The Baby and the Battleship
{{Short description|1956 British film by Jay Lewis}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name = The Baby and the Battleship
| image = The_Baby_and_the_Battleship.jpg
| caption = British theatrical poster
| director = Jay Lewis
| producer = Antony Darnborough
| screenplay = Jay Lewis
| starring = John Mills
Richard Attenborough
| cinematography = Harry Waxman
| music = Humphrey Searle
| studio = Jay Lewis Productions
British Lion Films
| distributor = British Lion Films
Distributors Corporation of America (US)
| released = {{Film date|1956|07|10|London, England|1957|09|30|New York, USA|df=y}}
| runtime = 96 minutes
| country = England
| language = English
| gross = £258,845 (UK)Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p509
}}
The Baby and the Battleship is a colour 1956 British comedy film directed by Jay Lewis and starring John Mills, Richard Attenborough and André Morell.[https://web.archive.org/web/20090114171029/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/24688 BFI.org] It is based on the 1956 novel by Anthony Thorne with a screenplay by Richard De Roy, Gilbert Hackforth-Jones and Bryan Forbes. The Royal Navy provided much cooperation with sequences filmed aboard HMS Birmingham and in Malta.
Plot
When a group of Royal Navy sailors go ashore on leave in Naples, they go to visit an old friend who is a baker. He is the father of 12 daughters and, to his great pride and relief, an infant son. So that one of them can take the eldest daughter out that night, they are required to take the son with them to an outdoor dance. 'Puncher' has a reputation for fighting and drinking and, despite his best efforts to live up to his pledge to reform his behaviour, he is provoked by two sailors from another ship and starts a fight while his friend 'Knocker' is dancing with the eldest daughter. During the brawl, Puncher Roberts is knocked unconscious while Knocker and the sister run away on the arrival of police, abandoning the baby in the square. Puncher regains consciousness and finds the square empty, except for the baby. Unable to find his friend Knocker, or the child's adult sister, he smuggles the baby aboard their ship, leaving a message in chalk on the wharfside telling Knocker he has taken 'Number 13' on board. He elicits the help of his fellow sailors to care for the baby while hiding it from their superiors, all while in the midst of a series of joint operations with Allied navies off the coast of Italy. Knocker seeks the help of his rather casual shore-based senior officer but to little avail as the ship also maintains radio silence. Knocker makes the most of the unexpected time among the baker's extended family which becomes tense as the return of the baby is delayed. When Puncher's ship is about to have to surrender to superior forces during training exercises, the Captain is able to use the presence of the baby to extricate himself from an embarrassing loss. The ship returns to port and the entire family is re-united on board.{{cite web|title=The Baby and the Battleship(1956)|url=https://movies.yahoo.com/movie/the-baby-and-the-battleship/|publisher=Yahoo Movies|accessdate=31 May 2012}}
Cast
- John Mills as Puncher Roberts
- Richard Attenborough as Knocker White
- André Morell as Marshal
- Bryan Forbes as Professor Evans
- Michael Hordern as Captain Hugh
- Ernest Clark as Commander Geoffrey Digby
- Harry Locke as Chief Petty Officer Blades
- Michael Howard as Joe
- Lionel Jeffries as George
- Clifford Mollison as Sails
- Thorley Walters as Lieutenant Setley
- Duncan Lamont as Master-at-Arms
- Lisa Gastoni as Maria
- Cyril Raymond as PMO
- Harold Siddons as Whiskers
- D. A. Clarke-Smith as The Admiral
- Kenneth Griffith as Sub-Lieutenant
- John Le Mesurier as The Marshal's Aide
- Carlo Giustini as Carlo Vespucci
- Ferdy Mayne as Interpreter
- Vincent Barbi as Second Brother
- Gordon Jackson as Harry
- Vittorio Vittori as Third Brother
- Martyn Garrett as The Baby
- Barry Foster as Sailor at Dance
- Robert Ayres as American Captain
- Sam Kydd as Chief Steward
Reception
= Critical =
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This predictable script strenuously exploits all the humour to be derived from such situations as the officer/ordinary seaman relationship, the Cambridge "intellectual" who reads Freud and Berenson, and language misunderstandings. Consequently, the slender nature of the joke causes the film to peter out after its early stages. Those involved put on a brave front and the baby is quite endearing, but flair and sparkle are, for the most part, absent."{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1956 |title=The Baby and the Battleship |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305817030/91411B037FBC49A7PQ/1 |journal=The Monthly Film Bulletin |volume=23 |issue=264 |pages=102 |via=ProQuest}}
= Box office =
The Baby and the Battleship was one of the ten most popular films at the British box office in 1956.BRITISH. FILMS MADE MOST MONEY: BOX-OFFICE SURVEY
The Manchester Guardian (1901-1959) [Manchester (UK)] 28 Dec 1956: 3{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/Screen_Volume_32_Issue_3/page/n17|magazine=Screen|page=259|volume=32|issue=3|title=The popular cash and culture in the postwar British cinema industry|first=Janet|last=Thumim}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0048974}}
- [https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9D07EFDB1038E73ABC4953DFB667838C649EDE Movie review by The New York Times]
{{Jay Lewis}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baby and the Battleship, The}}
Category:Films directed by Jay Lewis
Category:British seafaring films
Category:Films scored by Humphrey Searle
Category:Films set in the Mediterranean Sea
Category:Films based on British novels
Category:Military comedy films
Category:Films about the Royal Navy