''The Ship That Died of Shame'', released in the United States as ''PT Raiders'', is a

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

1955 Ealing Studios crime film directed by Basil Dearden and starring George Baker, Richard Attenborough,

Roland Culver Roland Joseph Culver, (31 August 1900 – 1 March 1984) was an English stage, film, and television actor. Life and career After Highgate School, he joined the Royal Air Force and served as a pilot from 1918 to 1919. After considering other c ...

and Bill Owen. The film is based on a story written by

Nicholas Monsarrat Lieutenant Commander Nicholas John Turney Monsarrat FRSL RNVR (22 March 19108 August 1979) was a British novelist known for his sea stories, particularly '' The Cruel Sea'' (1951) and ''Three Corvettes'' (1942–45), but perhaps known best i ...

(better known as the author of '' The Cruel Sea''), which originally appeared in '' Lilliput'' magazine in 1952. It was later published in a collection of short stories, ''The Ship That Died of Shame and other stories'', in 1959. Despite being produced by Ealing Studios, the film was shot at the film studios at Wembley Park in north-west London. It was the last feature film to be made there.

Plot

The ''1087'' is a British

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 ...

motor gun boat that faithfully sees its crew through the worst that

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

can throw at them. After the end of the war, George Hoskins (Richard Attenborough) convinces former skipper Bill Randall (George Baker) and Birdie (Bill Owen) to buy their beloved boat and use it for some harmless, minor smuggling of black market items like wine. But they find themselves transporting ever more sinister cargoes, such as counterfeit currency and weapons. Though their craft had been utterly reliable and never let them down in wartime, things start to go wrong after the crew start accepting jobs from Major Fordyce (Roland Culver). ''1087'' starts to break down frequently. The crew revolt after child murderer Raines (John Chandos) is helped to escape, but later he either falls or is pushed overboard. When Fordyce is confronted by customs officer Brewster (Bernard Lee), Brewster is shot and dies, but not before telling Birdie of the culprit. Fordyce forces the crew at gunpoint to take him to safety. Birdie is shot and, in the ensuing scuffle, Randall grabs the gun and kills Fordyce. Randall and Hoskins then fight on the bridge while ''1087'' runs out of control and onto rocks, sinking after Randall and Birdie scramble to safety.

Cast

* Richard Attenborough as George Hoskins * George Baker as Bill Randall * Bill Owen as Birdie * Virginia McKenna as Helen Randall *

as Major Fordyce *

Bernard Lee John Bernard Lee (10 January 190816 January 1981) was an English actor, best known for his role as M in the first eleven Eon-produced James Bond films. Lee's film career spanned the years 1934 to 1979, though he had appeared on stage from ...

as Customs Officer Brewster *

Ralph Truman Ralph du Vergier Truman (7 May 1900 – 15 October 1977) was an English actor, usually cast as either a villain or an authority figure. He possessed a distinguished speaking voice. He was born in London, England. Truman originally studied at t ...

as Sir Richard * John Chandos as Raines * Harold Goodwin as Customs officer *

John Longden John Longden (11 November 1900 – 26 May 1971) was an English film actor. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1926 and 1964, including five films directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Biography Longden was born in the West Indies, the son o ...

as the Detective *

Alfie Bass Alfie Bass (born Abraham Basalinsky, 10 April 1916 – 16 July 1987) was an English actor. He was born in Bethnal Green, London, the youngest in a Jewish family with ten children; his parents had left Russia many years before he was born. He a ...

as Sailor on board the ''1087'' (uncredited) * John Boxer as Customs Man (uncredited) *

Stratford Johns Alan Edgar Stratford Johns (22 September 1925 – 29 January 2002), known as Stratford Johns, was a British stage, film and television actor who is best remembered for his starring role as Detective Inspector Charlie Barlow in the long-running ...

as Garage Worker (uncredited) *

David Langton David Muir Langton (born Basil Muir Langton-Dodds; 16 April 1912 – 25 April 1994) was a British actor who is best remembered for playing Richard Bellamy in the period drama '' Upstairs, Downstairs''. Early years David Langton was born Basi ...

as Man in Coastal Forces Club Bar (uncredited) * Yana, as a woman singer performing "

We'll Meet Again "We'll Meet Again" is a 1939 song by English singer Vera Lynn with music and lyrics composed and written by English songwriters Ross Parker and Hughie Charles. The song is one of the most famous of the Second World War era, and resonated with ...

" in a room off the bar of the Coastal Forces Club

Critical reception

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 d ...

'' wrote "the little picture...has a nice strain of sentiment running through it and becomes mildly exciting here and there"; '' Time Out'' called it "A valuable record of bewildered British masculinity in the post-war years," before dismissing it as "a pretty threadbare thriller"; but ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corpora ...

'' noted that "With a highly original premise...this movie starts in an exciting fashion and seldom slows down to take on more fuel."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ship That Died Of Shame, The 1955 films British black-and-white films British crime drama films 1955 crime drama films Ealing Studios films Films directed by Basil Dearden Films based on short fiction Seafaring films Films scored by William Alwyn Films with screenplays by Basil Dearden Films with screenplays by Michael Relph 1950s English-language films 1950s British films