Tuesday 19 June 2012

Not a happy company


H.M.S. Defiant (1962)

Based on the novel “Mutiny” this film from director Lewis Gilbert stars Alec Guinness, Dirk Bogarde and Anthony Quayle. A disciplinarian first officer and a more lenient captain fight for control of their ship during the Napoleonic wars with an undertone of mutiny running through the crew.

Despite being entirely fictional this film does hint at real events and conditions during the period the film was set. The plot itself is fairly run of the mill but does have a slightly unique slant on proceedings by switching the usual traits between the captain and first officer. Some of the image quality in night scenes is not great but over all the model work for the sea battles holds up pretty well.

3/5

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