San Demetrio

A very well made (especially for the period) war film. Though i'm not really gonna talk about how the film was made, other than it isn't flashy or fancy, just does a good job of telling a wonderful story. Based on the true story of how a Merchant Navy petrol tanker was abandoned and then re-boarded by some of her own crew.

Also this is one of very few war films about the Merchant Navy (which suffered higher casualty and fatality rates than all the armed services), but it equally could be in peace time as only at the very start do you see Germans. Maybe thats why so few films were made about the Merchant Navy, whats a war film without some nasty Nazis in armbands with submachine guns running about and a few achtung minen signposts?

Quite possibly the best thing I can say about this film is that after seeing this as a kid I wanted to join the Merchant Navy, and I did, and I'm training to be an Engineer Officer, as these film clearly shows engineers are brilliant and deckies useless.

Engineers - 1, Deckies - 0.

Paul.

San Demetrio, London tells a simple story in a plain way. A merchant vessel from England sails to Galveston, picks up a cargo of oil and on the way back across the Atlantic is attacked. The crew abandon ship and later some of them re-board her and take her back home.

It is an inspiring story because it tells of ordinary people getting on with the job that, due to a world war, has to be done. These are modest heroes. Problems that come their way are solved unfussily. No one expects medals, they just get on with it. Being a war film the characters are the usual cross section of society united by the common peril. In the cold and the darkness they do their duty. You feel these are real people, not just actors.

This is not a spectacular film. The director does not go for high drama or self conscious acting. There is a death scene which is powerful in its understatement. The narrative is straight forward but exerts a gentle grip. You want to know what happens in the end. This is definitely an under rated film

A rather talky and studio-bound dramatisation of an incident widely reported back at home during the autumn of 1940 handled with customary British sang froid.

The film was sufficiently unheroic for Churchill to take exception to it, so it evidently seemed less cosy at the time than it does now.

Just amazed this film has never been remade. It's true story, certainly as seen in this low budget British wartime production, seems a perfect fit to get the 21st century, much bigger budget treatment. In the right hands, it could be a terrific cinematic spectacle as the story behind the film has really got it all. Merchant naval convoys and battles, heroism demonstrated not just on the part of the crew of the San Demetrio, but that of other ships too, especially the Jervis Bay, North Atlantic tempests, humour, pathos and in general a wonderfully marine-based, collective survival story.

In the interim, I guess we'll have to be satisfied with this low key instalment featuring a very young Gordon Jackson (as the mess boy would you believe) and regular Welsh mainstay character actor of British 40's and 50's films, Mervyn Johns (father of Glynis), playing the stoic, ill-fated, but delightfully named Greaser Boyle, who demonstrates on more than one occasion, that he was always prepared to take one for his fellow crew mates without complaint.

Just for the record, "San Demetrio London" is not a religious movie, and it has nothing whatever to do with any sort of sacred personages. In fact the characters depicted in this movie are quite the antithesis.

"San Demetrio" was the name of a ship, a British commercial tanker operated by the Eagle Tanker Company, that was sailing during World War II. The incredible story recounted in the film is true, and the jaw-dropping ordeal endured by the members of the crew took place exactly as depicted. Without giving the story away, suffice it to say that, had these men been members of the military rather than mere civilian merchant seaman, it is very likely that every one of them would have been awarded the Victoria Cross.

I had heard of this movie for many years but only recently finally got the opportunity to actually view it. It is an extremely dramatic story told in a very simple and straightforward manner. That is as it should be, because the story itself is so dramatic that no embellishment is necessary, and would probably only diminish the impact of the story.

It is acknowledge that some of the special effects are less than first-quality by today's standards. However, allowances must be made for the fact that this film was produced in Britain in 1943, and there was a war on. That being said, the depiction of the tanker itself, and the details of the manner in which it was operated, are extremely accurate. I've sailed on several elderly merchant ships that had been built during WW-II, including an old T2 tanker, and I can vouch for the movie's authenticity. This is not altogether surprising when one considers that "San Demetrio London" was directed by the same man who later made "The Cruel Sea". Highly recommended as a depiction of WW- II at sea.