Héroes del mar

John Mills is a submarine captain, ordered with his crew to take part in maneuvers. On their way to the site, they run into a mine and are sunk. After they settle at 15 fathoms, Mills and his XO are confident their absence will be noted, and they will be located and saved. As operations proceed, however, problems arise, leaving four of them trapped.

It's based on a stage play by Kenneth Woolard, and I can see it in my mind's eye, a one-set piece. Under the reliable Roy Ward Baker, it's opened up with a prologue showing us Mills wife, and later, unsleeping Bernard Miles, leading the rescue operation. At its core, we still get to see the four characters with increasing clarity: Mills, of course, his Number One, Nigel Patrick, stoker Richard Attenborough, who starts out panicky but grows up, and stalwart Able Seaman James Hayter. As the days pass and the characters become more than sketches, the potential tragedy becomes greater.

For those of us who have seen submarine-trapped-on-the-seabed movies from several eras, it's interesting to see the evolution in rescue technology.

John Mills is superb as the indomitable submarine captain who leaves his wife and baby for a routine patrol. Richard Attenborough excels as the young sailor who cracks under pressure.

A wonderful film which may have started as a play. Well formed with portrayals which are both intimate and skilful. The "character" actors are enjoyable and colourful as the submarine sets sail, all leading to heightened drama when tragedy strikes.

If you like British black and white films about stiff upper lips and devotion to duty, you cannot do better.

God save the King.

Morning Departure had a somewhat slow beginning but it quickly immerses you in the characters and their relationships with one another and with their duty. Whereas a lot of movies these days really try and make you care about the characters by the end of this movie your wondering if there is anything you could do at home to help them out! I actually saw this movie for the first time about 3 years ago but seriously rate this as my favorite movie to date when not influenced by current blockbusters.

This is quite an anxious wartime drama that goes some way to illustrating the perils faced by those in HM Submarine Service. John Mills is the captain "Armstrong" who takes his crew on a routine maritime patrol only for their gear to become ensnared in a mine cable. A suddens stop and reverse engines doesn't quite do the trick and to the bottom they go. Largely in one piece and not in such deep water, they are optimistic of rescue and, indeed, help arrives fairly sharpish allowing the first four of the twelve survivors to don their emergency gear and head to the surface. The sense of enclosure now builds as their air starts to thin, the first officer "Manson" (Nigel Patrick) becomes ill and we discover that "Snipe" (Richard Attenborough) only joined the service for the extra pay and he actually does suffer from claustrophobia. With four gone, its now the turn of the next four - but there is a snag. The damage from the explosion has ensured that these are the last four escape kits. A lottery needs to be held and that further raises the tension as those left behind will have to await the raising of the ship - and that's dependent on fair weather above! The story develops well here, with Mills (who did like snapping his fingers a lot in these roles!) working well with Patrick, an on form James Hayter as the cook and general dogsbody "Higgins" and Attenborough who really does present us with a plausible sensation of his panic at being shut up in this metal tube deep under the sea as well as the growing guilt he feels at the selfishness of his behaviour. The script marries a bit of dark humour with the accruing peril and Roy Baker keeps the pace taut for the duration of this rather more impactful story.

I saw this in first run when I was about 7 years old. It was on a double bill with a Francis the Talking Mule film. My older sister made a deal with me: She'd sit through Francis if I'd sit through OPERATION DISASTER.

I remember nothing of the Francis film, but scenes from this film are still vivid in my memory. In the late 1950s John Mills was a guest on the JACK PAAR SHOW and spoke of how life imitated art in that a British submarine was lost in the North Sea under very similar circumstances to those portrayed in the film between the completion of shooting and release in the UK. He said there was criticism in the British press at the time for it's release.

I wish it was available on VHS or DVD in the Unites States, but I haven't been able to find it. I would love to see it again.