The Cruel Sea

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant war movie, the stuff heroes are made of.
Review: As in all movies, the film tends to shy away from the direct action required to make this a memorable war film. The lacklustre portrail of Lt. Bennett RANR was very loosely portrayed even tho he had a marked impact upon the initial part of the action. Lt. Bennett's part in the set up was pathetically humorous. It was from this in-glorious start that the book captivated the reader, but was lost in the film. This initial portrayal set up a graphical accounts of the war at sea in corvettes. Not much bigger than a large fishing trawler these ships travelled across the Atlantic and on the Russian convoys, being commanded and worked by ordinary people from ordinary families and ordinary jobs. Young men turned into sailors virtually overnight, this film captures some, but not all, of the viciousness of people battling, not only the enemy, The Germans, but also the elements, continual rough seas, freezing nights and days, standing watche after watch, comotosed, little ot no sleep for days on end, fighting of attack after attack by Doenitz's submarines and by bombers of the Luftwaffe, sleeping at Actions Stations, dying not of bombs, torpedos, machine guns, but of exhaustion, fear, and freezing to death in the cold, cold waters of the Bearing Sea. These were the real things this film failed to bring home to its audience. Failed in a vain bid to sell the sailors as someone fighting to save his country at a massive, massive price. The war at sea could not have been won without corvettes, like Compass Rose and the men who sailed in them. It was the corvettes and the sailors of the Royal Navy who kept the sealanes open for supplies of fuel, arms and food, to keep the British Isles alive.

Rating:
Summary: The Classic of Naval Warfare
Review: Clearly written by a man who lived it. His literaly style is superb. The detail and feelings described probably bring you as close as you are going to get without being there in person. I could not put it down. One of the rare books you could enjoy reading again. Truly describes the nightmare of the Atlantic war.

Rating:
Summary: Compelling WW2 drama
Review: Finding an original hard cover version of this novel was quite a chore but well worth the wait. Monsarrat follows the exploits of the crew of a British corvette and later a destroyer as it escorts trans oceanic convoys during the battle of the Atlantic. The officers and crew are continually pitted against an always lurking pack of determined German U boats. The tension created as a result of the staggering losses of ships and human life and the battle of nerve and wits between the opposing commanders is gripping. Monsarrat does some wonderful character development of the crew members, showing how the strain of war creates serious personality changes. Its seems as if Monsarrat has served in the Navy as the authenticity of his story seems beyond question.

Rating:
Summary: A tense ,spare ,reflective war movie
Review: I admit to being a male caucasian baby boomer when it comes to movies and books of WWII. We were raised on them, feel completely at home with them and duck into them--sometimes with guilt--with intensity at period after period in our lives. I enjoy John Wayne in those prototypical period pieces of his. Lee Marvin, another viscerally felt hero( and a true Marine buried at Arlington)is also someone I can't get enough of. It just goes on and on in every format. I have not yet read the Novel The Cruel Sea but I just found an old 2s/6d British copy of it and will sooner than later. But this movie I do know and have seen it many times and it really is one of the very few true classic war movies that I would give 5 stars to.
Warren Lewis (the brother of C S Lewis-A major in the British army, WWI vet and grad of Sandhurst) once said that the thing which astonished him about War and Peace was that Tolstoy got something very few writers did and that was the feel of war. Its atmosphere. And that is just what this movie too accomplishes. The tired depressing business of it all. Yet too it's inevitability and the hoary fact that it must be seen through live or die.
The performances are universally accomplished with the standouts naturally being Jack Hawkins(never better) and Donald Sinden.
I love the film and only one or two others rank this high for me. Twelve O'clock High (another tired bit of grand business)
and Das Boot(again dreary honor and survival).
I feel like watching it right now.

