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In Which We Serve (1942)

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 0

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Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 664

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Few morale-boosting wartime films have retained their power and entertainment value as emphatically as Noël Coward's In Which We Serve. To witness Coward's sober, no-nonsense direction (in collaboration with his co-director/editor, David Lean) and to watch his straightforward portrayal of navy captain Kinross, one would never suspect that he'd built his theatrical reputation upon sophisticated drawing-room comedies and brittle, witty song lyrics. The real star of In Which We Serve is the British

Unrated, 1 hr. 54 min.

Drama, Classics

,

Mar 20, 2007

MCA Universal Home Video

Cast

All Critics (12) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (11) | Rotten (1) | DVD (1)

No less than half a dozen credits for this film go to Noel Coward. And they're well earned.

November 6, 2007 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

One of the most eloquent motion pictures of these or any other times had its American premiére at the Capitol Theatre last night.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
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Perhaps the most honored propaganda film of World War II, in which the survivors of a torpedoed British battleship recall their reasons for fighting through individual flashbacks.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
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Though agit-prop and sentimental, this UK WWII drama is superior to Hollywood's patriotic flagwavers, and it's important historically, featuring the directorial debut of David Lean (with Noel Coward), who became a major international figure in the 1950s

February 1, 2008 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment

Coward is at his peak in this patriotic, thoughtful WWII British production.

January 10, 2008 Comment
Video-Reviewmaster.com

Noel Coward performed with unexpected brilliance here as co-director, writer, musical composer, and star of this stirring WWII drama.

November 6, 2007 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

It's dated, but still holds up as one of the better flagwavers.

March 22, 2007 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comment
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Staged with what passed at the time for honest understatement, it now looks impossibly patronising, the epitome of stiff upper lip.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

Coward's tribute to the Royal Navy during World War II is as stirring as it is human. He puts a face on war and those who fight it.

September 21, 2004 Comment
Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)

In Which We Serve is not only one of the greatest of all British war movies but also marks the mighty David Lean's first major contribution to cinema.

May 24, 2003 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

Sentimental, to be sure, and a tad too stiff-upper-lipped at times, but it is a moving portrait of a navy destroyer, the men who served on it.

April 27, 2003 Full Review Source: Goatdog's Movies | Comment
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for In Which We Serve

A good British war film about a stranded crew of a British Destroyer on a life raft. The whole film is told in flashbacks and that is what I think hurts the film. It was original then, but it takes you out of the story almost every time it happens. Coward's screenplay is great and all of the characters are strong.

April 3, 2009
codyfranklin2

Super Reviewer

One of the finest World War II dramas, a superb cast, excellent direction and score. Very moving story. It can be a bit schmaltzy, but then again, it was made at the peak of the war. Exceptional in every aspect.

August 20, 2009
jam233
James Higgins

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Foreign Titles

  • In Which We Serve (1942) (DE)
  • In Which We Serve (1942) (UK)
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