The Cruel Sea

[jumpy]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01cj83p
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01cvgbp

a bit late :( but this was BBC R4's classic serial - Nicholas Monsarrat's searing classic novel about the war in the North Atlantic.

[Sailor Steve]

Cool! I never knew about the radio play. :sunny:

[jumpy]

I'd hoped it was going to be more episodes long, but it was a fair go when stacked against the book tbh.

...only trouble is he beeb is tight with their program archives :dead:
Iplayer is great for a catchup, but they don't often let you listen too far down the line.
Sorry I didn't post this before, as it looks like you'll only get to hear episode 2 now.

[BossMark]

I never new this, when saw the thread I thought it was going to be about the classic film starring Jack Hawkins.
Thanks for the links jumpy :salute:

[nikimcbee]

Snorkers!

Too bad we can't listen to the first episode. Is it possible to download?

[Oberon]

Snorkers!

Good oh!

Classic book. :yep:

[nikimcbee]

Good oh!

Classic book. :yep:

I've read his other book, "Three Corvettes".:up: When I was a kid, my parents bought me the book on tape "The Cruel Sea". I still have the second cassette someplace.:D I think it was one of my starting points for my interest in subs\u-boats. That would have been around 1984.:dead:

[Oberon]

I've read his other book, "Three Corvettes".:up: When I was a kid, my parents bought me the book on tape "The Cruel Sea". I still have the second cassette someplace.:D I think it was one of my starting points for my interest in subs\u-boats. That would have been around 1984.:dead:

Didn't know about 'Three Corvettes' will have to look that out. :yep::up:

[nikimcbee]

Didn't know about 'Three Corvettes' will have to look that out. :yep::up:

http://www.amazon.com/Three-Corvettes-Nicholas-Monsarrat/dp/0304354449

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41nDeI5NvSL._SS500_.jpg

[Jimbuna]

For us Brits:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Three-Corvettes-Nicholas-Monsarrat/dp/0304354449/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331476959&sr=1-1

If ordering please use the SubSim link.

[Sailor Steve]

It sounds like an alternate, or earlier, version of this great book.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/068803103X/sr=1-1/qid=1331489413/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1331489413&sr=1-1&seller=

I read a library copy during my homeless days and gave my opinion here http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=342819&postcount=90. This came up in a topic only a month ago and prompted me to find and buy a copy. I haven't started rereading it, but it's there when I want to.

[Jimbuna]

Going off the information in that link I'm even more inclined to purchase it.

[nikimcbee]

Okay, so I actually listened to it today and Lockhard sure sounded a lot like Strelnikov from Dr. Zhivago.:down: I don't remember this being a political novel.:nope: So, if my memory is correct, and there are no political disscusions in "The Cruel Sea"; Wow, when the BBC pushes an agenda, they don't hide it at all.:down::down::down:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bbTtSKLMei8/SkCUb6TgYPI/AAAAAAAAAAM/p46V97IDkR4/S220/Strelnikov.jpg

[jumpy]

Sure there are - crew chatter (I read it again just before christmas). CBA to dig out page references etc, but I think you misplace a 'bbc agenda' all the same.

Besides, there's only so many voice actors here you know.... be glad it was not Martin Jarvis :O: (r4 joke, sorry)

[nikimcbee]

Sure there are - crew chatter (I read it again just before christmas). CBA to dig out page references etc, but I think you misplace a 'bbc agenda' all the same.

Besides, there's only so many voice actors here you know.... be glad it was not Martin Jarvis :O: (r4 joke, sorry)

Ha!, I knew it. It was the adaptation!:down: I found this:

Fletcher's adaptation stressed the connection between life on board ship and the socialist spirit that prevailed in the post-war era, that led to the creation of the Welfare State

Source:
http://www.radiodramareviews.com/id949.html


I did find this about Monsarrat:

As a young man, Monsarrat participated in left-wing politics. "We were like the young of all the world, since the world began," he recalled in his autobiography, Life Is a Four-Letter Word (1966-1970). "Everything was wrong: things could not go on like this; the universe was rightly doomed; war was on the way; freedom was denied, greed and lust for power still ruled our lives shamelessly." However, he never joined the Communist Party, and after visiting Spain on the eve of the Civil War, he began to grow disillusioned with Socialism.


http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/monsarra.htm

[jumpy]

Guess you can't please everybody. *shrugs*

[nikimcbee]

Guess you can't please everybody. *shrugs*

Well, I enjoyed it for the most part. I just wanted to hear naval stories, not a political lecture.:-?

[jumpy]

I didn't think they laboured the point (har har).
But they only had 2 hours to encompass a book that could have been much more varied.
They had the salient points end events from the book down, plus a lot of the crew chatter below decks as descriptive of the life at sea and different personalities and backgrounds of the seamen, both RN and volunteers and the perspectives that illustrated that diversity of the navy during the battle of the atlantic. Add all of that civilian vagary to the business of fighting a shooting war at sea and you have what is essentially a pretty cruel judge of men and character and resilience.
You either sink or swim, as it were.
There's perhaps the element of making it a little more accessible as a radio play for those other than Das Boot enthusiasts; in which case it's as much a study of men in wartime as a technical manual for making depth charges safe when abandoning ship :DL