Un yacht nommé 'Tortue'

John Greyson wants to spend the honeymoon on Cecil Parker's boat, 'The Turtle'. His fiancee, landlubber June Thorburn reluctantly agrees. The usual sorts of misadventures occur.

This is not in anyway an indictment of this movie. It is, in fact, a superior example of the landlubber-at-sea comedy-drama. I attribute this to the direction of Wendy Toye, one of the few woman directors working at the time. Although everyone has plenty to do, this movie offers us the viewpoints of the women confronting their men's seafaring hobby: Miss Thorburn, Elvi Hale as the guest of the boat's second mate, Keith Michell, and Avice Landone as Parker's long-suffering wife. As the two younger women are instructed in sea craft, we learn the ins and outs of small boats, and their reactions to the bumptious behavior of weekend sailors become ours. We even feel sympathy for Parker, a specialist in unlikeable, comic stuffed shirts, because his wife loves him.

Miss Toye entered show business as a child, and was choreographing ballets by the age of nine. Her movie career began in 1931 as dancer. Within five years, she was choreographing for the movies, and she began directing movies in 1952. She was in charge of half a dozen movies, then continued to direct on television through 1982. She was awarded a CBE in 1992, and died in 2010, aged 92.

"True as a Turtle" provides an enjoyable look back at sailing and society in post-war England. The boats are beautiful, the sailing lore fascinating, and the people delightful. This is a little know treat--especially for those who sail.

I love this film mainly because of the boat 'Turtle', a real little ship. The incidental music is also very pleasant and fits in well with the sailing theme. The storyline is nearly irrelevant but everybody carries the story off well in fact you could easily believe that the whole film was a dramatised documentary of a weekend sailing trip. There are plenty of good bits of humour and lots of 50's atmosphere to enjoy. I have watched the film at least 30 times over the last 30years and have never got bored with it. I have seen one continuity 'gaff', on the trip across to France the boat changes tack instantly between shots. The best line in the film is when John Gregson explains to his new wife that "Turtle is a proper ship, she sails" when comparing her to a very large luxury motor cruiser. You really do need also to be a sailing nut to really enjoy this film.

First off - the colour was definitely faded and strange. I can see why someone thought it was colorized. But this didn't detract.

Seeing that it was an English comedy from this era about sailing, I anticipated "Carry-On type" cliches and stereotypes but was pleasantly surprised. A tiny bit of mystery, a bit of romance and a lot of authentic slogging around deck ...a pretty true picture of the "glamour of life on a sailing yacht". Lovely touches like the captain's wife and her tea no matter how dire the situation. A fun trip.

A few bright moments cannot disguise the fact this film's on a wrong tack. Also, it's in colour (not colourised), and not black & white, as previously mentioned.