The Brits put out some first-class movies during the war years and for a decade afterward, including gems like "The Cruel Sea" and "The Dam Busters." They were an exhilarating blend of stiff-upper-lip sentiment and thrills. "For Those in Peril" doesn't rank among the best but it has its moments.
Ralph Michael is a Pilot Officer in the RAF assigned to the fast, lightly armed Motor Torpedo Boats that were used to pluck downed fliers out of the English Channel. His Commanding Officer is David Farrar. I can't think of why the RAF mans the boats instead of the Navy or the Coastguard but it doesn't matter.
The plot accommodates itself to the facts. Michael had flight experience before the war and is filled with chagrin at being assigned to a flightless post. He's a little too candid about his disappointment until Farrar finally brings him up short.
After the introduction to one of the boats, its mission and its capabilities, the film takes us out to bring back the crew of a downed British bomber. The crew is in a life raft sitting in the middle of a mine field.
The mission takes Farrar's boat and its companion boat through just about all the dangers that a boat on such a mission might encounter. ("The Memphis Belle" does the same thing with a B-17.) If it can happen to an MTB, it happens to this one. They're strafed by two German fighters, suffer an engagement with an armed German trawler, shelled by shore batteries, blinded by fog, and menaced by mines.
The photography and the model work are impeccable, considering the period. But the events during this single mission seem rushed and sometimes adventitious. I'll give one example. Two MTBs are more or less trapped in the mine field by that German trawler, which out guns them. At the last moment, a ship of the Royal Navy rushes in, demolishes the trawler, and disappears at once. What the hell was THAT? What kind of ship was it? How did the Navy know the MTBs were in hot water? What kind of armament did she carry? Why did she zip away without waiting to provide cover against air attack? The combat scenes, though exciting, are also confusing.
Not to bash the movie. It's informative and exciting. If only David Lean had been able to get his hands on it.
Ralph Michael is a Pilot Officer in the RAF assigned to the fast, lightly armed Motor Torpedo Boats that were used to pluck downed fliers out of the English Channel. His Commanding Officer is David Farrar. I can't think of why the RAF mans the boats instead of the Navy or the Coastguard but it doesn't matter.
The plot accommodates itself to the facts. Michael had flight experience before the war and is filled with chagrin at being assigned to a flightless post. He's a little too candid about his disappointment until Farrar finally brings him up short.
After the introduction to one of the boats, its mission and its capabilities, the film takes us out to bring back the crew of a downed British bomber. The crew is in a life raft sitting in the middle of a mine field.
The mission takes Farrar's boat and its companion boat through just about all the dangers that a boat on such a mission might encounter. ("The Memphis Belle" does the same thing with a B-17.) If it can happen to an MTB, it happens to this one. They're strafed by two German fighters, suffer an engagement with an armed German trawler, shelled by shore batteries, blinded by fog, and menaced by mines.
The photography and the model work are impeccable, considering the period. But the events during this single mission seem rushed and sometimes adventitious. I'll give one example. Two MTBs are more or less trapped in the mine field by that German trawler, which out guns them. At the last moment, a ship of the Royal Navy rushes in, demolishes the trawler, and disappears at once. What the hell was THAT? What kind of ship was it? How did the Navy know the MTBs were in hot water? What kind of armament did she carry? Why did she zip away without waiting to provide cover against air attack? The combat scenes, though exciting, are also confusing.
Not to bash the movie. It's informative and exciting. If only David Lean had been able to get his hands on it.