This was one weird film....and I mean REALLY, REALLY weird! Yet, despite being so weird as well as being such an obvious propaganda piece, it is still very watchable today. Plus, I know that when the original play and this movie debuted in Britain, they were extremely successful, so it was obviously an important film for the morale of the British people.
The film begins with a whole lot of obviously British actors trying to fake American accents and doing a terrible job--so badly that it made me laugh to think that the British saw us that way and I now wonder if Americans doing British accents sound that bad to the Brits (I assume we must). Oddly, some of the actors (such as the very English James Mason) didn't even attempt accents and I wonder how many people noticed this at the time. I'm sure American audiences would have noticed. This is not a major problem, but it sure was noticeable.
The story is about a disenchanted newspaper reporter (Michael Redgrave). Well before the war, he traveled the globe documenting all the signs that a war was approaching. However, despite the rise of militarism in Japan, Italy and Germany, the people at home were sick of war following the last one and just didn't want to listen (which was definitely true). So, when the war finally arrived, Redgrave left the UK and moved to the most isolated place he could find--a lonely lighthouse on a tiny island in the Great Lakes. However, and here's the really weird part, he wasn't alone as the ghost-like memories of the victims of a shipwreck near the lighthouse were his constant companions! No books, no TV and no radio--just him and his imaginary dead friends!
The most exciting and wonderful actor among these dead imaginary friends was the Captain, played by Finlay Currie--a wonderful actor you might have seen in IVANHOE, WHISKY GALORE! or BEN HUR. While his name is NOT well-known, this very prolific and exceptional actor really made an impossibly silly plot come to life. Currie and Redgrave both introduce several of the dead passengers from the long-lost ship (from 1849) and both had their own unique perspective. Redgrave imagined their deaths to be both meaningless and bigger than life, while Currie showed that all these people were running from something--something bigger than them--just like Redgrave. By the end of the film, Currie (who was imaginary) convinced Redgrave to stop being a hermit and do his part for the war effort against Fascism--a not especially subtle but very rousing ending indeed! Good acting made this silly stage production come to life. A very interesting yet preachy film from WWII.
The film begins with a whole lot of obviously British actors trying to fake American accents and doing a terrible job--so badly that it made me laugh to think that the British saw us that way and I now wonder if Americans doing British accents sound that bad to the Brits (I assume we must). Oddly, some of the actors (such as the very English James Mason) didn't even attempt accents and I wonder how many people noticed this at the time. I'm sure American audiences would have noticed. This is not a major problem, but it sure was noticeable.
The story is about a disenchanted newspaper reporter (Michael Redgrave). Well before the war, he traveled the globe documenting all the signs that a war was approaching. However, despite the rise of militarism in Japan, Italy and Germany, the people at home were sick of war following the last one and just didn't want to listen (which was definitely true). So, when the war finally arrived, Redgrave left the UK and moved to the most isolated place he could find--a lonely lighthouse on a tiny island in the Great Lakes. However, and here's the really weird part, he wasn't alone as the ghost-like memories of the victims of a shipwreck near the lighthouse were his constant companions! No books, no TV and no radio--just him and his imaginary dead friends!
The most exciting and wonderful actor among these dead imaginary friends was the Captain, played by Finlay Currie--a wonderful actor you might have seen in IVANHOE, WHISKY GALORE! or BEN HUR. While his name is NOT well-known, this very prolific and exceptional actor really made an impossibly silly plot come to life. Currie and Redgrave both introduce several of the dead passengers from the long-lost ship (from 1849) and both had their own unique perspective. Redgrave imagined their deaths to be both meaningless and bigger than life, while Currie showed that all these people were running from something--something bigger than them--just like Redgrave. By the end of the film, Currie (who was imaginary) convinced Redgrave to stop being a hermit and do his part for the war effort against Fascism--a not especially subtle but very rousing ending indeed! Good acting made this silly stage production come to life. A very interesting yet preachy film from WWII.