MORNING DEPARTURE

UK, 1950, 97 minutes, Black and white.
John Mills, Nigel Patrick, George Cole, Victor Maddern, James Hayter, Richard Attenborough, Bernard Lee.
Directed by Roy Ward Baker.

Morning Departure was based on a play by Kenneth Willard and adapted by W.E. Fairchild who wrote quite a number of action and war screenplays during the 1950s.

This is a film set in peacetime. A submarine goes out in order to do manoeuvres in the English Channel and develops mechanical failure. While many of the crew get out, air is running out and a certain number of the crew have to remain.

The film is strong in stiff-upper-lip British style of the 1950s, that style at its best. John Mills is very good as the captain and Richard Attenborough appears as the young sailor who cracks under pressure.

The film shows the workings of the submarine but is particularly interested in the interrelationships of the crew, their facing of the crisis, their courage in the face of death.

There have been many submarine films including Run Silent, Run Deep and, more recently, The Crimson Tide and K19.

The film was directed by Roy Ward Baker who had made his first film in 1947 with John Mills, The October Man. He made a number of strong British films in the 1950s including A Night to Remember, on the Titanic. He had a short period in Hollywood in the early 50s directing Marilyn Monroe in Don’t Bother to Knock. He then moved into television, making only a few films, especially some horror films like Vault of Horror and The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires.

1. Was this an enjoyable British film? Why?

2. How moving did you find the film? Why? Does the film seem dated now? What aspects of British film making of 1950 did the film illustrate? How well?

3. The relation of this film to a real tragedy? What aspects of tragedy did the film present? How noble a film was this? A noble picture of humanity? How humane? A picture of human concern? How well was this communicated in the film? Where? The initial impact of the beginning of the day? The contrast in relationships of the captain and his wife and the discussion of retirement in an atmosphere of love?

4. Snipe and Rose and their difficulties, his suspicions, her taunts, and the prospect of unhappiness and his unwillingness to face it?

5. How did this create an atmosphere for the drama that was to ensue?

6. Comment on how the film created its atmosphere of routine in the navy? Back at headquarters and orders that were given on the submarine?

7. How did this create an atmosphere of ordinariness for the audience and prepare them for the accident?

8. Comment on the way the film presented the men concerned. Men and their work on the submarine? The fellowship amongst them all? The arrival of No.1 and his style contrasting with the others? The relationship of the captain with the men?

9. Comment on the picture of life on the submarine, especially as preparation for the accident? The details of routine? The discussion of the birth of a baby? The jokes amongst the men? The letting off of the pigeon?

10. How surprising was the disaster? Could it have been avoided? What was the emotional response to this picture of disaster?

11. Reaction to the deaths of so many men so suddenly and unnecessarily? The reaction of the men who survived in the submarine? How British was their reaction?

12. How well did the captain handle the situation? Did he make the right decisions? Did he handle the men well? Is this a comment on British training? On the humanity of the captain?

13. What kind of a person was the captain? How heroic? Sympathetic and understanding? His decisions about letting the men go? His letters to those on the surface? His facing of the facts?

14. What kind of person was the No.1? His debonair style? His lack of confidence in himself? His blaming himself for the past? How should he have coped with the situations? His reaction to the disaster? What it meant to him in terms of reparation? His illness and death? The effect on the others?

13. Why was Snipe so unsympathetic? Was he handled well by his fellow sailors? Was his claustrophobia understandable? Why did he change and an decide to stay down? What did this change signify in him as a character? His facing of the truth about himself and about Rose? How did the captain help in changing him? Was the captain's severity justified? How well did he respond to looking after No.l? Was the disaster a good thing for Snipe?

14. How humorous was the cook? How necessary was his character for the balance of the film? His cheerfulness in the face of death? How well did he represent the ordinary man faced with disaster?

15. How impressive was the picture of the rescue techniques? How frustrating that the weather was against them? The picture of concern of the men, especially the captain's friend? How did the film show how desperate hope can be?

16. What was your reaction when they had to cut the submarine loose? Did they have any option? What effect does a decision like this have on the man who has to make it? Why?

17. How well did the survivors face the prospect of death? The significance of the prayer? The facing of the reality that there was nothing else to be done? The meaning of their deaths?

18. What did this film have to say about the drives of human nature to live, to survive, to hope, to face disaster? How justifiably optimistic was it?