THE SEA SHALL NOT HAVE THEM is a well-regarded WW2 film of the 1950s which plays out in a different style to the norm. There's no combat here, just a tale of survival at sea and a look at the work of the rarely-acknowledge air sea rescue service run by the RAF to rescue pilots who were forced to down their planes in the ocean. This is a literate, character-based drama in which suspense evolves in watching how each of the characters reacts to their situation. There's a whole host of British characters present, from the biggest of big names like Dirk Bogarde and Michael Redgrave, to those reliable stalwarts of the B-movie, Michael Balfour and Michael Ripper. Everything comes together nicely come the end.

This is a surprisingly efficient rendering of one of many rather unknown but important operations in the second world war, the rescuing of stranded air pilots shot down by Germans and landed in the North Sea. Sea Otters and boats had to search for them in bad weather and stormy seas amid mine fields and over vast areas, and sometimes some could be rescued, even if snatched right out of the claws of the enemy almost getting at them first. This film in addition features some excellent actors in leading roles, like Nigel Patrick as the almost bullying leader of the rescue crew, bu he just had to be like that, Michael Redgrave as custodian of state secrets at peril stranded in a dinghy in the middle of nowhere in the North Sea, with Dirk Bogarde in a critical role as a major security risk among the shipwrecked. The film is partly unbearable, as it doesn't hesitate to give a very intimate insight into the conditions of the stranded on board the dinghy in hard weather night and day on the threshold of death, but it is well worth waiting for the finale. Let's see if you have any nails left after that.

I was quite interesting before watching this film since it involved a very important part of the war effort that was responsible for rescue of downed planes and sunken ships. But had it not been for the ending, not much really happened in this 92 minute film. It had all the wrappings of a mid 1950 movie but failed to include enough action to make the viewer enjoy the adventure.

The movie centered around a plane that had been shot down with the crew having to abandon the plane and get into a rubber raft. And with little time to send a signal, all the authorities know is a wide area where the plane was possibly located. Now a small rescue ship is on the way to see if they can spot possible survivors of a mission that was considered value to the war effort. Even though the concept was interesting, the script for the most part was uneventful.

There is not much excitement about a rescue boat that breaks down in the middle of the ocean and accomplishes nothing while they wait for the boat to be repaired. While in the meantime, the camera keeps returning to the British Naval offices where a woman is pining when no word is heard about the whereabouts of the plane's crew where she has a loved one aboard. Then back to the raft where cold and mental anguish is affecting everyone.

The final scenes do bring some adventure and suspense but it was almost too little too late. Not really a bad film but one that would have been much better with something other than dialog over three quarters of the movie.