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58-422: Havelock-Allan served as associated producer on the war film In Which We Serve (1942), which starred Noël Coward , who co-directed the picture with David Lean. The director of photography on the film was Neame. Havelock-Allan, Lean, and Neame founded their own company, Cineguild, in 1944. Its first production was an adaptation of Coward's 1939 patriotic play This Happy Breed (1944) film adaptation released in

116-564: A battleship . Its massive main guns fire at the enemy. Shortly after his play Blithe Spirit opened in the West End in July 1941, Noël Coward was approached by Anthony Havelock-Allan , who was working with the production company Two Cities Films . Its founder, Filippo Del Giudice , was interested in making a propaganda film and wanted someone well-known to write the screenplay. Coward agreed to work on

174-547: A 1902 French adventure short film directed by pioneer of special effects Georges Méliès . The work of makeup artist Jack Pierce furthered pioneered early Hollywood prosthetic work and is best remembered for creating the iconic makeup worn by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein , his makeup for Lon Chaney Jr. in The Wolfman . Modern prosthetic makeup was revolutionized by Christopher Tucker whose work on The Elephant Man

232-550: A combination of practical effects and CGI. They see CGI as a tool that can be utilized in a positive or negative way, just like practical effects. Tom Savini (an SFX artist known for his work in Dawn of the Dead and Creepshow ) states: "They still use the make-up guys to design the creatures and that’s what they work from. I don’t think you’ll see make-up effects guys hanging out on corners with signs that say: WILL DO EFFECTS FOR FOOD. " In

290-687: A final "three cheers" for the Torrin . A British destroyer soon begins rescuing the men. Captain Kinross talks to the survivors and collects addresses from the dying. Telegrams are sent to the crew's loved ones. Kinross addresses the ship's survivors in a military depot in Alexandria in Egypt. He tells them that although they lost their ship and many friends, who now "lie together in fifteen hundred fathoms", he notes that these losses should inspire them to fight even harder in

348-469: A night-time action during the Battle of Crete , but at dawn, the destroyer comes under attack from German bombers. A critical hit forces the crew to abandon the ship as it rapidly capsizes. Some of the officers and ratings manage to find a life raft while being intermittently strafed by German planes. The story of the ship is told in flashbacks, using their memories. The first person to reveal his thoughts

406-673: A result of objections by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith and the New York Board of Rabbis , the film was not released in the United States until 1951, with seven minutes of profile shots and other parts of Guinness's performance cut. It received great acclaim from critics, but, unlike Lean's Great Expectations , another Dickens adaptation, no Oscar nominations. The film was banned in Israel for anti-semitism. Ironically, it

464-517: Is Captain Kinross, who recalls the summer of 1939 when the Torrin is being rushed into commission as the possibility of war becomes a near certainty. The Torrin spends a quiet Christmas in the north of Scotland during the Phoney War , but in 1940 it fights its first engagement during the Battle of Narvik . During that action, the ship is struck by a torpedo . The damaged Torrin is towed back to port, all

522-636: Is a process in which makeup is used to simulate different wounds and trauma in order to prepare medical, emergency, and military personnel for what they could experience in the field and lessen psychological trauma. Craniofacial prosthetics are used in medical fields for cosmetic purposes to disguise deformations of the face, either those caused by trauma or birth defects as an alternative to reconstructive surgery . They can be used for smaller applications such as ears or noses, or full face masks. These prosthetics can provide both medical benefits such as improved speech and hearing as well as psychological benefits to

580-405: Is that all the details are too prolonged. The author-producer-scriptwriter-composer and co-director gives a fine performance as the captain of the vessel, but acting honors also go to the entire company. Stark realism is the keynote of the writing and depiction, with no glossing of the sacrifices constantly being made by the sailors." Despite largely positive reviews by audiences and critics alike,

638-409: Is the process of using prosthetic sculpting, molding and casting techniques to create advanced cosmetic effects . Prosthetics are used on stage and screen to create fantasy creatures, simulated injuries, or likenesses of other people. Prosthetic makeup draws a straight lineage from the stagecraft of theater and can be observed at the birth of science fiction cinema with Le Voyage dans La Lune ,

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696-451: Is typically made of plaster bandage which is created over the outside of the initial flexible mold to provide support. This mold is used to cast a copy of that part of the actor, in a hard resin or plaster type material to eventually use as a base for sculpting the prosthetic. This is considered a "positive" or life-cast. Before sculpting the clay prosthetic over the positive, The positive must be prepared by adding "keys" or mold points along

754-671: The Dunkirk evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (portrayed in the film by the 5th Battalion of the Coldstream Guards ). Blake gets a letter to say that Freda has given birth to his son during the Plymouth Blitz , but that Hardy's wife and mother-in-law were killed. He has to tell Hardy, who is writing a letter home, the bitter news. The survivors on the life raft watch the Torrin finally sink. Captain Kinross leads

812-519: The naval base in Plymouth , where Michael Redgrave , with whom he was in a relationship at the time, was stationed. He also visited Portsmouth and the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow , where he sailed on HMS  Nigeria . Coward spent the final months of 1941 drafting a screenplay. However, when he submitted it to Havelock-Allan, the producer told him the film would run between eight and nine hours if it

