172 IN WHICH WE SERVE
was bombed and sunk by German Stuka dive- bombers. Out of a crew of 240 men,
81 lost their lives. Capt. Mountbatten and 158 other crew members survived. Back
in London six weeks later (3 July 1941) Mountbatten regaled his friend, the famed
playwright Noël Coward, with the tragic story of Kelly’s sinking. Coward was deeply
moved by Mountbatten’s account, which he found “absolutely heart- breaking and
so magnificent” (Coward, 2000, pp. 7–9). Days later Coward was approached by
film producer Anthony Havelock- Allan of Two Cities Films. The com pany’s founder,
Filippo Del Giudice, a fervent anti- Fascist, wanted to make a propaganda film to
support the British war effort and needed a well- known writer to pen the screen-
play. Coward took on the assignment with the proviso that it be “a naval propa-
ganda film” based on the Kelly saga, that he star in the film, and that he be given
complete creative control. Coward, being a man of the theater, knew nothing about
filmmaking so, at the suggestion of Carol Reed, he took on young David Lean as
his co- director and hired Ronald Neame as his cinematographer. In the latter
months of 1941 Coward wrote an overlong, rambling screenplay (working title:
“White Ensign”) that was deemed unfilmable. Lean, Neame, and Havelock- Allan
worked with Coward to revise the script (uncredited), with Lean suggesting they
use a flashback structure for purposes of narrative economy. Mountbatten, who
remained involved with the production throughout, also advised Coward to tone
down his depiction of Kinross as a wealthy landed aristocrat— a figure too obvi-
ously suggestive of Mountbatten himself.Production
Shooting of In Which We Serve began on 5 February 1942 at Denham Film Studios,
10 miles northwest of London. Other locations included the naval dockyard at
Plymouth (opening scene), Dunstable Downs in Bedfordshire (for a picnic scene),
and Smeaton’s Tower on the Plymouth Hoe seafront (for the shore leave scenes
between Shorty Blake and his wife Freda). HMAS Nepal, an N- class Royal Austra-
lian destroyer based at Scapa Flow, “played” HMS Tor r in. Though they were offi-
cially “co- directors,” Noël Coward let David Lean take charge of the production
while he focused on his own role as Capt. Kinross. After six weeks on the set, Noël
Coward became bored with the mechanics of filmmaking and let Lean fully assume
the directorial duties. Thereafter Coward came to the studio only when scenes in
which he appeared were being filmed. At one point Mountbatten and Coward
invited the royal family to the set. Their visit, reported in newsreels, lent the film
valuable advance publicity. After five months of filming, principal photography
ended on 27 June 1942.Plot Summary
The film opens with a line of narration by Leslie Howard (uncredited), “This is the
story of a ship,” followed by footage of shipbuilding in a British dockyard. A title
card reads “CRETE May 23rd 1941.” HMS Tor r in and other British destroyers fire on
and sink German transports in a nighttime engagement during the Battle of Crete.
The next morning Tor r in comes under heavy attack by a flight of German Junkers
88 twin- engine bombers. After the ship takes two direct hits, it begins to sink