''The Key'' is a 1958 British-American

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

set in 1941 during the

Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allies of World War II, ...

. It was based on the 1951 novel ''Stella'' by Jan de Hartog (later republished as ''The Distant Shore'' and ''The Key'') and was directed by Sir

Carol Reed Sir Carol Reed (30 December 1906 – 25 April 1976) was an English film director and producer, best known for '' Odd Man Out'' (1947), '' The Fallen Idol'' (1948), ''The Third Man'' (1949), and ''Oliver!'' (1968), for which he was awarded the ...

William Holden William Holden (born William Franklin Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor, and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film ''Stalag 17'' (1953) ...

Sophia Loren Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( , ), is an Italian actress. She was named by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest female stars of Classical Hollywood ci ...

and

Trevor Howard Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988) was an English stage, film, and television actor. After varied work in the theatre, he achieved star status with his role in the film ''Brief Encounter'' (1945), followed by ''T ...

starred in the production. The key to a flat in wartime

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

may augur bad luck for a succession of

tug A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

captains of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

whose task is to rescue crippled ships in "

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...

Alley." As each takes possession from his unfortunate predecessor, the flat's other occupant, a Swiss expatriate named Stella, apparently goes with it. The latest captain struggles with his conflicting fears and affection for its apparent jinx.

Plot

American David Ross (William Holden), a former tugboat captain now in the

Canadian Army The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also respo ...

, is hastily commissioned in the

and assigned to rotating command of ''W88'', a double-screwed

rescue tug Rescue comprises responsive operations that usually involve the saving of life, or the urgent treatment of injuries after an accident or a dangerous situation. Tools used might include search and rescue dogs, mounted search and rescue ...

then in

dry dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

due to battle damage. His predecessor committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...

. The slow, poorly armed tugs bring in "lame ducks," freighters crippled near Britain by German attacks. The main danger is from

s and aircraft. David is reunited with an old friend, Captain Chris Ford (Trevor Howard), who commands another tug about to go on a mission. Chris takes David with him and they are attacked twice. That night Chris brings him home to his flat to meet his lover, Stella (Sophia Loren), who wears a wedding ring. She had been engaged to Philip Westerby, another tugboat captain, but he was killed the day before their wedding. A friend of Chris's, Van Barger, took possession of the hard-to-find flat and Stella stayed with him. Knowing the extreme danger of his job, Van Barger then gave a copy of his key to the flat to Chris, so that Stella would be taken care of no matter what. When Chris chooses David to be the next in line, he tries to refuse, but his friend is insistent. David's tug comes out of dry dock and he goes aboard to take his turn of command from the tug's other captain, Van Dam (Oskar Homolka), who gives him tips for survival in combat but warns him that his real enemy is the one within himself, fear. Shaken by his recent close call, Chris proposes marriage to Stella, who accepts. However, she has a premonition that he will not be coming back from his next mission. She is proved correct. At first, David refuses to move in. When he eventually does, he is surprised that Stella does not share his bed, but as time goes by, she falls in love with him, unlike the others. She puts away her photograph of Philip, gets rid of the uniforms of David's predecessors, and takes off the wedding ring. She also leaves her flat for the first time since Philip was killed. Finally, she asks David to marry her, and he gladly accepts. With the U.S. entry into the war, an American freighter becomes David's next assignment, even though it is Van Dam's turn. Its inexperienced crew sends out a continuous S.O.S., contrary to sealed orders, revealing the ship's position to the enemy. When David finds out the situation, he tries unsuccessfully to refuse what amounts to a suicide mission. Knowing his chances, he gives his key to the new captain of another tugboat, Chris's former mate, Kane (Kieron Moore). David's tug is attacked by a U-boat and hit numerous times. He orders the crew to abandon ship, then rams the submarine. After being rescued, David hurries back to the flat, but Kane is already there, having told Stella that David was killed. When she sees him alive, she screams at him to get out, hurt to the core by his betrayal in passing on the key. Later, Kane finds David drinking his sorrows away, and informs him that Stella is leaving for London on the train. David does not arrive at the station in time to board the train, but vows to Kane that somehow he will find her.

