Yangtse Incident (1957 film)
Encyclopedia
Yangtse Incident: The Story of HMS Amethyst is a 1957
British war film
that tells the story of the British frigate
HMS Amethyst caught up in the Chinese Civil War
.
It was based upon the book written by Lawrence Earl. The film was known in the US by the alternative titles Battle Hell, Escape of the Amethyst, Their Greatest Glory and Yangtze Incident. Non-English language titles include the direct German translation of Yangtse-Zwischenfall, and Commando sur le Yang-Tse in France. In Belgium it was known as Feu sur le Yangtse (French) and Vuur op de Yangtse (Flemish/Dutch), both meaning "Fire on the Yangtse".
The film was entered into the 1957 Cannes Film Festival
.
on her way to Nanking, the Chinese capital, to deliver supplies to the British Embassy. Suddenly, without warning, People's Liberation Army
(PLA) shore batteries open fire and after a heavy engagement, Amethyst lies grounded in the mud and badly damaged. Fifty-four of her crew are dead, dying or seriously wounded while others deteriorate from the tropical heat and the lack of essential medicines. The local Communist official Colonel Peng (played by Akim Tamiroff) is adamant: either accept responsibility for the entire incident, or the Amethyst will remain his prisoner.
After an attempt by HMS Consort
to tow Amethyst off the mud bank fails, Lieutenant Commander John Kerans (played by Richard Todd
) decides to risk steaming down the Yangtze at night without a pilot or suitable charts. After some subtle alterations to the ship's outline to try to disguise her, Amethyst slips her cable and headed downriver in the dark following a local merchant ship, which Amethyst uses to show the way through the shoals and distract the PLA.
Having finally broken through the boom at the mouth of the river, she sends a signal to HMS Concord
: "Have rejoined the fleet south of Woosung ... No damage... No casualties....God save the King."
HMS Magpie
stood in for shots of the ship moving and firing her guns.
1957 in film
The year 1957 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 21 - The movie Jailhouse Rock, starring Elvis Presley, opens.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue-Awards:...
British war film
War film
War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...
that tells the story of the British frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
HMS Amethyst caught up in the Chinese Civil War
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...
.
It was based upon the book written by Lawrence Earl. The film was known in the US by the alternative titles Battle Hell, Escape of the Amethyst, Their Greatest Glory and Yangtze Incident. Non-English language titles include the direct German translation of Yangtse-Zwischenfall, and Commando sur le Yang-Tse in France. In Belgium it was known as Feu sur le Yangtse (French) and Vuur op de Yangtse (Flemish/Dutch), both meaning "Fire on the Yangtse".
The film was entered into the 1957 Cannes Film Festival
1957 Cannes Film Festival
-Jury:*André Maurois *Jean Cocteau *Maurice Genevoix *Georges Huisman *Maurice Lehmann *Marcel Pagnol *Michael Powell *Jules Romains...
.
Plot
On 19 April 1949, the Royal Navy frigate HMS Amethyst sails up the Yangtze RiverYangtze River
The Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the...
on her way to Nanking, the Chinese capital, to deliver supplies to the British Embassy. Suddenly, without warning, People's Liberation Army
People's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army is the unified military organization of all land, sea, strategic missile and air forces of the People's Republic of China. The PLA was established on August 1, 1927 — celebrated annually as "PLA Day" — as the military arm of the Communist Party of China...
(PLA) shore batteries open fire and after a heavy engagement, Amethyst lies grounded in the mud and badly damaged. Fifty-four of her crew are dead, dying or seriously wounded while others deteriorate from the tropical heat and the lack of essential medicines. The local Communist official Colonel Peng (played by Akim Tamiroff) is adamant: either accept responsibility for the entire incident, or the Amethyst will remain his prisoner.
After an attempt by HMS Consort
C class destroyer (1943)
The C class was a class of 32 destroyers of the Royal Navy that were launched from 1943 to 1945. The class was built in four flotillas of 8 vessels, the Ca, Ch, Co and Cr classes, ordered as the 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th Emergency Flotillas respectively...
to tow Amethyst off the mud bank fails, Lieutenant Commander John Kerans (played by Richard Todd
Richard Todd
Richard Todd OBE was an Irish-born British stage and film actor and soldier.-Early life:Richard Todd was born as Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd in Dublin, Ireland. His father, Andrew William Palethorpe Todd, was an Irish physician and an international Irish rugby player who gained three caps for...
) decides to risk steaming down the Yangtze at night without a pilot or suitable charts. After some subtle alterations to the ship's outline to try to disguise her, Amethyst slips her cable and headed downriver in the dark following a local merchant ship, which Amethyst uses to show the way through the shoals and distract the PLA.
