HMS Defiant (1962)

HMS Defiant brings alive in CinemaScope and Technicolor the people and events of Frank Tilsley’s 1958 novel  Mutiny.

The story opens in 1797 when the frigate HMS Defiant – with a crew largely “recruited” forcibly by press gangs – sails against Napoleon’s fleet and is torn by strife above and below decks.

Captain Crawford (Alec Guinness), a disciplinarian, is engaged in a battle for power with sadistic First Lieutenant Scott-Padget (Dirk Bogarde), who threatens and flogs at will, while the crew – led by seamen Vizard (Anthony Quayle) and Evans (Tom Bell) – become more rebellious each day.

Scott-Padget temporarily gains the upper hand through the ill-treatment of Crawford’s Midshipman son Harvey (David Robinson), but the capture of a French vessel in the Mediterranean enables Captain Crawford to transfer the boy out of harm’s way and resume command.

After a fierce battle, the Defiant captures a French treasure ship, and Crawford is seriously wounded (eventually losing his arm). Scott-Padget takes his place on the bridge, and his brutality goads the crew into a premature mutiny.

Crawford persuades Vizard that one of the French prisoners has vital information about a proposed invasion of England, and the mutiny leader agrees to join the British fleet to warn them. The mutineers are confident of a pardon until Evans is provoked into murdering Scott-Padget.

Vizard decides to head the Defiant for the open seas, but the crew spot a fireship being sent by the French into the midst of the English Fleet. Jeopardising their own chances of escape, the Defiant‘s crew divert the fireship from its course, enabling the British to engage the French in battle.

The mutiny is over and HMS Defiant joins the fleet, with a message from the British admiral thanking the crew of Defiant for their honourable actions

Alec Guinness gives a superb performance as Captain Crawford, a basically humane man torn between his obligations to his crew and to the Admiralty.

Dirk Bogarde plays Scott-Padget, the sadistic First Lieutenant with friends in high places in a far cry from his usual romantic and comedy roles. Anthony Quayle gives a powerful portrayal in his first picture since The Guns Of Navarone.

The HMS Defiant was actually a wooden cod fishing boat named Marcel B Surdo. It was rebuilt as an accurate replica of a mid-size 18th-century frigate and later featured in several other films set during this period. The ship finally sank in 1981 in Tampa, Florida.

Apparently, in America, it was not commonly known what “HMS” meant, so the film was released there as Damn the Defiant!

Captain Crawford
Alec Guinness
Lieut. Scott-Padget
Dirk Bogarde
Mr Goss, Ship’s Surgeon
Maurice Denham
Senior Midshipman Kilpatrick
Nigel Stock
Lieut. Ponsonby
Richard Carpenter
Lieut. D’Arblay
Peter Gill
Midshipman Harvey Crawford
David Robinson
Pardoe
Robin Stewart
Hayes
Ray Brooks
Johnson
Peter Greenspan
Vizard
Anthony Quayle
Evans
Tom Bell
Wagstaffe
Murray Melvin
Dawlish
Victor Maddern
Sgt. Kneebone
Bryan Pringle
Wheatley
Johnny Briggs
Grimshaw
Brian Phelan
Silly Billy
Toke Townley
Morrison
Declan Mulholland
Admiral Jackson
Walter Fitzgerald
Mrs Crawford
Joy Shelton
Tavern Leader
Anthony Oliver
Flag Captain
Russell Napier
Flag Lieutenant
Michael Coles
Colonel Giraud
André Maranne

Director
Lewis Gilbert