Operation Disaster

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Audience Member I love morning departure. John mills and Richard attenborough were amazing in it. I love Richard attenborough's character. I think his character is so believable. Such a great war film of all time. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review walter m "Morning Departure" starts with Lieutenant Commander Peter Armstrong(John Mills) being woken up from a restful slumber by the cries of his infant child. While he is getting dressed, his wife Helen(Helen Cherry) takes the time to talk to him about the opportunity of becoming a manager in one of her father's factories which he is very reluctant about, even though this is now peacetime. That having been said, there are still naval duties to perform like this morning's training cruise on a submarine. Everything goes as planned for the first few hours until a mine is spotted. Even after evasive maneuvers, there is still an explosion that only leaves 12 out of the original 65 crewmen alive, with the survivors stranded at the bottom of the sea. Amazingly, Armstrong announces a rescue plan that sounds simple enough. Now, they just have to wait, sleep or break out the Parcheesi board... "Morning Departure" is a riveting movie with some excellent underwater photography for the time and a perfectly understated performance from John Mills in the lead as the very picture of resolute calm. However, there is one bit of casting that does not work as well as planned, leading to a little bit of predictability. And I know some people may want to put the crewmen's calm in such a desperate situation down to little more than a British stiff upper lip, but I think it has more to do with having so little control over one's situation. As one character puts it, most deaths at sea are down to bad luck or bad weather. Surprisingly, even in such a closed space, we get a very good idea about postwar England with many references to domesticity in the opening minutes that go beyond just establishing the plot. As time goes on, the British class lines start to disappear altogether. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Intense submarine drama with a who's who of British stars from the 50' with a surprise ending. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member Morning Departure is a 1950 British naval film directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring John Mills, Nigel Patrick, Peter Hammond, George Cole, Bernard Lee and Richard Attenborough. The story is set after the end of the Second World War and concerns a British submarine, Trojan, which is out on a routine patrol when it encounters a derelict floating mine left over from the war. Unfortunately, it is a magnetic mine, and the submarine does not need to hit it before it becomes a danger. The sub eventually sets off the mine and it blows the stern of the sub completely off. The sub settles to the bottom leaving twelve crew members amidships, they having been saved by the watertight doors which are normally closed when a sub dives. When the shore base becomes aware that Trojan is overdue, surface rescue vessels are sent out to investigate. The captain of the sub sensibly provides an indication of their position to these vessels by expelling a quantity of oil which rises to the surface. Following standard escape procedure, a diver is sent down with an air line while everyone prepares for the rescue. Four crew members escape with breathing apparatus through the hatch in the conning tower. Four more than escape through another hatch, leaving only four crew members, including the captain and the first officer, who cannot escape by the same means because it is discovered that the last remaining breathing sets have been smashed by the impact with the mine. They will have to await salvage of the sub, which begins immediately, but is interrupted when the sub moves on the sea bottom during rough weather at sea, putting it beyond help and dooming the last four men to death. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/16/23 Full Review Audience Member Nice bit of post-war militarism. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/10/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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