Having finally broken through the boom at the mouth of the river, she sends a signal to HMS Concord
HMS Concord (R63)
HMS Concord was a C-class destroyer of the Royal Navy.She was initially ordered as HMS Corso during the Second World War, and was built by John I. Thornycroft & Company, Southampton. She was launched on 14 May 1945, renamed HMS Concord in June 1946 and commissioned on 20 December 1946...
: "Have rejoined the fleet south of Woosung ... No damage... No casualties....God save the King."
Cast
- Richard ToddRichard ToddRichard Todd OBE was an Irish-born British stage and film actor and soldier.-Early life:Richard Todd was born as Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd in Dublin, Ireland. His father, Andrew William Palethorpe Todd, was an Irish physician and an international Irish rugby player who gained three caps for...
as Lieutenant Commander John Kerans, RN - William HartnellWilliam HartnellWilliam Henry Hartnell was an English actor. During 1963-66, he was the first actor to play the Doctor in the long-running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Early life:...
as Leading Seaman Frank - Akim TamiroffAkim TamiroffAkim Mikhailovich Tamiroff was an Armenian actor. He won the first Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.Tamiroff was born in Tiflis, Russian Empire , of Armenian ethnicity. He trained at the Moscow Art Theatre drama school. He arrived in the U.S. in 1923 on a tour with a troupe of actors...
as Colonel Peng - Donald HoustonDonald HoustonDonald Daniel Houston was a Welsh actor whose first two films – The Blue Lagoon with Jean Simmons, and A Run for Your Money with Sir Alec Guinness – were highly successful...
as Lieutenant Weston, RN - Keye LukeKeye LukeKeye Luke was a Chinese-born American actor. He was the first Chinese-American contract player signed with RKO, Universal and, later, MGM and is generally acknowledged as the leading Asian-American actor of this era of American cinema.-Background:...
as Captain Kuo Tai - Sophie StewartSophie StewartSophie Stewart was a British actress. She was born in Crieff, Perthshire on 5 March 1908. Died 1977. In 1937 she starred in Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel as Lady Blakeney.She was married to the actor Ellis Irving.-Selected filmography:...
as Miss Charlotte Dunlap - Robert UrquhartRobert Urquhart (actor)Robert Urquhart was a Scottish character actor who mainly worked in British television during his career.He was born in Ullapool, Scotland on 16 October 1921, educated at George Heriot's School in Edinburgh and made his stage debut in 1947...
as Flight Lieutenant Fearnley - James Kenney as Lieutenant Hett, RN
- Richard LeechRichard LeechRichard Leech , born Richard Leeper McClelland, was an accomplished actor.Richard Leeper McClelland was born in Dublin, Ireland, son of Isabella Frances and Herbert Saunderson McClelland, a lawyer. He was educated at Haileybury and Trinity College, Dublin...
as Lieutenant Strain, RN - Barry FosterBarry Foster (actor)Barry Foster was a British actor who appeared in numerous film roles and is known for his leading role as a Dutch detective in the ITV drama series, Van der Valk, which spanned five series over 20 years from 1972....
as Petty Officer McCarthy, RN - Thomas HeathcoteThomas HeathcoteThomas Heathcote was a British character actor.He was educated at Bradfield College, near Reading in Berkshire, England. His films included A Night to Remember , Village of the Damned , Billy Budd , A Man for All Seasons , Night of the Big Heat and Quatermass and the Pit...
as Mr. Monaghan, RN - Sam KyddSam KyddSam Kydd was an Ulster-born English actor. An army officer's son, he was born in Belfast, but moved to London, England when he was a child. He was educated at Dunstable Grammar School in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England....
as Able Seaman Walker, RN - Ewen SolonEwen SolonEwen Solon was a New Zealand-born actor, who worked extensively in both the United Kingdom and Australia....
as ERA Williams, RN - Kenneth CopeKenneth CopeKenneth Cope is an English actor. He is most famous for his roles as Marty Hopkirk in Randall and Hopkirk , Jed Stone in Coronation Street and Ray Hilton in Brookside.- Career :...
as Mr. McNamara - Alfred BurkeAlfred BurkeAlfred Burke was a British actor, best known for his portrayal of Frank Marker in the drama series Public Eye, which ran on television for ten years.-Early life:...
as Petty Officer - Richard ColemanRichard ColemanRichard Coleman was a British television and stage actor.-Early life:He was born Ronald Coleman in Peckham, London in 1930. Coleman was awarded the Leverhulme Scholarship to RADA in 1951, and graduated in 1953 with the Principal’s Medal...
as Lieutenant Commander Skinner, RN - Ian BannenIan BannenIan Bannen was a Scottish character actor and occasional leading man.-Early life and career:Bannen was born in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, the son of Clare and John James Bannen, a lawyer. Bannen served in the British Army after attending St Aloysius' College, Glasgow and Ratcliffe College,...
as Able Seaman Bannister, RN - Gene Anderson as Ruth Worth
- Bernard CribbinsBernard CribbinsBernard Cribbins, OBE is an English character actor, voice-over artist and musical comedian with a career spanning over half a century who came to prominence in films in the 1960s, has been in work consistently since his professional debut in the mid 1950s, and as of 2010 is still an active...
as Able Seaman James Bryson,RN (his feature film debut)
Production
was brought out of store to participate in the film as herself. As the Amethyst's main engines were no longer operational, her sister Black Swan class sloopBlack Swan class sloop
The Black Swan class and Modified Black Swan class were two classes of sloop of the Royal Navy and Royal Indian Navy. Thirteen Black Swans were launched between 1939 and 1943, including four for the Royal Indian Navy; twenty-four Modified Black Swans were launched between 1942 and 1945, including...
