Gift Horse (1952) on Netflix
Short of men, the Royal Navy brings Hugh Alginon Fraser back and gives him the antiquated destroyer Ballantrae. Her crew resent the discipline he demands of them.
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Trailer
Plot summary
Court-martialled eight years before the war, Hugh Alginon Fraser is recalled to the Royal Navy and put in command of the Ballantrae, an antiquated four-funnel destroyer built in the First World War and transferred to Britain by the United States under the destroyers-for-bases deal. His officers and crew resent the discipline he imposes on them, and while the ship is in Britain a harbor bar brawl breaks out over Fraser's reputation, leaving Yank Flanagan on a charge. On the Ballantrae's first mission, convoy escort duty, a burst steam pipe leaves her unable to attack a U-boat, though the ship shoots down an aircraft. Another command is offered to Fraser; he keeps the Ballantrae.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Gift Horse (1952)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Robert Stack was meant to star in Gift Horse, but when he arrived in Britain he was refused a work permit and the part went to James Donald instead.
- For the closing scenes the real ship hired for the film had her four funnels reduced to two and cut down at an angle so she would pass for a German torpedo boat, just as her sister-ship Campbeltown's had been.
- When Jay Lewis refused to let director Compton Bennett film unhindered, backers James Lawrie and John Woolf set up a new company, Molton Films, to take the production over from Jay Lewis Productions.
