User Reviews

This is a film from someone whom I consider to be one of the great directors of British cinema of the 30s and 40s.The BFI have published a book about him and he had a season of films at the BFI Southbank.He combines familiar themes and values into essentially the same story.If you have seen "Music Hall" and "Say It With Flowers" you will know what I mean.He espouses the importance of the community spirit and everyone pulling together from top to bottom.In this film Clive Brook plays the managing director of a shipyard which has to close in the Great Depression.He does all he can to help his employees and will not give up.Ironically it is war which comes to his rescue as the yard is reopened to build ships for the navy.Baxter follows the fortunes of some of the former yard employees.He gets a sympathetic performance out of Brooks.Whilst it is not an exceptional film it is well directed by Baxter.Incidentally if you buy Baxters soups or jams in your local supermarket he came from that family.

THE SHIPBUILDERS is a slice of social drama from Britian, with a heavy dose of propaganda added to the mix; this was made in 1943 after all. The film charts the life of a number of working class heroes, the shipbuilders of the title, playing their trade in the north. A time of depression means that things get very tough indeed, but the arrival of the Second World War reveals that every cloud has a silver lining. This is slow, dated fare, but nonetheless watchable thanks to being a product of its time.

It's a shame that this British movie was rushed out to meet a quota of patriotic films to stir the public interest in all aspects of Wirkd War II, dealing with several generations of a steel empire dynasty leading up to Workd War II, and covering some lean years. It casts Clive Brook in the top billed above the title status, and this could have been the "Cavalcade" of the 1940's, ultimately a letdown because of slow pacing and poor direction as far as getting the audience engaged and keeping them interested. Certainly it is an attractive looking film, But it skips over so many details that would have made this family much more interesting, going from one little tid bit to another without really making the audience engaged. There are some great montages and a riveting trial sequence of the company having struggles during the lean years, but until World War II becomes a reality, it lags and never manages to hold complete interest.

Outside of Brook (a popular British actor but one who hadn't maintained his name even though he was a leading Hollywood actor at one point), there are few actors of note, and while that is fine as far as preventing a distraction, there's nobody in the cast that grips the audience with excitement. The propaganda surrounding the importance of shipbuilders as war approaches does increase interest here and there, but those moments are few and far between. It's a handsome film physically, but that's not enough, and it's obvious that even with a somewhat higher budget for a quota quickie that there wasn't enough enthusiasm to make this be the top notch A film it had the potential to be. A lot of the memorable moments are filmed footage of the main characters interspersed with stock footage from newsreels. Barely a B for effort, and sadly a C- for the film overall.