Morning Departure (1946)

This 1950 British film is still close enough to the Second World War that one feels its authenticity. Roy Baker's direction is steady and competent, John Mills is the epitome of the British stiff upper lip, and Richard Attenborough plays the none too flattering role of the cowardly stoker, reprising and expanding on the uncredited part he had played in IN WHICH WE SERVE (UK 1942), but the whole cast is great to watch.

Perhaps the film is overlong, but it made me feel what an eternity it must have seemed to those confined to the submarine, waiting to be rescued.

Of course it is a sad film, but it is honest and it depicts the difficulties that seamen in submarines had to endure in the 1940s.

Underwater and other photography is quite good, helping to render MORNING DEPARTURE a very convincing work.