Sailor of the King (1953)
A British naval officer has a brief affair with a woman in England and never knows that she bears him a son. 20 years later the boy is on a ship under his command when he is tracking a German Raider. When the boy is captured after his ship is sunk, he finds a way to slow the German's progress while a lethal hunt for him goes on.
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I never heard of this film before I ran across it on Amazon.Com. I was amazed by this as I'm a military historian and I already have an extensive WWII film library. Upon first viewing I found the whole front story stultifying. I love Michael Rennie as an actor but I found his whole "stiff upper lip" "I love you I truly do" performance to be unbelievably stiff. And the mother, were talking early 20th Century morals here, I no more believe her spending a week bonking a stranger than I do her then allowing him to walk away. And her then compounding it by having his love child out of wedlock AND NEVER TELLING HIM??? Puhlease. Eyewash....When we're finally at sea though the movie comes into its own. Of course the ships are way to modern to be WWII vintage craft and the Nazi's are portrayed as "right good fellows" (they are our allies at the time now against those nasty Bolshiviks so be nice to em) and there's nary a swastika in sight. Good ripping yarn if I do say so myself but could'a been much more if the Victorian morals hadn't derailed the film.Da Worfster
I had never seen the title of the movie as "Single-Handed." Nonetheless, this movie is near perfection. Without question, however, the ending is the crown jewel of the picture. Some have commented that the movie is "unrealistic." Perhaps if more movies fit that criteria movie going would be a much more enjoyable experience. Patrons don't need to be preached to about a particular high-profile director's, star's, or producer's politics or social commentary. A simple ride with an imaginative story and great, optimistic ending are all that's needed to get me to part with my money. Yes, this movie should be on DVD ASAP!!
...between Hiller and Rennie. "Sailor of the king" seems to be a lot of fiction. But it is a gripping story of two lovers in WW1 and the adventures of their son in WW2. I love the beginning of the movie with shy Michael Rennie and the charming Wendy Hiller. Then Jeff comes and takes the command. It is very thrilling to watch him shooting Peter van Eyck who is a famous german actor and plays very well too. I do not like the ending. It is too unrealistic. >
Excellent British naval war movie with Jeffrey Hunter. There are few movies of this type --as this is centered on sea action. I think of the movie "Pursuit of the Graf Spree" when watching this movie. This movie takes awhile to get going but is worth the wait.