In Which We Serve
In Which We Serve was the film that Noel Coward regarded as his most important contribution to the war effort; and no wonder given he wrote the script, produced, co-directed with David Lean , and starred as the captain. And wrote the score and possibly made the tea. His labours were rewarded with an Honorary Academy Award in 1943.
Rather than maul the beastly Germans the film explores the nature of service and heroism through the crew of a ship soon sinking after an aerial attack. The plot was inspired by the sinking of HMS Kelly, whose Captain was Lord Louis Mountbatten . The stories of various crew members are told in flashback as they drift in rafts awaiting rescue. Inevitably the result is sentimental, but to a limited extent, Coward to great dramatic effect choosing a grittier storytelling style than might have been expected, and the principal director Lean shooting in a realistic, at times almost documentary, fashion.
The best of British acting talent was made available to the production: a young John Mills ; the now sadly somewhat forgotten Bernard Miles ; Michael Wilding; the beautiful Celia Johnson ; and an uncredited David Attenborough , whose role however is central to the plot – he first fails in his duty but is not punished by the understanding Captain Kinross and dies having subsequently redeemed himself.
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