The Cruel Sea

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Thumim, Janet. "The popular cash and culture in the postwar British cinema industry". Screen. Vol.32, no.3. p.259. To tell this tale, Monsarrat utilizes an omniscient third-person narrator, reminiscent of Len Deighton’s Bomber (another great and underrated war novel). It is a godlike point of view that allows him to give us the perspective and thoughts of each and every character. I found the tone to be utterly fascinating. The narrative feels like the observations of a god who can see everything at once, but cannot intervene. The writing is dispassionate, but not indifferent. Monsarrat is able to create incredible emotional force by remaining a bit detached, by describing what is happening without directing you how to feel. In a later portion of the book the captain and the first officer become much more the focus and center of the action as the nature of the war has evolved as these two officer note with regret. The familial nature of the ship's crew is altered and the men become more like inanimate parts of an efficient fighting machine bent on the destruction of their enemy. The way the author portrays this evolution of sensitive, humanistic, beings into men that suppress feelings, are unmoved by suffering and death even of their friends and loved ones is quite compelling but there is more. Resigning his wartime commission during 1946, Monsarrat entered the diplomatic service. He was posted at first to Johannesburg, South Africa and then, in 1953, to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. [5] He began writing full-time during 1959, settling first on Guernsey, in the Channel Islands, and later on the Maltese island of Gozo. [6] Ranks [ edit ] At the beginning, there was time for all sort of things - making allowances for people, and joking, and treating people like sensitive human beings, and wondering whether they were happy, and whether they - they liked you or not. But now, now the war doesn't seem to be a matter of men any more, it's just weapons and toughness. There's no margin for humanity left - humanity takes up too much room, it gets in the way of things.

Monsarrat's first three novels, published during 1934–1937 and now out of print, were realistic treatments of modern social problems informed by his leftist politics. The Visitor, his only play, was in the same category. [7] His fourth novel and first major work, This Is the Schoolroom, had a different theme. The story of a young, idealistic, aspiring writer experiencing the "real world" for the first time, it is at least partly autobiographical. The Cruel Sea was recommended to me (h/t Bevan) after I finished reading Wouk’s The Caine Mutiny. Part of the reason I loved The Caine Mutiny was its sense of authenticity. In its minutely detailed depiction of life aboard a rusting old minesweeper, I felt like Wouk had created something real. That is certainly the case here. Monsarrat served in the Royal Navy during World War II, and has a grasp of all the granular details of life aboard ship. The particularity is mesmerizing. Now that I’ve got your attention, let me say that The Cruel Sea is not the greatest war novel of all time. a b Krueger, Christine L. (2003), Encyclopedia of British Writers, 19th and 20th Centuries, Facts on File, p.257, ISBN 0-8160-4670-0 The novel, published in 1951, was an immediate success and it has never been out of print since. It brings home the realities of the longest battle in the second world war, the Battle for the Atlantic, but it does so not through harrowing depiction of the horrors involved, but through its detailed depiction the people involved, people we come to care about, to admire, and to mourn. -- BBC Radio4x

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Vagg, Stephen (27 July 2019). "Unsung Aussie Filmmakers: Don Sharp – A Top 25". Filmink. Archived from the original on 2 August 2020 . Retrieved 14 February 2020. It’s impossible to choose the best. The Cruel Sea, however, deserves to stand among the best. It deserves an audience. They rose, and lay wherever they were on the battlefield, waiting for the victors to claim their victory.

The Royal Navy is now finally gaining the upper hand over the U-boats and Saltash adds to the growing number of kills due to Ericson's determination and patience.

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The Ship That Died of Shame, and Other Stories (1959) (comprising The Ship That Died of Shame; Oh To Be in England!; The Reconciliation; The List; The Thousand Islands Snatch; Up The Garden Path; The Man Who Wanted a Mark IX; I Was There; The Dinner Party; Licensed To Kill; Postscript) You know those bad, stereotypical WWII films that used to litter the late, late show? This book is one of those, in print. Noble young men striving -- nay, Striving Mightily against Cruel Fate. Or in this case, the Cruel Sea. And, you know, Jerry. The Story of Esther Costello (1957) (also known as The Golden Virgin), directed by David Miller, starring Joan Crawford, Rossano Brazzi, Heather Sears, Lee Patterson. Screenplay by Charles Kaufman.