HMS Magpie
HMS Magpie (U82)
HMS Magpie was a Royal Navy Modified Black Swan class sloop launched in 1943 and broken up in 1959. She was the seventh Royal Navy ship to bear the name...
stood in for shots of the ship moving and firing her guns.
- John Kerans, by then promoted to commander, served as technical advisor during the production.
- The Destroyer stood in for both HMS ConsortC class destroyer (1943)The C class was a class of 32 destroyers of the Royal Navy that were launched from 1943 to 1945. The class was built in four flotillas of 8 vessels, the Ca, Ch, Co and Cr classes, ordered as the 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th Emergency Flotillas respectively...
and HMS ConcordHMS Concord (R63)HMS Concord was a C-class destroyer of the Royal Navy.She was initially ordered as HMS Corso during the Second World War, and was built by John I. Thornycroft & Company, Southampton. She was launched on 14 May 1945, renamed HMS Concord in June 1946 and commissioned on 20 December 1946...
. As Consort, down from Nanking, she wore the correct pennant number D76; as Concord, up from Shanghai, her pennant number was covered by Union flags. Teazer is depicted firing her guns broadside and turning at speed in the narrow confines of the Stour estuary as "Consort" attempts to get a towing line to Amethyst under heavy gunfire. - The rivers OrwellRiver OrwellThe River Orwell flows through the county of Suffolk in England. Its source river, above the tidal limit at Stoke Bridge, is known as the River Gipping. It broadens into an estuary at Ipswich where the Ipswich dock has operated since the 7th century and then flows into the North Sea at Felixstowe...
and StourRiver Stour, SuffolkThe River Stour is a river in East Anglia, England. It is 76 km long and forms most of the county boundary between Suffolk to the north, and Essex to the south. It rises in eastern Cambridgeshire, passes to the east of Haverhill, through Cavendish, Sudbury and the Dedham Vale, and joins the...
- which run between IpswichIpswichIpswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...
and ManningtreeManningtreeManningtree is a town and civil parish in the Tendring district of Essex, England, which lies on the River Stour. It adjoins built-up areas of Lawford to the west and Mistley to the east and the three parishes together are sometimes referred to as "Manningtree".Manningtree is a claimant for the...
, in SuffolkSuffolkSuffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, England - doubled as the Yangtze RiverYangtze RiverThe Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the...
during the making of this film. The Chinese PLAPeople's Liberation ArmyThe People's Liberation Army is the unified military organization of all land, sea, strategic missile and air forces of the People's Republic of China. The PLA was established on August 1, 1927 — celebrated annually as "PLA Day" — as the military arm of the Communist Party of China...
gun batteries - depicted by old Royal Navy field gunsOrdnance QF 12 pounder 8 cwtThe Ordnance QF 12 pounder 8 cwt was a Royal Navy "landing gun" intended for navy use ashore. "8 cwt" refers to the weight of the gun and breech, approximately 8 cwt = 8 x = 896 lb. This was how the British often differentiated between guns of the same calibre or weight of shell...
on land carriages - were deployed on the sloping banks of the Boys' Training Establishment HMS GangesHMS Ganges (shore establishment)HMS Ganges was a training ship and later stone frigate of the Royal Navy. She was established as a boys' training establishment in 1865, and was based aboard a number of hulks before moving ashore. She was based alternately in Falmouth, Harwich and Shotley...
which was sited at Shotley GateShotley, SuffolkShotley is the parish giving its name to the peninsula between the River Orwell and the River Stour in Suffolk. The village of the same name is located about a mile northwest from the tip of the peninsula where the larger Shotley Gate village is...
, facing FelixstoweFelixstoweFelixstowe is a seaside town on the North Sea coast of Suffolk, England. The town gives its name to the nearby Port of Felixstowe, which is the largest container port in the United Kingdom and is owned by Hutchinson Ports UK...
on the Orwell, and HarwichHarwichHarwich is a town in Essex, England and one of the Haven ports, located on the coast with the North Sea to the east. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the northeast, Ipswich to the northwest, Colchester to the southwest and Clacton-on-Sea to the south...
on the Stour, where the rivers convergeConfluenceConfluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water.Confluence may also refer to:* Confluence , a property of term rewriting systems...
.