Red Ensign (1934)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Michael Powell

Writers:

Jerome Jackson (writer)
L. du Garde Peach (additional dialogue)
(more)

Release Date:

4 June 1934 (UK)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

David Barr is the manager and chief designer of a British shipyard (when we still built ships). The...

Plot Keywords:

Patriotism | Quota Quickie | Political

Cast

Leslie Banks	...	David Barr
Carol Goodner	...	June MacKinnon
Frank Vosper	...	Lord Dean
Alfred Drayton	...	Manning
Donald Calthrop	...	MacLeod
Allan Jeayes	...	Emerson aka Grierson
Campbell Gullan	...	Hannay
Percy Parsons	...	Casey
Fewlass Llewellyn	...	Sir Gregory
Henry Oscar	...	Raglan
John Laurie	...	Wages accountant
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jack Lambert
Henry Caine	...	Bassett (uncredited)
Frederick Piper	...	Bowler hatted man in bar (uncredited)

Directed by
Michael Powell

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jerome Jackson		writer
L. du Garde Peach		additional dialogue (as DuGarde Peach)
Michael Powell		writer

Produced by
Michael Balcon	....	executive producer
Jerome Jackson	....	producer

Cinematography by
Leslie Rowson

Film Editing by
Geoffrey Barkas

Art Direction by
Alfred Junge		(supervising art director)

Costume Design by
Gordon Conway

Sound Department
A. Birch	....	sound

Production Companies

• Gainsborough Pictures

Distributors

• Gaumont British Distributors (1934) (UK) (theatrical)

Also Known As:

Strike! (USA)

Runtime:

69 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:U

Filming Locations:

Gaumont-British Studios, Lime Grove, Shepherd's Bush, London, England, UK

Company:

Gainsborough Pictures

Quotes:

[Of shipyard cranes.]
David Barr: Big aren't they ?
June MacKinnon: Terrifying. How are they worked?
David Barr: Bad language mostly.
June MacKinnon: Yours?
David Barr: No, mine hasn't the necessary horsepower.

Movie Connections:

Remade as The Shipbuilders (1943)

If you're at all interested in Powell ...

I expect I'm like most people: I only sat down to watch this film because of the director's name. In many ways it's exactly what I expected. Direction is adroit, the boats and the boat-yards are lovingly filmed; it's by no means a bad bit of work. Money, of course, had to be shaved off the budget somewhere, and - surprisingly, given Powell's later career - the score was the first thing to go: there's a quotation from Smetana's `The Moldau' at the beginning, another at the end, and that's it. Also, no-one had time to polish the script. The romance (for instance) is worked in with such perfunctory terseness it will probably make you laugh.

I was surprised to see myself caught up in the story. The crusading hero (David Barr, played by Leslie Banks) has to be one of the most abrasive the screen has seen: a monomaniac who barks out insults at everyone around him in clipped tones and then wonders why he isn't more popular. I won't even comment on his moral code... And yet, there's no doubt I was on his side. I was even conned into liking him. By the end of the film the most critical thought I could manage was, `Well, it would be a pity to lose the British shipping industry just because its champion is such a jerk.'

Many critics (well ... three, to my knowledge) see the British shipping industry as a metaphor for the British film industry. I'm not sure if they're right or not. But `Red Ensign' is an argument for Britain's quota system in another sense: it shows that directors of obvious talent were allowed an apprenticeship, making films that, on examination decades later, really aren't so bad.