Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9705 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-05-12
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Formats: Black & White, PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 94 minutes

Synopsis
A true-life war-time drama revolving around the crew of a torpedoed petrol tanker who struggle against all the odds to get her home to Britain.

Customer Reviews

For those in peril...
When I was a kid in the 50s this film seemed to be on every other Sunday afternoon - alternating with the 'Flying Leathernecks'. Amazingly 50 years on I still remember the film, probably because it was different to other war films in that it featured the merchant Navy rather than the Grey Funnel Line. The ship is torpedoed and the crew take to the boats but eventually end up reboarding it, getting the fires under control and finally getting the ship back to port.

The film was based on a true storey and in real life the ship was restored and went back into service but was later torpedoed and sunk. While there is obviously an element of propaganda in the film, it is a good (true) story told in a straightforward and rather downbeat way. Well worth watching.

A real heart-warmer of a true story
San Demetrio London, was a world war Two sea story that I first read about in my teens and then I saw the film at a school cinema club and found it even more interesting.
It's the true story of a remarkable incident in the Battle of The Atlantic, when a blazing, abandomed tanker is re-boarded by 15 of her crew, and then follows their heroic efforts which end in them bringing her back to port.

This is one film worth watching again and again. I was extremely pleased to find it on Amazon. But sadly only currently on video. It is one film I sincerely hope will make to DVD, for it deserves a wider audience! definitely worth 5 stars in my estimate.

A tribute to the merchant service
I would agree with the first reviewer, this is a very good telling of a true story, showing the courage and determination of the merchant service during WW11. The event is well told, with a good pace to the film. The acting is good and is suitably understated. The viewer is given a good sense of what it must have been like for the men concerned, who dealt with a very dangerous situation in a most matter of fact way. I would recommend this film. It is also a film, in my opinion, which can be watched many times and its fascination still holds the viewer.