''Brown on Resolution'' (US title: ''Born for Glory''; UK re-issue title: ''Forever England'') is a 1935 film directed by

Walter Forde Walter Forde (born Thomas Seymour Woolford, 21 April 1898 – 7 January 1984) was a British actor, screenwriter and Film director, director. Born in Lambeth, South London in 1898, he directed over fifty films between 1919 from the silent era ...

and

Anthony Asquith Anthony Asquith (; 9 November 1902 – 20 February 1968) was an English film director. He collaborated successfully with playwright Terence Rattigan on ''The Winslow Boy'' (1948) and '' The Browning Version'' (1951), among other adaptations ...

and starring

John Mills Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portray ...

in his first lead role. It was written by J. O. C. Orton based on the 1929

C. S. Forester Cecil Louis Troughton Smith (27 August 1899 – 2 April 1966), known by his pen name Cecil Scott "C. S." Forester, was an English novelist known for writing tales of naval warfare, such as the 12-book Horatio Hornblower series depicting a Royal ...

novel of the same title. The film is notable for being the first film to use actual Royal Navy ships. The plot is centred on the illegitimate son of a British naval officer helping to bring about the downfall of a German cruiser during World War I. The novel was also later adapted as ''

Sailor of the King ''Sailor of the King'' is a 1953 British war film directed by Roy Boulting and starring Jeffrey Hunter, Michael Rennie and Wendy Hiller. It is based on the 1929 novel '' Brown on Resolution'' by C. S. Forester. Set largely in the Pacific, Hunte ...

'' (also titled ''Single-Handed'' in the US, and sometimes – though rarely – ''Brown on Resolution''), in 1953. The 1935 version retains the novel's original World War I setting, but in the 1953 remake, the setting is realistically updated to the Second World War, as the Germans resumed commerce raiding with surface warships in 1939.

Plot

In 1893, Betty Brown meets debonair young naval officer Lieutenant Summerville and falls in love with him. They have a brief affair until he has to rejoin his ship but as they part, Betty tells him they should not meet again because they are from different social classes and so a marriage would never succeed; however, he gives her a prized watch which is a family heirloom. Later, Betty discovers she is pregnant, but she conceals the pregnancy from him; she gives birth to a boy, Albert Brown, and raises him alone. He joins the Navy as soon as he is old enough, while Summerville, by then a captain but not recognizing the boy as his son, presents him with a sports cup for boxing on his graduation from a naval school. Brown's ship, HMS ''Rutland'', is posted to the Pacific, where in port they encounter and socialize with the crew of a German

armoured cruiser The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was designed like other types of cruisers to operate as a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a pre-dreadnought battles ...

, the SMS ''Zeithen''. Shortly afterwards, the First World War begins, and at sea ''Rutland'' again encounters the much more powerful ''Zeithen'', which it had been shadowing until a British

battlecruiser The battlecruiser (also written as battle cruiser or battle-cruiser) was a type of capital ship of the first half of the 20th century. These were similar in displacement, armament and cost to battleships, but differed in form and balance of att ...

HMS ''Leopard'', can rendezvous with it so they can attack it together. ''Rutland'' is sunk, and Brown and a shipmate are rescued and taken prisoner aboard ''Zeithen''. However, ''Rutland'' had succeeded in damaging ''Zeithen'', so its captain plans to pull into an isolated anchorage at the remote Galápagos island of Resolution to repair the vessel. There, the resourceful Brown escapes, steals a rifle and a small amount of ammunition, and makes his way ashore. From there, he picks off exposed crewmen trying to repair the punctured hull plates on ''Zeithen'', hoping to delay it until ''Leopard'', which is commanded by Captain Summerville, arrives. ''Zeithens

main battery A main battery is the primary weapon or group of weapons around which a warship is designed. As such, a main battery was historically a naval gun or group of guns used in volleys, as in the broadsides of cannon on a ship of the line. Later, th ...

bombards the island but Brown is able to hide in the rocks. A shore party is sent to the island and Brown is eventually hit by a German shot, from which he later dies, never learning that his actions did delay the repairs long enough for ''Leopard'' to arrive and destroy ''Zeithen'' in an exchange of fire. The German captain is taken prisoner and reveals what delayed him, but also that his son, who was serving with him, did not survive. Brown's body and belongings are recovered and he is buried on the island, where the British erect a cross on the highest point to commemorate him. Aboard ''Leopard'', Captain Summerville looks through Brown's belongings and sees the watch that he had once given to Betty; he realizes that Albert Brown was his son, so both captains lost their sons in the battle.

