Plot
In 1943, Lieutenant Commander MacClain has just lost his ship and most of his crewmen due to enemy action. While accompanying a convoy, he was attacked by a U-boat with a distinctive large Iron Cross painted on the conning tower. The U-boat surfaced and machine-gunned many of the survivors. Offered duty ashore, MacClain is determined to avenge his men. He is allocated a new ship and while waiting for it to be built befriends Joyce Cartwright, whose brother Dick, an officer, was killed under his command. MacClain's new corvette is christened as HMCS ''Donnacona'', and soon a crew of 65, including officer Paul Cartwright, Joyce's younger brother, is assigned to the ship. Setting out as an escort to a convoy heading for England, the ''Donnacona'' comes upon the grisly sight of a lifeboat filled with dead sailors, the result of a deadly U-boat attack. In an ocean storm, his ship is separated from the convoy, but 300 miles from the Irish coast MacClain finds other lost ships that had also been separated from their escorts. The captain of the tanker ''Egyptian Star'' relays the information that he thinks a submarine has been trailing him. The small group of ships then becomes the target of Luftwaffe bombers that are chased off by a British Hawker Hurricane fighter launched from one of the escort ships. The submarines below are still the main concern and when the ''Egyptian Star'' is torpedoed and sunk, MacClain attacks, sinking a U-boat withCast
Production
''Corvette K-225'' was produced under the working title of "Corvettes in Action" between February 4 and early May 1943. While much of the film was made on a sound stage, parts of it, notably an outdoor scene at the University of King's College, Halifax, were filmed in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where many of the corvettes were stationed and where many transatlantic convoys were gathered and deployed. Over a three-month period in 1943 camera crews accompanied five convoys in order to gather background footage. As its location was a wartime secret, Halifax is referred to as "Hannington Harbour" in the film. The scenes of the shipyard were filmed at Toronto, Ontario; the Maple Leaf Mills grain elevator at the foot of Spadina Avenue is visible in a few scenes. ''Corvette K -225'' featured a fictional ship in the Royal Canadian Navy, HMCS ''Donnacona'', which was played by HMCS ''Kitchener'' (K225). HMCS Kitchener served like the fictional Donnacona on Atlantic convoy escort in World War 2. She was decommissioned in 1945 and scrapped in 1949. Incidentally the real HMCS Donnacona is a currently operating RCN Naval Reserve establishment in Montreal where RCN members are trained and after which the fictional ship was named. Before final casts were announced, Robert Stack, Dick Foran, Diana Barrymore, Evelyn Ankers, Jon Hall, Nigel Bruce and Patric Knowles were considered by Howard Hawks. In the June 11, 1942 issue of '' The Hollywood Reporter'', Robert Rosson was to be the second unit director on the film, shooting 10 days on location in the Atlantic with a convoy, and Hawks was going to direct, as well as produce. Screenwriter Lt. John Rhodes Sturdy, the commanding officer of a Canadian corvette, was also assigned to the film for five weeks as a technical advisor, loaned to the production by Royal Canadian Navy Public Affairs. The start of the film features Lieutenant Commander MaClain and his survivors from his previous ship on board a V&W class destroyer. The V&W-class were former Royal Navy fleet destroyers which had been transferred from the Royal Navy to the Royal Canadian Navy for escort duty. They were built between 1918 and 1925.Reception
The world premiere of ''Corvette K-225'' was held on October 19, 1943 at the Central Theatre in Ottawa, Canada, with the proceeds being donated to theReferences
Notes
Bibliography
* Nott, Robert. ''The Films of Randolph Scott.'' Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2004. .External links
* * * * * * {{Howard Hawks 1943 films 1940s war drama films American war drama films American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films Films directed by Richard Rosson Films scored by David Buttolph Films shot in Halifax, Nova Scotia World War II films made in wartime World War II naval films Films set on ships 1943 drama films