The Ship That Died of Shame [PT Raiders] *** (1955, Richard Attenborough, George Baker, Bill Owen, Virginia McKenna) – Classic Movie Review 8461

When World War Two is over, the crew of a gunboat buy their old boat and run smuggled goods across the English Channel into Britain, in director Basil Dearden’s 1955 Ealing Studios black and white crime melodrama The Ship That Died of Shame [P T Raiders]. The trio of ex-servicemen start off by smuggling harmless black market items but then they get greedy and move on to some sinister smuggling.

The Ship That Died of Shame stays interesting, intelligent and thoughtful while it skimps on the story and characterisation. Richard Attenborough brings it some distinction as the puffed-up, small-time crook George Hoskins, while George Baker and Bill Owen co-star as his partners in crime Bill Randall and Birdie Dick, and the sole female cast member Virginia McKenna provides the glamour as Helen Randall. The performances are all compelling.

What could have been a typically amusing Ealing Studios comedy tries for a blend of noir thriller and fantasy drama, but sinks under the weight of its own ambition as it tries to deal once again with the already outmoded topic of servicemen adjusting to civvy life. It was time to move on, but Ealing, locked in the war and post-war moods, found this hard, and soon paid the price with the end of the studio.

It is based on a novel by Nicholas Monsarrat, also the author of The Cruel Sea, filmed in 1953 as the classic The Cruel Sea, but Ealing did not strike gold twice.

Also in the cast are Roland Culver, Bernard Lee, Ralph Truman, Harold Goodwin, John Chandos, John Longden, David Langton, Alfie Bass, John Boxer, Guy Standeven and Stratford Johns.

The Ship that Died of Shame [P T Raiders] is directed by Basil Dearden, runs 95 minutes, is made by Ealing Studios and Michael Balcon Productions, is released by General Film Distributors (1955) (UK) and Continental Distributing (1956) (US), is written by John Whiting, Michael Relph and Basil Dearden, is shot in black and white by Gordon Dines, is produced by Michael Relph, is scored by William Alwyn and is designed by Bernard Robinson.

It is David Langton’s uncredited movie debut (Man in Coastal Forces Club Bar).

It is available on DVD in the British War Collection (The Cruel Sea/The Ship That Died of Shame/Went the Day Well?/The Dam Busters/The Colditz Story).

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8461

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