Cast

Jeffrey Hunter	...	Signalman Andrew 'Canada' Brown
Michael Rennie	...	Lt Richard Saville (later Capt, then Admiral)
Peter van Eyck	...	German Warship Kapitan (as Peter Van Eyck)
Wendy Hiller	...	Lucinda Bentley
Bernard Lee	...	Petty Officer 'Stokes' Wheatley
Victor Maddern	...	Signalman Willy 'Misery' Earnshaw
Patrick Barr	...	Capt. Tom Ashley, HMS 'Amesbury'
Robin Bailey	...	Cdr. John Stafford, HMS 'Stafford'
John Horsley	...	Cmdr. Willis
James Copeland	...	Cmdr. Laughton
Nicholas Bruce	...	Korvetten-kapitan Hesse
Sam Kydd	...	Sailor with 'Misery' and 'Canada' on Deck
Martin Boddey
Robert Dean
James Drake

Also Known As:

Brown on Resolution (UK) (working title)
C.S. Forester's Sailor of the King (USA) (complete title)
Sailor of the King (USA)

Runtime:

USA:83 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:U | USA:Approved (PCA #16141)

Filming Locations:

British Lion Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Productions

Trivia:

The plot of the film is taken from C. S. Foresters 1929 book "Brown on Resolution".

Goofs:

Continuity: When the Essen's main guns fire on Brown at the Resolution inlet, three guns per turret are visible, but when the Essen is seen sinking after the final battle with the British task force, only 2 guns per turret are visible.

Movie Connections:

Version of Brown on Resolution (1935)

One of the truly great WWII movies

I remember this film as being one of my Dad's favorite films as my brother's and I were growing up in the 1950s. I had described this movie to many people since then and no one else seemed to know what I was talking about. Then, in about 1990, the cable network, American Movie Classics (AMC) ran the film a couple of times and the film disappeared once more.

Everything about this film is just right. The storyline, music, acting and suspense are what makes a film a memorable experience. When I think of all the junk films that get picked up by AMC, Fox Movie Classics (FMC) and Turner Classic Movies (TCM), I have to wonder who is selecting the films these channels broadcast. They must have someone there who doesn't like Black & White Films. There were a handful of films made in the 10 years that followed WWII that are simply "Must Have" movies that people would like to add to their collections that the studios are either clueless about or they know nothing about the "Gold in their Vaults".

Consider how long it took to get Battleground released on DVD. Then think about Sailor of The King (Jeffrey Hunter), The Gallant Hours (James Cagney), Decision Before Dawn (Oskar Werner), 36 Hours (James Garner), and ask yourself if Hollywood is capable of making anything like these films again. You won't like the answer.

Come on Fox, get these films out.