Sailor of the King *** (1953, Jeffrey Hunter, Michael Rennie, Wendy Hiller, Bernard Lee, Peter Van Eyck, Victor Maddern) – Classic Movie Review 1645

Director Roy Boulting’s 1953 Second World War-set Royal Navy yarn Sailor of the King, cut from the same cloth as a thousand other wartime adventures, spins the proficient tale of eager young rookie Signalman Brown (Jeffrey Hunter), who ultimately proves his mettle during an attack by Nazi U-boats.

Oddly cast all-American Hunter (aged 26) is at his most devastatingly handsome as ‘Canada’ Brown, a captured British seaman who escapes as sole survivor from a disabled German cruiser ship when it docks for repairs on Resolution Island, then wages a one-man guerrilla war to delay its departure long enough to give the navy the chance to disable it.

At a time when war films were still full of gung-ho attitudes, this is a hard-to-believe heroic tale of WW2 derring-do that gains some credibility through effectively straightforward and understated treatment.

It is directed with an eagle eye for tension by Roy Boulting, more often to be found in charge of cynical comedies, but unfortunately the acting mostly lacks conviction throughout. However, Michael Rennie injects some depth into his role as the stiff upper-lipped British commander. 

Wendy Hiller, Bernard Lee and Peter Van Eyck also star. In the support cast are Victor Maddern, John Horsley, Patrick Barr, Robin Bailey, James Copeland, Sam Kydd, John Schlesinger (the film director), Nicholas Bruce, Martin Boddey, Robert Dean, James Drake, Guido Lorraine, Derek Prentice and Lockwood West.

This movie vessel is seaworthy without being impressive. Valentine Davies’s shipshape screenplay is based on the novel Brown on Resoltion by C S Forester.

Sailor of the King is also known as Single-Handed.

John Schlesinger started in films as an actor, debuting as German Guard (uncredited) in Sailor of the King.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1645

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