General Chat

Found it! The flm was called "San Demetrio, London" and was made in 1943.

The convoy the ship was a part of was actually attacked by the German Pocket Battleship Admiral Scheer and not a submarine (jeez I'm slipping tonight!)

http://www.britmovie.co.uk/studios/ealing/filmography/30.html - for details about the film

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_San_Demetrio - about the true story.

I remember watching it with dad and him telling me that we owed our freedom to men like these (and men like him too, though he was too modest to say that).

I can now go to bed and not lie awake all night trying to remember whatthe film was called.

Night night all.

LOL Nothing wrong with that Ed, you sound a smashing dad !!

Night night, speak again soon.

Hi Pam,

Don't think its that one - I remember it was a black and white film and quite old.

Oh and softie isn't the word when it comes to my daughters - I think if I was any softer I'd be liquid!!

Just been on google, wasn't called CHAINS was it Ed? 1984 film.

No Ed don't remember that one, can you google the info you've got do you think?

Yes I think Robert Carlyle is so good too ! There's no accent that he can't do.

Yes Pam,

In Which we Serve is another classic.

I remember a film, based on fact, about the crew of a merchant ship that is torpedoed in the Atlantic. The ship is abandoned and one lifeboat gets lost from the rest. The crew members on the lifeboat eventually drift back towards the merchant ship (which doesn't actually sink) and re-board her. I think they actually manage to get the ship back to harbour and claim salvage rights in the end. Does anyone remember that one?

Hi Jen, yes I will, when it's about a subject such as that I don't think it would worry me that it was Robert Redford. Yes, there's somthing of a special bond with dad's and daughters I think (Ed has two girls and I bet he is a real softie) My dad liked the Carry Ons too, he liked that sod Sid James and also Joan Syms was his favourite I think!

I think I've mentioned I have cousins in Brisbane, they are my late mum's sisters three grown up kids, well into their thirties now. Mum and dad were going to go over in the late fifties on the £10 ticket. My uncle Nedd, (yes that really is his name) would have helped dad with getting work, but it wasn't meant to be I guess.

My parents met after the war in London and I was born there, but live in Norfolk now and have for many years. I was the only child as mum died quite young and dad didn't re marry.

Mum was in the WRENS and served in The NAFFI in a town named Speke not far from Liverpool.

Strange how life turns out and could be so different possibly but for the events that come along. They say it's character forming though don't they? I think that's true in a way.

EDIT: But you come very near Ed !! ha ha

Yes Ed do that, it would make interesting reading.

The Cruel Sea, one of the greats. The scene I suppose we all think of is when they have to leave our chaps in the water as there's a boat under them and they need to blow it up.

In Which we Serve another good one.

I remember talking to an elderly chap in a nursing home where I worked a few years back and he'd served in the Royal Navy and was on the Atlantic Convoys like your dad . He was a lovely chap and very matter of fact about what he'd been through. Yes, we owe them so much.

Hi Pam, I don't like that poncy Tom Cruise either and don't have an interest in watching anything he's in.
We recently watched [in between the tennis] a movie with Robert Carlyle playing Hitler. What a great actor he is!
My father died in 2005 and I sure do miss him too. He and I shared a weird sense of humour and he often had tears rolling down his cheeks when we watched the old "Carry On" movies.
He was in the RAF during the war and he met my mother in Cairo where she was also serving in stores for the WRAF's. They married in Nottingham after they were demobbed then settled in London where my brother and I were born. They emigrated here when I was small.
Try "An Unfinished Life", even if you don't like Robert Redford, as I thoroughly enjoyed it. A very moving picture I thought. OK, back to the tennis..........

Yes, one day I'll have to put up details of some of his experiences.

He was a great film fan too and I think that's where I get it from. He used to get very emotional when watching films based during the war - especially nautical ones; I remember watching "The Cruel Sea" with him and seeing his eyes moisten, as he first served on a corvette very similar to "The Compass Rose".

His best friend stayed in the navy after the war and was on HMS Amethyst when it got impounded in China in 1948 - the tale is recounted in the film "The Yangtse River Incident".

Dad was a great fan of John Wayne and I was weaned on some of the classic westerns, which I think I've mentioned before.

EDIT: Just looked it up and the film was called "The Yangtse Incident" and the Amethyst was impounded in 1949, not 48. (Ah well nobody's perfect!)

You must be very proud of your dad Ed and rightly so.

I'll have to read through The War Years thread Pam.

My dad was in the Royal Navy from 1939-1945, serving initially on the Atlantic Convoys and then in the Far East (he was awarded the Burma Star).

He went through some frightful times too; and the understated heroism those young men possessed makes you feel very humble.

Dad lied about his age to volunteer in 1939 - he spent so many years pretending to be a year older than he actually was he forgot his real age in the end!!

Dad passed away in 1991; I still miss him now .

No don't think I will Ed...(here we go again!) I don't like either of them.

I'm afraid that I think Mel Gibson is a prat. Yes I agree they do tend to put us down don't they. Not all of them obviously, Tom Hanks being one of them. It was wonderful seeing him and Steven Spielberg at the D Day celebrations on TV in 2004. I sat watching it with my dad, he was so moved and got very emotional. He liked 'The Yanks' as he always said we'd have been bu**ered without them and the Russians too. My dad passed away in November of 2004 Ed, he'd been a POW in Poland. He was captured in May of 1940. He suffered very harsh times during his captivity. I always said he should have written a book about his experiences. There were thousands like him I know, but he was such a lovely man and I miss him so much. I've put a little bit about him on the 'War Years' thread.

Yes Pam, I remember that film.

Yep I'm an ex shift worker too and know the feeling - especially when you've completed your stint of nights and want to get back into the swing of doing days again!

I see Jonathan Ross has Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate WInslett on tonight talking about Revolutionary Road - will you be giving it a look?

I've currently got Braveheart on tonight - good film but once again we have Hollywood portraying the English as a bunch of knuckle-dragging xenophobic sadists.

Mel Gibson does like doing this - in the film "The Patriot", I read that he had a scene where the British Army burns down a church that has a lot of Americans in it - something that actually occured in WW2 when the Nazis invaded France! This put me of seeing the film.

The funny thing is that the "evil" character in the British army who leads the ruthless "Green Dragoons" (looked that up on the Internet), actually sounds like he is based on Sir Banastre Tarleton - who commanded a unit of AMERCIANS who fought for the British!

Ignore what I've just put...just googled that film and his surname was Sarrazin! not far out with the year though, it was made in 1969.

Evening Ed,

Hope all is well with you and yours.

Yes Ed I'm sure blokes do!

Another film that has come to mind today was entitled "They Shoot Horses Don'tThey?" When you mentioned Susan Sarandon it made me think, 'cos as I remember it starred an actor named Michael Sarandon who possibly was her brother. Anyway I'm guessing the year is vey late sixties or early seventies. I remember it was a dance marathon and in the end I think he (Sarandon's character) committes suicide. It went on for days and the prize money was quite a lot. I suppose it was sleep depravation. ( I've done night shifts when I've felt close to that! )

Anyone remember that one?

Wonder if we'll hear from our Nicky tonight.

Hi Pam,

I've just logged on after completing some work that can't wait until tomorrow!

So you'll pass on a good film if the leading man isn't your cup of tea then?

I must admit I've watched pretty poor films before just because the leading lady is rather lush! (Men do it too!)

Evening film fans...anyone about?