Cast

as David Ross *

as Stella *

as Chris Ford *

Oskar Homolka Oskar Homolka (August 12, 1898 – January 27, 1978) was an Austrian film and theatre actor, who went on to work in Germany, Britain and America. Both his voice and his appearance fitted him for roles as communist spies or Soviet officials, for w ...

as Captain Van Dam, who alternates command of the tug with David * Kieron Moore as Kane * Bernard Lee as Wadlow, the head of the salvage unit *

Beatrix Lehmann Beatrix Alice Lehmann (1 July 1903 – 31 July 1979) was a British actress, theatre director, writer and novelist. Early life and family Lehmann was born in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire. She came from a family of notable achievers: the third o ...

as Housekeeper * Noel Purcell as Hotel Porter *

Bryan Forbes Bryan Forbes CBE (; born John Theobald Clarke; 22 July 1926 – 8 May 2013) was an English film director, screenwriter, film producer, actor and novelist described as a "Renaissance man"Falk Q. . BAFTA. 17 October 2007. Retrieved 9 May 2013 and ...

as Weaver, mate of ''W88'' * Sidney Vivian as Grogan * Rupert Davies as Baker * Russell Waters as Sparks * Irene Handl as Clerk * John Crawford as American Captain *

Jameson Clark Jameson Clark (8 July 1907, Kilbirnie, North Ayrshire, Scotland – 4 January 1984, Kilbirnie, Ayrshire, ScotlandTurner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of ...

entry for the film and attributed to the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', one was filmed in which David gets aboard the train for a "happy" ending. In the other, purportedly filmed to satisfy the American

Motion Picture Production Code The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the ...

by showing that David and Stella pay for their sexual relationship, he just misses catching it, but insists he will search for and find her. In this explanation the

Production Code Administration The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distribu ...

unexpectedly accepted the happy ending but a few reels of the darker ending were distributed to meet the demands of cinemas during its opening run. However a published history of British films subjected to PCA scrutiny before their American release presents a slightly different version. After an initial rejection of the story outline in 1952 by the PCA, Carl Foreman resurrected the ''Stella'' project in 1957 and was offered two acceptable story lines: one in which Stella has an unconventional but asexual relationship with the captains, the other "a clearcut story of sin and retribution" in which she loses her relationship at the end. The source states that the second version was submitted to the PCA and a certificate issued in June 1958. A biography of director Carol Reed by Peter William Evans supports the latter contention. It asserts that the original ending released in Europe had David missing the train, and that Reed intended to convey that his vow to find Stella has no more substance than "the steam in which both they and the moving train are shrouded." Evans adds that the happy ending of David catching the train was made for U.S. audiences and was a more "conventional conclusion." De Hartog's novel, originally entitled ''Stella'', concerned Dutch tugboat captains who fled to England with their craft in 1940 (as represented by the character Captain Van Dam and based on historical fact) and a British woman named Stella. The casting of Holden and Loren necessitated script rationales for their presence in 1941 England, but the appointment of an American in the RNVR as a ship's captain during the early years of World War II was historically possible. Filming of ''The Key'' was done aboard H.M.S. ''Restive'' (W39), an ''Assurance'' class Admiralty tug of the Royal Navy from the same era.

Reception

''Kinematograph Weekly'' listed it as being "in the money" at the British box office in 1958. It was one of the twelve most popular films in Britain that year.

Awards

Trevor Howard won the BAFTA Best British Actor Award in 1958 for his performance.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Key 1958 romantic drama films 1958 films British black-and-white films British war films Columbia Pictures films Films shot at Associated British Studios Films based on Dutch novels Films directed by Carol Reed Films set in 1940 Royal Navy in World War II films U-boat fiction Films scored by Malcolm Arnold 1950s English-language films 1950s British films