SLNSW 26456 Premiere of Western Approaches Embassy Theatre taken for British Empire Films

''Western Approaches'' is a 1944 docufiction film directed by

Pat Jackson Patrick Douglas Selmes Jackson (26 March 1916 – 3 June 2011) was an English film and television director. Biography Born in Eltham, to a formerly affluent family which was severely affected by the Wall Street Crash in 1929, and his father' ...

and was

Crown Film Unit The Crown Film Unit was an organisation within the British Government's Ministry of Information during the Second World War. Formerly the GPO Film Unit it became the Crown Film Unit in 1940. Its remit was to make films for the general public in ...

's first

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

production. It is the fictional account of 22

British Merchant Navy The Merchant Navy is the maritime register of the United Kingdom and comprises the seagoing commercial interests of UK-registered ships and their crews. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensign and are regulated by the Maritime and Coastguar ...

sailors adrift in a lifeboat. They are able to signal by Morse code their position. A nearby U-boat receives the signal along with a friendly vessel which changes course to go to their rescue. The captain of the U-boat decides to wait in ambush with its two remaining torpedoes. Before the rescue ship arrives, the U-boat's periscope is spotted by the lifeboat. The U-boat fires its torpedoes just as the rescue vessel is alerted to the U-boat's presence. Although set in the North Atlantic, much of it was shot in the Irish Sea. Sailors rather than professional actors were used. Trade papers reported that the film among those "doing well" at the British box office in 1945.

References

External links

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Review of film
at ''Variety'' 1944 films British docufiction films Films directed by Pat Jackson World War II naval films 1940s English-language films 1940s British films {{WWII-film-stub