Sons of the Sea (film)


Sons of the Sea is a 1939 British colour drama film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Leslie Banks, Kay Walsh, Mackenzie Ward and Cecil Parker.

Synopsis

Britain, 1939. The head of Dartmouth Naval College is murdered. His successor, Captain Hyde, believes that he himself was in fact the intended target of the assassination. He soon begins to realise that both British and foreign intelligence agents are at work. He enlists the help of his son, a reluctant sea cadet, to smoke them out.

Cast

The film was shot during the summer of 1939, just before the outbreak of the Second World War, something explored in the themes of the film. Unusually for the time, it was made entirely in colour; it was the only feature film to do so using the Dufaycolor process.
It was restored and shown on BBC television in 2005.

Reception

The film premiered in London on 11 March 1940, at the then recently opened Cinephone cinema at 241 Oxford Street, with the attendance of the main star, Leslie Banks.