The Baby and the Battleship ** (1956, John Mills, Richard Attenborough, André Morell, Bryan Forbes, Michael Hordern, Lisa Gastoni, Ernest Clark) – Classic Movie Review 2,493

The 1956 British colour comedy film The Baby and the Battleship is a cheery and fast-moving Fifties caper about a boatload of jovial Royal Navy sailors who have shore leave in Naples before being left holding the baby.

Producer-director Jay Lewis’s 1956 British colour comedy film The Baby and the Battleship is a cheery and fast-moving if dated Fifties caper about a boatload of jovial Royal Navy sailors who have shore leave in Naples.

After a brawl, one of them wakes up to find an Italian baby separated from its mother and is forced to smuggle it aboard their ship in the middle of joint operations with Allied navies off the coast of Italy.

Though typecast as servicemen and giving very broad performances, John Mills and Richard Attenborough (as Puncher and Knocker!) keep the mild fun afloat, even if the script, based on a 1956 novel by Anthony Thorne, is high on sentimentality and lower on wit and laughs. The likeable actors help a lot, though. It’s Puncher who finds and smuggles the baby.

It was in touch with the mood of the time and a sizeable hit in its day, and was one of the ten most popular movies at the British box office in 1956, taking £258,845 (UK), and despite its UK cast and subject had a US release.

John Mills said: ‘I was sent the script by Elstree studios. It was awful but the idea was good. I gave it to Bryan Forbes to do a rewrite.’ Forbes also has an acting role as Professor Evans. Martyn Garrett, who played the baby, made only this film and Three Men in a Boat (1956).

Also in the sweet cast are André Morell, Michael Hordern, Lisa Gastoni, Ernest Clark, Lionel Jeffries, Thorley Walters, Duncan Lamont, Cyril Raymond, Kenneth Griffith, John le Mesurier, Gordon Jackson, Harry Locke, Michael Howard, Clifford Morrison and Ferdy Mayne, a veritable acting who’s who of the era. Barry Foster is a sailor at the dance.

The British Royal Navy provided a large amount of co-operation with scenes shot aboard HMS Birmingham and in Malta.

John Mills and Richard Attenborough appeared together in Attenborough’s debut film In Which We Serve (1942), Morning Departure (1950), The Baby and the Battleship (1956), Dunkirk (1958).

The three great friends and business partners are all gone now: John Mills died on April 23 2005 aged 97, Richard Attenborough died on August 24 2014 aged 90 and Bryan Forbes died on 8 May 2013 (aged 86).

Credits

The Baby and the Battleship is directed by Jay Lewis, runs 96 minutes, is made by Jay Lewis Productions, is released by British Lion (UK) and Distributors Corporation of America (US), is written by Richard De Roy (story and screenplay), Jay Lewis (screenplay), Gilbert Hackforth-Jones and Bryan Forbes (additional scenes and dialogue), based on the novel by Anthony Thorne, is shot in Eastmancolor by Harry Waxman, is produced by Jay Lewis (uncredited) and Anthony Darnborough, is scored by James Stevens and Humphrey Searle, and is designed by John Howell.

Cast

The cast are: John Mills as Puncher Roberts, Richard Attenborough as Knocker White, André Morell as Marshal, Bryan Forbe as Professor Evans, Michael Hordern as Captain Hugh, Ernest Clark as Commander Geoffrey Digby, Harry Locke as Chief Petty Officer Blades, Michael Howard as Joe, Lionel Jeffries as George, Clifford Mollison as Sail, Thorley Walters as Lieutenant Setley, Duncan Lamont as Master-at-Arms, Lisa Gastoni as Maria, Cyril Raymond as PMO, Harold Siddons as Whiskers, D A Clarke-Smith as The Admiral, Kenneth Griffith as Sub-Lieutenant, John Le Mesurier as The Marshal’s aide, Carlo Giustini as Carlo Vespucci, Ferdy Mayne as interpreter, Vincent Barbi as second brother, Gordon Jackson as Harry, Vittorio Vittori as third brother, Martyn Garrett as the baby, Barry Foster as sailor at dance, Robert Ayres as American Captain, and Sam Kydd as Chief Steward.

Release dates: 10 July 1956 (London) and 30 September 1957 (New York).

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2,493

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