San Demetrio London

1943 1h 37m EN

👍

7.2

SOLID

★7.2TMDB · 15

ActionDramaWar

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Based on the true story of the 1940 rescue of the tanker MV San Demetrio by parts of her own crew after she had been set afire in the middle of the Atlantic by the German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer and then had been abandoned. When one of the lifeboats drifted back to the burning tanker the day after, and found that she still hadn't exploded, they decided to board her and put out the fires. Eventually, they managed to start the engine again and decided to try to reach Britain against all odds.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Walter Fitzgerald
Chief Engineer Charles Pollard - M.V. San Demetrio
Ralph Michael
2nd. Officer Hawkins - M.V. San Demetrio
Neville Mapp
3rd. Engineer Willey - M.V. San Demetrio
Barry Letts
Apprentice John Jones - M.V. San Demetrio
Frederick Piper
Boatswain W.E. Fletcher - M.V. San Demetrio
Gordon Jackson
Messboy John Jamieson - M.V. San Demetrio
Robert Beatty
'Yank' Preston - M.V. San Demetrio
Mervyn Johns
Greaser John Boyle - M.V. San Demetrio

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Charles Frend
Writers: Charles Frend, F. Tennyson Jesse, Robert Hamer
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 6

ERA

Did you know

83 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 6

CRAFT

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 6

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Eily Boland shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 6

ERA

Did you know

Walter Fitzgerald and Ralph Michael and Neville Mapp carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 6

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0039797 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 6

WILD

Did you know

Only 15 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Charles Frend directs. Eily Boland cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

183 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
3Editor Eily Boland shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
4Walter Fitzgerald and Ralph Michael and Neville Mapp carry the top of the cast.
5IMDB entry: tt0039797 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
6Only 15 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Editing: Eily Boland
Runtime: 97 min · 1h 37m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): U
IMDB: San Demetrio London (1943)

Also by

Charles Frend

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-05-10
★ 7/10
Ok, so much of this is clearly filmed in a great big water tank at Ealing studios against a filmed backdrop that all too often gives that game away, but there’s still the essence of a story of tenacity and courage that is well portrayed here as the oil tanker “San Demetrio” finds itself looking the wrong way down the barrel of the 11-inch guns of the Nazi battleship “Scheer”. Badly damaged and left to the elements, the crew are ordered to abandon ship but after roaming around in the violent Atlantic for two days they happen upon their erstwhile home - and it’s still afloat! Lead by their second officer (Ralph Michael) and engineering chief (Walter Fitzgerald) the men decide their chances aboard are greater than their chances at sea, and so they set about seeing if they can get the ship to the safety of the Clyde. This was made at the height of the war, so of course there’s a certain propagandist element to this depiction of a true story, but that doesn’t detract from the tension that Charles Frend manages to imbue the film with, nor from the solid performances from a stable of recognisable British stalwarts whose job it was was to convince the war-weary audiences of the UK that we were will still fighting, and winning, against what might have seemed to be impossible odds. It’s a tale that conveys just how perilous these convoys were to sail in and to try to protect and the monochrome photography works well in conveying a sense of the cold, the wet, the dark and the danger as these frequently amateur mariners tried to get to grips with their human and more natural and equally unforgiving foes.

Production companies