San Demetrio, London Details

[Highly rated reviewer]

Modest Heroes

Less well known than The Cruel Sea, or In Which We Serve, this film celebrates the courage, comradeship and ingenuity of a small band of merchant seamen forced to abandon their burning ship. It's a fitting if muted (according to our lights) tribute to the Merchant Navy who endured enormous hardships on the Atlantic convoys.

Recently I've been watching a series of war films made during or just after WW2, so I'm in the swing of films made over 60 years ago: b&w, slow editing style, slightly stilted acting, simple un-bitter humour, little background music, crappy special effects… so unless you haven't seen a film for 60 years, and you have never seen a film pre 1960, don't expect this to give the same excitement as more recent war films might deliver.

But thrills is not what the film is about. It shows the quiet bravery of a group of men, and when first screened modestly sang the men's achievements to a cinema public (Britons still at war in 1943) who appreciated and applauded this courage with a similar muted dignity. After all, the cinema were hearing of acts of heroism daily. And many were being brave themselves. It just left me with a feeling that we are all a bunch of jessies these days.

So, for those who knows the WW2 film genre well but just haven't got round to seeing San Demetrio, London, this film will please.

true story well told

account of a merchant ship that was abandoned after being hit but when some of the crew find they have either the choice of re-boarding her or freezing to death in their open boat decide to do the former and their struggle to return in the ship to England. A paen to gallantery as played out by humans in a survive or die situation.