Cast

* Betty Balfour as Elizabeth Brown *

as Albert Brown * Barry MacKay as Lt. Somerville * Jimmy Hanley as Ginger *

Howard Marion-Crawford Howard Marion-Crawford (17 January 1914 – 24 November 1969), was an English People, English character actor, best known for his portrayal of Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes (1954 TV series), 1954 television adaptation of Sherlock Holmes ...

as Max * H. G. Stoker as Captain Holt *

Percy Walsh Percy Walsh (24 April 1888 in Luton, Bedfordshire – 19 January 1952 in London) was a British stage and film actor. His stage work included appearing in the London premieres of R.C.Sherriff's '' Journey's End'' (1928) and Agatha Christie's ''And ...

as Kapitan von Lutz * George Merritt as William Brown *

Cyril Smith Sir Cyril Richard Smith (28 June 1928 – 3 September 2010) was a British Liberal Party and Liberal Democrat politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Rochdale from 1972 to 1992. Smith was first active in local politics as ...

as William Brown, Jr. * Charles Childerstone as uncredited

Production

In July 1933

Gaumont British The Gaumont-British Picture Corporation was a British company that produced and distributed films and operated a cinema chain in the United Kingdom. It was established as an offshoot of France's Gaumont. Film production Gaumont-British was fou ...

announced they would make a film of the novel. Production was delayed as the studio negotiated with the Admiralty for co operation. In November the studio announced it would make the film as part of their next line up of projects. In January 1934

was announced as director. By June 1934 the film had still not been made. The Admiralty had given some indication they would co operate, but William Fisher, Commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, was unhappy at the thought of British sailors playing Germans in the film, thinking it would be bad for morale. In July Gaumont announced the role of the mother would be played by Betty Balfour, a silent film star who had recently made a comeback in ''

Evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

''. In October the Admiralty agreed to cooperate. The "German raider ''Zeithen''" was played by British which sank after a collision with RMS Queen Mary, 2 October 1942; " Second-class cruiser HMS ''Rutland''" was played by

destroyer leader Destroyer leader (DL) was the United States Navy designation for large destroyers from 9 February 1951 through the early years of the Cold War. United States ships with hull classification symbol DL were officially frigates from 1 January 1955Blac ...

which sank after receiving shore battery fire in Algiers, 8 November 1942, and "

Armoured Cruiser The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was designed like other types of cruisers to operate as a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a pre-dreadnought battles ...

HMS Leopard" by the new which was sunk 19 December 1941 by mines off Tripoli. This was the first time that the Royal Navy had co-operated with a film company to this extent (though

Sergei Eisenstein Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein; (11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, screenwriter, film editor and film theorist. Considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, he was a pioneer in the theory and practice of montage. He is no ...

had had the use of Soviet Russian naval vessels for his film ''

Battleship Potemkin '' Battleship Potemkin'' (, ), sometimes rendered as ''Battleship Potyomkin'', is a 1925 Soviet silent epic film produced by Mosfilm. Directed and co-written by Sergei Eisenstein, it presents a dramatization of the mutiny that occurred in 1905 ...

'' in 1925). The battleship ''Iron Duke'' would be filmed at Portsmouth; the ''Curacoa'' at Mullion Cove Cornwall; the cruiser ''Neptune'' at Invergordon and at sea; ''Broke'' and the flotilla would be shot at sea. The Admiralty also allowed filming at the Gunnery School, Whale Island and the Boys Training Establishment at Gosport. Filming began in Portsmouth. John Mills, who had been in '' Britannia of Billingsgate'' was cast in the lead. His friend was played by Jimmy Hanley. Studio filming took place at Shepherd's Bush. The cast included war hero

Henry Hugh Gordon Stoker Captain Henry Hugh Gordon Dacre Stoker, (2 February 1885 – 2 February 1966), also known as Hew Stoker and commonly credited in films as H. G. Stoker or Dacre Stoker, was an Irish Royal Navy officer who commanded the Royal Australian Navy's s ...

. He had been in a production of '' Journey's End'' with Mills. At one stage the title of the film was going to be "Forever England" based on a line from the

Rupert Brooke Rupert Chawner Brooke (3 August 1887 – 23 April 1915The date of Brooke's death and burial under the Julian calendar that applied in Greece at the time was 10 April. The Julian calendar was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar.) was an En ...

poem " The Soldier". It was feared that "Brown on Resolution" might be too confusing. But this was the title eventually used. The film was shown privately to

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. George was born during the reign of his pa ...

Reception

The ''New York Times'' called it "good hearty entertainment in the

Rover Boy The Rover Boys, or The Rover Boys Series for Young Americans, was a popular :juvenile series, juvenile series written by Arthur M. Winfield, a pseudonym for Edward Stratemeyer. Thirty titles were published between 1899 and 1926 and the books remai ...

tradition." ''Variety'' wrote Mills "gives a natural and sincere study of the hero and is a distinct find for British studios. Whole atmosphere is a tribute to Engllsh seamen, without any undue showing off. An attractive and interesting feature anywhere."

Notes

External links

* {{Walter Forde 1935 films 1930s war adventure films British war adventure films Films directed by Walter Forde World War I naval films Films set in 1893 Films set in 1914 Films set in London Films set in Oceania Films based on British novels Films based on military novels Films based on works by C. S. Forester Films about the Royal Navy British black-and-white films 1930s British films 1930s English-language films British World War I films Films scored by Louis Levy English-language war adventure films