Rating:
Summary: A Perfect Slice of History
Review: I found this book purely by accident, thanks to a recommendation by another book review. I think this is perhaps one of the finest novels about combat, certainly about naval combat, that I have ever read. Every word rings with a sense of authenticity and drama that is all too often missing from modern literature.
I'm loathe to give away any plot detail; the story builds slowly like a fine meal. In short, the book concerns itself with two warships during escort duty during the whole of British involvement in WWII. The first ship, a Corvette, is small and perhaps a bit amateurish to begin with. Its history, and the relations of its crew are treated in intricate detail. The second ship, a Frigate, is larger, less personal and much like the war more mechanized and colder; its is more effective, to be true, and a step closer to victory but also represents a loss of humanity.
Monsarrat weaves these two stories into a seamless whole - the bood deserves to be called an epic, and at times I almost felt like I was watching an old British war film, like Sink the Bismarck: every word rang true. I had one small complaint, and that involves either a misplaced death near the end of the novel. Again, I don't want to give anything away but it just felt unnecessary.
Please, read the book. If you are at interested in Naval history, or just want a good read, you won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: A Perfect Slice of History
Review: I found this book purely by accident, thanks to a recommendation by another book review. I think this is perhaps one of the finest novels about combat, certainly about naval combat, that I have ever read. Every word rings with a sense of authenticity and drama that is all too often missing from modern literature.
I'm loathe to give away any plot detail; the story builds slowly like a fine meal. In short, the book concerns itself with two warships during escort duty during the whole of British involvement in WWII. The first ship, a Corvette, is small and perhaps a bit amateurish to begin with. Its history, and the relations of its crew are treated in intricate detail. The second ship, a Frigate, is larger, less personal and much like the war more mechanized and colder; its is more effective, to be true, and a step closer to victory but also represents a loss of humanity.
Monsarrat weaves these two stories into a seamless whole - the bood deserves to be called an epic, and at times I almost felt like I was watching an old British war film, like Sink the Bismarck: every word rang true. I had one small complaint, and that involves either a misplaced death near the end of the novel. Again, I don't want to give anything away but it just felt unnecessary.
Please, read the book. If you are at interested in Naval history, or just want a good read, you won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: The greatest naval book to come out of WWII
Review: I had the pleasure of reading this novel some years ago. What can be added to the previous 5 stars reviews? I can only double them. the scene where the men are in the flaming sea has stayed with me, a horror I can't forget. If you haven't read this book and you see it - RUN don't walk to get it. You will not be sorry.

Rating:
Summary: The Real Deal
Review: I have worn out several copies of this video. You will see other reviewers who find fault with things the movie did or did not portray, but as a historian I can say it captures the essence of serving on a corvette in the North Atlantic better than anything else available(i.e. Corvette K-225 starring Alan Ladd, etc.) I have had the honor of speaking with vets of the Battle of the North Atlantic who viewed this video and to a man they love this movie. I can think of no higher praise than concurrance of the men who were actually there. Field Marshall Erwin Rommel is supposed to have said that "what is winning the war for the Allies is the two and a half ton truck. I would respectfully disagree with the Field Marshall, for the trucks never would have made it to Europe without the convoys and this is what the movie captures.

Rating:
Summary: Terrific read (could Spielberg remake the movie?)
Review: I read this in high school, and it is still possibly my favorite book (15 years later). I convinced my (future) wife to read this book when we were dating, and although she had no significant interest in WWII history like I did, she was touched and moved by the story as well. Very well written book that puts a human face on war.

Rating:
Summary: Sobering
Review: I was probably born in at the wrong time. I've been working my way thru everything I can find about the 40s: books, movies, and historical accounts. Tonight, I finished "The Cruel Sea" by Nicholas Monsarrat - an excellent WW2 novel about a British Royal Navy crew working convoy duty in the Atlantic. Very enjoyable, taken from real stories. I'm now looking at other books by this same author.
If you like books of this genre, you'll also like "Sink the Bismark" - as well as (of course) the entire Hornblower series (also by by C.S. Forrester).