The Gift Horse [Glory at Sea] *** (1952, Trevor Howard, Richard Attenborough, Sonny Tufts, James Donald, Joan Rice, Bernard Lee, Dora Bryan) – Classic Movie Review 8500

Director Compton Bennett’s 1952 black and white war adventure drama The Gift Horse [Glory at Sea] stars Trevor Howard as disliked ship’s captain Lieutenant Commander Hugh Alginon Fraser, who struggles with his crew but wins his men’s respect and commands an aged, decrepit battleship to success against the Germans, in this mild but seaworthy telling of a stirring World War Two story.

The battleship is a mothballed American destroyer commissioned in the Royal Navy in 1940. This is The Gift Horse of the title, the four-stacker ex-US Navy destroyer the HMS Ballantrae.

The Gift Horse is propelled by decent performances from the British stalwarts, some excitement in the sincere and intelligent screenplay by William Fairchild, Hugh Hastings and William Rose, and the dedicated, stiff-upper-lipped direction by Bennett, who keeps it moving along full steam ahead. For all its faults, it is at least carefully written and professionally crafted.

Also in the stalwart cast are Richard Attenborough as Able Seaman ‘Dripper’ Daniels, Sonny Tufts as Ordinary Seaman ‘Yank’ Flanagan, James Donald as No 1 Lieutenant Richard Jennings, Joan Rice, Bernard Lee as A S ‘Stripey’ Wood, Dora Bryan as Glad Flanagan, Hugh Williams as Division Commander Captain David G. Wilson, Robin Bailey, Meredith Edwards, Sidney James, Patric Doonan, John Forrest, James Carney, Harry Towb, Glyn Houston, Hugh Hastings, Tony Quinn, Charles Lloyd Pack, James Kenney, George Street, Harold Ayer, Peter Bathurst, William Russell, Anthony Oliver, Harold Siddons, John Warren and Olaf Pooley.

The screenplay comes from an original story by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts.

The story is loosely based on the real World War Two raid in 1942 by British forces on the French port of Saint-Nazaire by HMS Campbeltown in the campaign Operation Chariot. The ship, loaded with explosives, rammed and destroyed the dock gates.

The story is retold in Attack on the Iron Coast (1968).

It was made at Isleworth Studios, London Road, Isleworth, Middlesex, England.

The movie recalls: ‘In 1940 when Britain was fighting alone for her life, the United States transferred fifty of her destroyers to the Royal Navy. This picture is respectfully dedicated to their exploits and is very broadly based on the adventures of one of these destroyers.’

RIP Richard Attenborough, who died on 24 August 2014, aged 90.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8500

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