The Cockleshell Heroes

The Cockleshell Heroes

US cinema poster
Directed by José Ferrer
Produced by Phil C. Samuel
Screenplay by Bryan Forbes
Richard Maibaum
Story by George Kent
Starring José Ferrer
Trevor Howard
Music by John Addison
Cinematography John Wilcox
Edited by Alan Osbiston
Production
company
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
  • 16 November 1955 (1955-11-16) (UK)
Running time
 97 minutes[1]
Country United Kingdom
Language English

The Cockleshell Heroes is a 1955 British war film with Trevor Howard, Anthony Newley, David Lodge and José Ferrer, who also directed. Set during the Second World War, it is a fictionalised account of Operation Frankton, the December 1942 raid by canoe-borne British commandos on shipping in Bordeaux Harbour. It was the first Warwick Film to be filmed in CinemaScope.

Plot

Original cockleshell canoe

Ferrer plays newly promoted Major Stringer of the Royal Marines, who comes up with a novel idea for a raid. By using collapsible canoes, he believes it is possible for commandos to reach an enemy-held harbour undetected and blow up ships with limpet mines. He is given command of a small group of volunteers.

However, he clashes with his veteran second-in-command, cynical, by-the-book Captain Hugh Thompson (Trevor Howard). The two officers represent the clash of cultures in the Royal Marines in World War II and postwar. Stringer is the enthusiastic promoter of commando operations requiring daring and initiative, but has no experience leading men or operations. Thompson represents the old guard of traditional ship's detachments. Sergeant Craig (Victor Maddern) trains the men following Stringer's directions, but Thompson strongly disapproves of his commander's lax methods. When a test mission ends disastrously, Stringer admits his mistake and turns to Thompson, who soon whips the marines into shape.

Ruddock (David Lodge), one of the men, goes AWOL due to marital problems. Thompson gets to Ruddock's wife first and finds her with her civilian lover, but leaves when they both insult him. He goes to the local pub for a drink and finds the missing Marine. Thompson gives Ruddock enough time to beat up his wife's paramour, then drives him back to camp.

The raid is launched soon afterwards: the canoes and commandos transported to the mouth of the Gironde by the submarine HMS Tuna. As they arrive off the Gironde estuary a depth charge attack by a passing German patrol boat knocks out Ruddock's partner. Thompson, who was not supposed to go on the raid, volunteers to take his place. The raiders then disembark and begin their attack. They face seventy miles of paddling upriver in their Cockle Mk II canoes. After moving by night and hiding by day, only four men reach the target, where they plant limpet mines on a number of ships.

The raid is successful, but only Stringer and Clarke manage to escape. The rest are captured. When Thompson and the other prisoners refuse to divulge what their mission was, they are shot by firing squad, but not before hearing the mines explode.[2]

Main cast

Production notes

Development

In 1953 it was reported that Australian author Hugh Hastings was working on a script called "Cockleshell Heroes" for star Gregory Peck and director Lewis Milestone.[3] The script was based on a Reader's Digest account of the mission by George Kent.[4][5]

The movie was the fourth film from Warwick Films, a new production company based in England run by American producers Albert Broccoli and Irving Allen. Warwick's first film had been The Red Beret, based on a real-life British commando raid in World War Two, featuring an American star in the lead role. It was very popular; The Cockleshell Heroes followed the same formula.

It was the first independent movie shot in England to use CinemaScope. (Warwick had secured the use of the process for Cockleshell and A Prize of Arms.)[6]

Casting

Alan Ladd had appeared in Warwick's first three movies, and was discussed as a star. So too was Richard Widmark[7] who ended up making A Prize of Gold for the company instead. When the British Admiralty were approached to co-operate they requested that Spencer Tracy play the lead.[8]

Eventually Jose Ferrer was signed to star with Terence Young to direct. Young arrived in Hollywood in October 1954 to discuss to the film with Ferrer.[9] At the time Ferrer was considered a film star having featured in Moulin Rouge. By January 1955 it was announced he would direct as well.[10]

José Ferrer had Bryan Forbes's script rewritten by Richard Maibaum,[11] but Irving Allen decided Maibaum's script didn't have enough comedy, so he had Forbes rewrite Maibaum's revision and direct some sequences without telling Ferrer. When Ferrer found out, he left the film.[12]

The then-famous British singer, Yana (Pamela Guard), is shown in a cameo role as a sweetly-singing blonde Wren (Women's Royal Naval Service member) in a pub scene, shortly before a brawl erupts.[13]

Shooting

Filming started in March 1955.[14]

The movie was filmed in Portugal and several Royal Marine establishments, with the Commandant-General Royal Marines training the actors for drill and canoe handling. The training camp scenes in the film were shot at Eastney Barracks in Southsea, Hampshire, now the home of the Royal Marines Museum. The Royal Navy ships, HMS Flint Castle (K383) and Leeds Castle (K384), were used to portray a German anti-submarine vessel dropping depth charges. Studio scenes were shot at Shepperton.[15] The limpet mine scenes were filmed in the King George V Docks in North Woolwich and many of the other scenes were filmed on the adjacent bomb sites and at derelict houses in the area. Lieutenant Colonel Herbert "Blondie" Hasler, RM, the leader of the real-life raid, was seconded to Warwick Films as technical advisor.[16] Ex-Corporal Bill Sparks, the other survivor of the raid, was also an advisor.

