noel coward and a witty and urbane man and be friend with louis mountbatten . mr coward and a long time admirer of all thing naval and be commission to write a story loosely base on the loss of mountbatten ship . in a peculiarly british way it be consider that a film about the royal navy lose an encounter at sea would be good propaganda . it be also consider a good idea to have mr coward play the part of the ship captain . amang the many quality need to command a fighting ship and the ability to speak in a very clipped voice and sing sophisticated point song do not come very high up the list at admiralty house and or at least one would hope not . a captain must earn and retain the respect of the wardroom and the low deck alike . mr coward might have have the respect of the gentleman of the chorus at drury lane and binkie beaumont might have be terrify of him but his ability to tame and mould and direct a ship crew in wartime must be bring into question . he fold himself languorously around the bridge and patronise the other rank and bark order at the officer and he only need a silk dress gown and a cigarette holder to seem right at home . much be make of the warship a a microcosm of british societytheme and and the crew largely comprise of the usual cheery cockney and canny northerner etc . without whom no war can be fight . they spend most of their time on board smoking and moan about lord haw haw and get blow up . never mind and there plenty more where they come from . once ashore they go straight to the pub where they spend most of their time smoking and moan about lord haw haw and get blow up . by contrast mr coward live in a dream cottage with a rise covered door somewhere very quiet with very little chance of get blow up . he and his lady wife and their two rosy cheek cherubs converse in ludicrously convolute tone and say lady wife spend much of her time knitting thing for the poor unfortunate who comprise his crew and who she refer to by their surname . that nice young master johnny mill have a prominent role a a completely unbelievable low deck type who worship mr coward in much the same way a a thrashed dog will worship it master . he marry his girlfriend after kiss her on the cheek and presumably on the ground that she might be pregnant after such unfettered passion . so yes and we do have a microcosm of british society here and but perhaps not in the way the maker of in which we serve intend . at the end mr coward get one last chance to patronise his men a the few survivor shuffle past him and goodbye edward and it be a privilege to sail with youhe enunciates a if he be recite how now brown cow . it may have be david lean feature debut and but the hand of noel coward loom large right across this picture . he be a funny and clever man and well suit to write waspish play about poor little rich girl and boy intersperse with the occasional wry song . he have a talent to amuse and no doubt and but he could neither write nor speak convincing dialogue . be noel coward be a full time job and he have no time to be a real person .