Royal Navy, WWII

[Chas8]

Is anyone aware of the date, during WWII, when the Admiralty in London issued instructions to their warship commanders not to approach an unidentified vessel closer than 4,000 yards? I believe this was the distance, but I'm unsure.

[RedDagger18]

Hello, anyone.

A long time ago I saw a black and white movie about a RN officer who had a one night stand with a young woman on railway carriage. The result - of course - was a baby.

Years passed in the movie and the baby was now a seaman on a RN ship that was sunk (I think probably in the Mediterranean, possibly in the South Pacific) by a German warship/raider.

The German ship had to retire to a secluded harbor for repairs of damage in that battle. While at anchor, there was a great white shark attack on some of the Germans working.

In the meantime, the English seaman got hold of a rifle and escaped off the German ship, making it to some cliffs overlooking the secluded harbor. From there, he began taking pot shots which stalled the repair activity on the German ship.

In the meantime, a RN task force of two or three ships were gathering and the German ship finally sallied forth to give battle, and of course was sunk.

The closing scenes involved the King of England awarding the VC to the Seaman, while the RN admiral who commanded that victorious task force looked on: (and you saw it coming!!): father and son.

Questions:
Name of Movie and Year?
Was the Admiral the English actor Michael Redgrave?
Was the Seaman a very young Peter Graves, later the star of the American TV hit Mission Impossible, and also the brother of Gunsmoke's Matt Dillon?

I"ve asked a local TV/Movie guru in Upstate NY for answers but got nothing.

Can anyone provide the info?
Thanks
Red Dagger 18

[Kiwi Red One]

Hi RD18

I saw this many years ago too. I think the movie you mean is based on a novel called "Brown on Resolution" by C.S.Forester who also wrote the famous "Hornblower" series. The action takes place on a remote island somewhere in the Indian Ocean IIRC.

There are two versions:

1935 "Brown on Resolution" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026377/
1953 "Single Handed" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046267/

The one I saw was the later one.

Sorry but it appears neither Micheal Redgrave or Peter Graves appear in either one. The only name I recognise is Bernard Lee in the 1953 one where he plays a supporting role as a Petty Officer. He later went on to appear in many of the the James Bond films as "M", the head honcho.

Hope that helps
Cheers
KRO

PS Chas8 - if you want Admiralty Instructions your best bet would be the UK Ministry of Defence or the Public Records Office in Kew, London. Alernatively if you are from Aust then try looking up stuff about the "Sydney" sinking as there is a wealth of stuff about why she closed the German raider so closely.

[RedDagger18]

YES! Putting the two synopsis together says it all. I imagine I saw the 1953 version - Single Handed.
I JUST KNEW that someone "out there in cyberland" would have the answer.
Will pass it along to that "movie guru"
Thank you Kiwi Red One, very very much. Have been racking my brains and memory for days now.
And, yes, CS Forester is one of my favorite authors long past, not just Hornblower series, but some of his other novels as well.
RedDagger18