The film briefly uses several railway locations including the level crossing (Military Road) adjacent to Fort Brockhurst station on the (by then 'goods only') Gosport branch in Hampshire; the station buildings and former platforms survive today as a private residence. As he cycles south, José Ferrer has to wait for a passing northbound train (a van hauled by T9 class locomotive 30729) so he takes the opportunity to abandon his bicycle in favour of a ride in the rear of a fish lorry. Later Ferrer steals the fish lorry only to abandon it at Shepperton Station (Surrey) in order to catch a just-departing Up train allegedly to Portsmouth, steam train noises being provided on this otherwise electric branch.

In another sequence David Lodge ducks out of sight into a brick bus shelter alongside the North Woolwich Branch. This was possibly at the footbridge opposite Fernhill Street on Albert Road, west of North Woolwich station. David Lodge is also filmed running over the road bridge adjacent to Chertsey station where a Southern electric train can be seen drawing into the Up platform.

The film location where Marine Cooney leaps off a road bridge into a coal wagon (within a Southampton-bound freight train hauled by an S15 class locomotive) is Chertsey Road, Addlestone with Egham Hill and Chertsey in the background as well as Addlestone Cemetery beyond the two fields to the left of the railway line. Now numbered the A318, Chertsey Road and this location is almost unrecognisable following road realignments for the building of the A317 St Peter's Way along with subsequent property developments.

Trevor Howard and David Lodge nearly drowned while filming a sequence in a canoe when the canoe overturned.[17]

During production the film was sometimes known as Survivors Two.[18]

During filming, the two survivors of the mission told the producers they had no idea what the cargo was in the ships that were destroyed. After the film was completed, Broccoli claimed that the Duke of Edinburgh and Lord Mountbatten told him the contents of the cargo were radar equipment bound for Japan. Broccoli thought this made the story more interesting and had additional sequences shot to be added to the release print.[19] This cost an extra $5,600.[20]

Reception

The film was one of the ten most popular movies at the British box office in 1956.[21]

See also

References

  1. ↑ BBFC Database: The Cockleshell Heroes - inspected 11/11/1955 Linked 2014-06-07
  2. ↑ "Cockleshell Heroes.". The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982). 1933 - 1982: National Library of Australia. 11 July 1956. p. 47. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  3. ↑ "Sydney's Talking About—.". The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954). NSW: National Library of Australia. 13 August 1953. p. 5 Section: Women's Section. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  4. ↑ "MOVIE NOTES.". The Cessnock Eagle and South Maitland Recorder (NSW : 1913 - 1954). NSW: National Library of Australia. 2 April 1954. p. 3. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  5. ↑ Busy Champions Will Do Concertized Revue; Joan Taylor Borrowed Scheuer, Philip K. Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File) [Los Angeles, Calif] 12 June 1953: B7.
  6. ↑ BY WAY OF REPORT: Independent Group to Make CinemaScope Pictures in England -- Other Matters By A. H. WEILER. New York Times (1923-Current file) [New York, N.Y] 13 Dec 1953: X9.
  7. ↑ "Stars Invade U.K.". The Newcastle Sun (NSW : 1918 - 1954). NSW: National Library of Australia. 20 May 1954. p. 22. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  8. ↑ Alan Ladd Asked to Star in Robber Movie Hopper, Hedda. Chicago Daily Tribune (1923-1963) [Chicago, Ill] 6 September 1954: b12.
  9. ↑ FERRER IS SOUGHT FOR A WAR MOVIE: Wanted for Starring Role in 'Cockleshell Heroes,' to Be Filmed in England By THOMAS M. PRYOR Special to The New York Times.. New York Times (1923-Current file) [New York, N.Y] 5 October 1954: 23.
  10. ↑ FILM PACT SIGNED BY JOSHUA LOGAN: He Will Make His Debut as Screen Director in 'Picnic' Adaptation for Columbia By THOMAS M. PRYOR Special to The New York Times.. New York Times (1923-Current file) [New York, N.Y] 7 January 1955: 16
  11. ↑ Forbes, Bryan (1974). Notes for a Life. Collins. p. 249.
  12. ↑ Harper, Sue; Vincent Porter (2003). British Cinema of the 1950s: the Decline of Deference. Oxford University Press. p. 129.
  13. ↑ Limited, Telegraph Group (1998-01-01). The Daily Telegraph Third Book of Obituaries: Entertainers. Pan. ISBN 9780330367752.
  14. ↑ THE LITTLE HUT' PLANNED AS FILM: F. Hugh Herbert and Mark Robson Form Partnership to Do Play by Roussin By THOMAS M. PRYORSpecial to The New York Times.. New York Times (1923-Current file) [New York, N.Y] 15 Feb 1955: 32.
  15. ↑ "These Are the Facts", Kinematograph Weekly, 31 May 1956 p 14
  16. ↑ Mackenzie, S.P. (2001). British War Films. Continuum International Publishing. p. 144.
  17. ↑ "It was not an act.". The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957). Melbourne, Vic.: National Library of Australia. 3 May 1955. p. 6. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
  18. ↑ NOTED ON THE LOCAL MOVIE SCENE: Ferrer Acquires Pair Of Stories -- Other Film Matters By A. H. WEILER. New York Times (1923-Current file) [New York, N.Y] 3 July 1955: X5.
  19. ↑ NEW SHOTS FOR FILM OF MARINES: On Duke's Information The Manchester Guardian (1901-1959) [Manchester (UK)] 21 Nov 1955: 2.
  20. ↑ Movie Scene Reshot After Duke's Critique The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959) [Washington, D.C] 22 Nov 1955: 28.
  21. ↑ BRITISH. FILMS MADE MOST MONEY: BOX-OFFICE SURVEY The Manchester Guardian (1901-1959) [Manchester (UK)] 28 Dec 1956: 3
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