The Sea Wolves – 1980 – A charming true story  

All Clickable links in Red

Genre – War Movie (true story)

Language – English

Time: 2 Hours 

Platform: YouTube (Free)

 

                

Throughout history, many nation have depended on goods carried by merchant ships trade for their daily survival. It is more accurate for island nations like Britain and Japan. Britain was almost strangled by German U Boats during World War 2. At the same time, by early 1945, the Japanese population faced starvation due to the strangulation of their sea routes by American submarines (to the extent that American submarine commanders complained of lack of targets as Japanese shipping had been more or less wiped out). 

 

India was a vast Allied base to carry the war against the Japanese. Bombay and Karachi were the two ports with an incredible flow of war material. Most sinkings by German submarines were confined to the Atlantic waters. So when the sinkings of merchant ships suddenly started increasing in the Indian Ocean, the British took notice and soon found out from radio traffic analysis that the transmissions came from Goa, which was still under Portuguese control and so technically neutral territory.

 

Three German ships – the Drachenfels, the Ehrenfels and Braunfels – had taken refuge in Goa, and somehow, they were sending information to the waiting U Boats. Finally, it was decided to destroy the ships with an audacious plan – sending “weekend warriors’ from the Calcutta Light Horse, a reserve regiment full of old men, to destroy the ships. It was a classic “deniable operation”. If they were captured the British could write it off as “drunken exploits of some British businessmen”. Thus Operation Creek was started.

 

So, the SOE authorizes Colonel Pugh (Gregory Peck), the C.O., to set things in motion. Pugh contacts his second in command, Colonel Grice (David Niven), aided by Captain Gavin Stewart (Roger Moore) of the SOE. Grice selects the more than enthusiastic “warriors”, dispensing with the “warriors” he knows aren’t fit enough. The party sets forth on the raid.

 

Simultaneously, Stewarts beds the female German Spy in Goa, Mrs Agnes Cromwell (Barbara Kellerman), and soon knows that she is one of the active members of the spy network, along with another man code-named Trompeda (Wolf Kahler). Jack Cartwright (Trevor Howard) who had insisted on being part of the action, is given the benign job of arranging the local logistics in Goa. Grice and his selected team travel by a rusty barge from Calcutta to Cochin, and from there, they are all supposed to go on to Goa to destroy the three ships and thus prevent the information from being sent to the U Boats.

 

A title card at the film’s end shows how the shipping losses went down dramatically after the raid. 

 

The film’s story is told in a straightforward fashion. We somehow feel pity and more than a shred of wonder as the old men try to get back into shape for the action. It’s all told with very straightforward humour. It is clear that these “weekend warriors’ are much past their prime. Yet a last sense of “duty” makes them go forward on what seems to be a hopeless yet scary ride of their lifetime. And therein lies a somewhat poignant tale of daring by the “old men”. 

 

Being a “Hollywood” war film, the story has to be naturally “sexed up”. None of the onscreen characters look anything like the actual characters. Clearly, Roger Moore is just being his (then) James Bond avatar as he smoothly woos the mysterious James Cromwell. He does the obligatory fights and stunts – no doubt the filmmakers wanted to cash in on his fame as James Bond. There is also the “fact” that Cartwright is “killed” while the real Cartwright survived to tell the tale. If you ignore such silly stuff designed to cook the movie from its somewhat sedate pace – as the real action was – then it’s a worthy tale of daring that happened on “Indian soil”. 

 

 

Watch out for the Goan locations and try to spot as many locales as possible. Most, if not all, of them will be unrecognizable today.

The media hoopla surrounding this film was incredible. You can also see that in the initial Calcutta shots, the crowd is clearly gaping at the camera. You can also spot some Indian actors in their early days (Keith Stevenson, Mohan Agashe). Most of the “warriors” are all staple bit players from hundreds of British war movies.

 

This is a competently made war film with an Indian connection. It’s free on YouTube.

 

 I always wondered what happened to the German sailors who survived the sinking. DId they go back or settle down in Goa. It looks like a couple of them did settle in Goa.  Perhaps a happy ending of a sort. 

 

Real History/ Historical Background – 3 out of 5 

Script – 4 out of 5

Story – 4 out of 5

Direction – 4 out of 5

Photography – 4 out of 5

 

 Total – 3.8 out of 5