I like to watch ancient films on Talking Pictures TV. Some were made before I was born.
Last night I watched 'The Key' from 1958, so I was 4 when it was released, starring William Holden, Sophia Loren and Trevor Howard.
IMDB summarizes it as follows.
During World War II, successive tugboat British Captains sent on dangerous salvage missions pass-on the key to a home-port apartment, where a lonely Swiss-Italian young war-widow lives.It's an interesting plot, and I had no idea that poorly armed tug boats were used to try to rescue stricken cargo ships. Ironically, the tugs were often defended by the ships they were sent to salvage, once they were in range, as they were usually more heavily armed. As you might expect, the survival rate of the tugs and their crews was pretty low. The twist in the plot is the apartment, inherited by tug captains, along with its occupant.
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
David Ross (William Holden), an American former tugboat captain now in the Canadian Army, is hastily commissioned in the Royal Navy and assigned to rotating command of W88, a double-screwed rescue tug then in dry dock due to battle damage. His predecessor committed suicide. The slow, poorly armed tugs bring in "lame ducks," freighters crippled near Britain by German attacks. The main danger is from U-boats and aircraft.
When David arrives at the tug control office he is reunited with an old friend, Captain Chris Ford (Trevor Howard), who commands another tug about to go on a mission. Chris takes David with him and they are attacked twice. That night Chris brings him home to his flat to meet his lover, Stella (Sophia Loren), who wears a wedding ring.
This is where the plot takes an odd turn. Stella was to marry another tug captain, Phillip, but he was killed on the day of the wedding. Chris took over the flat, with Sophia as part of the furniture. He was given the key to the flat by Phillip, on the condition that Chris look after Stella in the even of Phillip's death. As the story continues, we learn that Chris got the key from another tug captain, on the same conditions and who was also killed on a mission.
Stella appears to have premonitions about when each captain is to die on a rescue mission, which she understandably finds disturbing. Chris wants to give a key to David, who is initially reluctant to take it, but eventually relents. A few days later Chris is killed on a mission, but David doesn't want to move into the flat, but has been billeted in a crappy hotel, in a room shared with several other seamen. He eventually moves into the flat and gets another key cut, which he gives to Chris' first mate Kane, who has been promoted and taken over Chris' tug.
Stella has another premonition when David is about to set out on a mission. His tug is attacked and badly damaged by a German submarine, but before it sinks he tells the crew to abandon ship and rams the submarine, sinking it. It's assumed that David died, but after being rescued, David hurries back to the flat, but Kane is already there, having told Stella that David was killed. When she sees him alive, she screams at him to get out, hurt to the core by his betrayal in passing on the key. Later, Kane finds David drinking his sorrows away, and informs him that Stella is leaving for London on the train. David does not arrive at the station in time to board the train, but vows to Kane that somehow he will find her.
Thoroughly enjoyed it. 8/10
Register
Calendar
FAQ
Search