870-582: The 2000s, CGI and practical effects began being used in tandem, with CGI often used to enhance prosthetic makeup in a way that would have been impossible to do practically such as erasing body parts or creating hollow points in the face. For Hugo Weaving 's role as Red Skull in Captain America: The First Avenger , Weaving wore a full head silicone prosthetic makeup, which was covered in CGI tracking markers for his nose to be erased by VFX. Moulage

928-527: The Technicolor Motion Picture Corp. since 1937, in which he was involved in the shooting of the earliest colour films made in Britain. After producing Blanche Fury and Oliver Twist , both of which were released in 1948, Havelock-Allan left Cineguild for Constellation Films, which he founded in 1947. Ronald Neame took over the director's chair on the film Take My Life (1947). Oliver Twist

986-400: The actor has been chosen, the effects artist will prepare the actor for the process of taking a mold of the actor's face, head or body part. This process is called lifecasting . Lifecast molds are made from prosthetic alginate or more recently, from skin-safe platinum silicone rubber. This initial mold can be relatively weak but flexible. A hard mother mold, also known as a jacket or matrix,

1044-438: The actors and creating his own portrayal of Kinross. However, he soon became bored with the mechanics of filmmaking and after six weeks he came to the studio only when scenes in which he appeared were being filmed. At one point, he invited the royal family to the set and newsreel footage of their visit proved to be good publicity for the film. During the filming, the character of Albert Fosdike, "Shorty" Blake's brother-in-law,

1102-471: The actors more expression and movement. In 1965, William Tuttle won an Academy Honorary Award for his makeup work on 7 Faces of Dr. Lao at the 37th Academy Awards , making him the first artist to win an award for makeup before the Best Makeup category was introduced in 1981. The process of creating a makeup prosthetic appliance typically begins with concept art, created by the artist or production. Once

1160-433: The advisability of omitting from the portrayal of Fagin any elements or inference that would be offensive to any specific racial group or religion." Lean commissioned the make-up artist Stuart Freeborn to create Fagin's features; Freeborn (himself part-Jewish) had suggested to David Lean that Fagin's exaggerated profile should be toned down for fear of causing offence, but Lean rejected this idea. Lean pointed out that Fagin

1218-415: The battles to come. Captain Kinross then shakes hands with all the ratings as they leave the depot. When the last man goes, the emotionally tired captain silently acknowledges his surviving officers before walking away. An epilogue concludes: Bigger and stronger ships are being launched to avenge the Torrin ; Britain is an island nation with a proud, indefatigable people; Captain Kinross is now in command of

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1276-412: The capsized Torrin take on water and slowly sink. The raft is again strafed by German planes and some men are killed or wounded. Shorty Blake recalls in flashback how he met his wife-to-be, Freda, on a train while on leave. She is related to the Torrin ' s affable Chief Petty Officer Hardy. When both men return to sea, Freda moves in with Hardy's wife and mother-in-law. The Torrin participates in

1334-472: The debut of newer technologies, many have feared that CGI (Computer-Generated Imagery) will put practical SFX makeup out of business. CGI can be used to accomplish effects that simply aren't possible when working in practical effects. Tom Woodruff Jr. and Alec Gillis , two experienced SFX artists from Amalgamated Dynamics near L.A., share what they see as the middle ground on the subject. In an interview, they explain that most movies use (out of necessity)

1392-427: The direction of the actors but would be at a loss with the action scenes, so he asked David Lean to supervise the filming of those. In Which We Serve proved to be the first of several films on which the two would collaborate. Shooting began at Denham Studios on 5 February 1942. From the start, Coward was happy to let production crew members take charge in their areas of expertise while he concentrated on directing

1450-513: The director of photography on Great Expectations , won the Oscar for cinematography in black and white. Green would shoot all the remaining Cineguild productions, including Oliver Twist , though future Oscar-winner Geoffrey Unsworth was tasked with filming the exteriors on Blanche Fury (1948), which was directed by Marc Allégret . Blanche Fury was shot in Technicolor , and Unsworth had been with

1508-440: The edges of it, which are often added using clay or more plaster or carved into the life-cast, to make sure that the two pieces of the mold will fit together correctly. Often the life-cast will be given an additional border in clay or plaster in order to have an area free of detail and undercuts to add these keys. The entire life-cast with borders and keys included is then molded. This ensures a stable area with built in keys to sculpt

1566-779: The film was not well received by some within the Admiralty who dubbed it " In Which We Sink ". On Christmas Eve 1942 in New York the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures honoured the film as the Best English Language Film of the Year , citing Bernard Miles and John Mills for their performances. The film was nominated in the 1943 Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay (losing out to Casablanca and Princess O'Rourke respectively). However, Coward

1624-508: The film was the most popular. ) The film was one of the most successful British films ever released in the US, earning $ 1.8 million in rentals ($ 24.6 million in 2023 dollars ). Bosley Crowther of The New York Times observed, "There have been other pictures which have vividly and movingly conveyed in terms of human emotion the cruel realities of this present war. None has yet done it so sharply and so truly as In Which We Serve ... For

