San Demetrio London

The tale of tanker on a return trip to Galviston, Texas. It has a bit of a run in with a "Jerry" boat and the remainder of the film depicts the courage of the crew trying to keep things afloat. As the film was made during World War II the sentiments are entirely predictable/understandable.

Gordon Jackson looks worryingly young and the Britishness of the movie is summed up when the Captain risks blowing up the boat for the sake of giving the crew a hot cup of tea.

Don't expect anything too spectacular but enjoy a feelgood movie 1943 style.

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.

The San Demetrio is a tanker that is apart of an trans-Atlantic convoy travelling to England from the States. When the convoy is attacked by an U-boat their destroyer is sunk and the San Demetrio is damaged very badly and the crew abandon ship. All the life boats are picked up but one boat drifts and is lost. Weeks later the crew in the lifeboat come across a ship, only to find that the San Demetrio has survived despite burning badly. The crew re-board the ship but find that getting the fire out is only the first of the dangers they must overcome.

I must have read the wrong synopsis when I thought of watching this film – I thought it was a standard action packed film where the crew of a tanker battle against the u-boat. Regardless of this, I was glad I watched it as it was different from the usual wartime propaganda in some ways and was quite enjoyable, if not thrilling. The plot shows the men battle through difficult conditions and being heroes without realy thinking of it – they were just doing their duty and being themselves. This message is still important today and is told in a low-key way with the need for action etc.

However, being low-key means that not all the tension of them being on a burning ship (that could explode) comes through. Likewise the majority of the danger they face remains with them and I never felt gripped or on the edge of my seat – the most I could say is that it was interesting rather than involving. The cast do well despite the irritating addition of an American to the cast (yes, the studios have been doing it that long!), but this is a minor annoyance. The rest are all good British stiff upper lips regardless of class or rank.

Overall this is an enjoyable little film but I wanted it to be as exciting on the screen as it could have been. Sadly the low-key nature of the film makes the tension turn into more interest than edge-of-seat tension.

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.