In a country under siege there can be no escape from air-raids or even an adulterous wife.
The trips to sea are punctuated by tableaux scenes on shore, where the tribulations of officers and crew are no less fraught with threats and worry. The attack is pressed home, killing the defenceless men but failing to hit the U-boat, and leads to a moving scene where Hawkins' resolute professionalism crumbles in a brief but heartfelt show of drunken emotion. "There are men in the water just there" he murmurs, realising that as Captain he is alone in making an agonising decision - whether to drop depth charges and risk killing a group of British survivors floating ahead of him. In the tensest of scenes, during a rare heady pursuit, the radar gives Hawkins his firmest ever indication of an enemy submarine.
A melancholic soundtrack and the distinct lack of jingoism create a forlorn atmosphere as the ship's company endures periods of grinding boredom interrupted only by the sudden terror of U-boat attacks. Hawkins excels as the exhausted Captain in this no frills account of men battling against a constant and ruthless enemy - the sea. Jack Hawkins steers HMS Compass Rose, a small escort ship, through the perils of convoy duty and the ever present risk of U-boats. Archetypal British WW2 fare which is very clearly a cut above the rest.
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