1682-530: The first of his seven Best Director Oscar nominations. Along with Havelock-Allan and Neame, Lean also was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay . One of the enduring classics of world cinema, in 1999, Brief Encounter came in second in a British Film Institute poll of the top 100 British films . Havelock-Allan, Lean and Neame moved away from Coward and next filmed two classic by Charles Dickens , creating two classics of British cinema in

1740-481: The full backing of the Ministry of Information, which offered advice on what would make good propaganda and facilitated the release of military personnel. The film is a classic example of wartime British cinema through its patriotic imagery of national unity and social cohesion within the context of the war. The film opens with the narration: "This is the story of a ship". In 1941 HMS Torrin engages German transports in

1798-481: The great thing which Mr. Coward has accomplished in this film is a full and complete expression of national fortitude ... Yes, this is truly a picture in which the British may take a wholesome pride and we may regard as an excellent expression of British strength." Variety called the film "a grim tale sincerely picturized and splendidly acted throughout" and added, "Only one important factor calls for criticism. It

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1856-448: The life-cast of that body part to become the design intended. For example, if the desired look is a pig nosed person, then the artist would sculpt the pig nose over the actor's real nose on the life-cast or positive copy. The edges of the clay should be made as thin as possible, for the clay is a stand-in for what will eventually be the prosthetic piece. Once sculpted, the new addition of the clay sculpted prosthetic part must be molded. Since

1914-544: The naval station on the Isle of Portland . For example, the departure of Blake and Hardy was filmed in front of Devonport's original main entrance, the Keyham Dock Gate. Smeaton's Tower on the seafront at Plymouth Hoe was used for the shore-leave scenes between Shorty Blake (Mills) and his wife Freda ( Kay Walsh ). The film was the second most popular movie at the British box office in 1943. (According to Kinematograph Weekly

1972-428: The new prosthetic, material is cast into the mold cavity (where the clay used to be). The prosthetic material can be foam latex , gelatin , silicone or other similar materials. The prosthetic is cured within the two-part mold, and then carefully removed and prepared for painting and or application to the actor. As the film/television industry continues to grow, so do the capabilities of the technologies behind it. Since

2030-706: The original release-print credits but were subsequently added. Interiors were filmed at Denham Studios , in Denham , Buckinghamshire . The destroyer HMAS  Nepal played HMS Torrin . The Kinross family picnic scene, set during the Battle of Britain in 1940, was filmed on location on the Dunstable Downs in Bedfordshire . Although the filmmakers took great care to conceal locations because of wartime censorship, scenes were shot at Plymouth 's naval dockyard in Devon and

2088-483: The positive has been prepared with the additional border and keys, it actually becomes part of the prosthetic mold itself. Once molded, and clay removed, new mold cleaned out, the positive is one part of the mold and the new mold is the other side which has the negative of the newly sculpted prosthetic. This gives two or more pieces of a mold - a positive of the face or body part, and one (or more for complex molds) "negative" mold pieces with prosthetic sculpted in. To make

2146-527: The process, Great Expectations (1946) and Oliver Twist (1948). With Great Expectations , the trio repeated their earlier triumph with Brief Encounter and were nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. Lean also scored his second Best Director Oscar nomination, and the movie won a Best Picture nomination . John Bryan and Wilfred Shingleton were nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration in black-and-white. Guy Green ,

2204-515: The project as long as the subject was the Royal Navy , and he was given complete control. As the sinking of HMS  Kelly on 23 May 1941 was still on Coward's mind, he decided to use the ship's demise as the basis for his script. Mountbatten, aware that there was some public antipathy to his political ambitions, agreed to support the project as long as it was not a conspicuous biography of his own experiences. In order to do research, Coward visited

2262-457: The project was to succeed. He had seen and admired Ronald Neame 's work and he hired him as cinematographer and chief lighting technician . The Italian film director Filippo Del Giudice was released from his internment as an enemy alien to work on the film at Coward's insistence. MI5 supplied Ann Elwell as his secretary. She was translating for him as he took on the role of art director and she also did some scriptwriting. Coward could handle

2320-479: The prosthetic over. This also provides the artist an easily duplicated copy, if needed. Multiple copies are typically used to make variations or stages of prosthetics or different prosthetics for the same actor. Life-casts of full bodies and body parts are also used and reused as the basis for making fake body parts, severed limbs, and various "gore" type effects used in horror films or films where body parts are required. The prosthetic required will be sculpted over

2378-449: The role of a tough navy man. Havelock-Allan supported him, although he later called his performance "always interesting, if not quite convincing." Coward also needed to convince the censors that the sinking of the ship was a crucial scene and not the threat to public morale they perceived it to be. Coward had experience directing plays, but he was a novice when it came to films, and he knew he needed to surround himself with professionals if

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2436-490: The same year. The film was produced by Coward, directed by Lean, and shot by Neame. All three partners—Havelock-Allan, Lean and Neame—collaborated on the script. The exact same combination of talents created the adaptation of Coward's comedy Blithe Spirit (1945), with Havelock-Allan and Neame sharing producing duties with Coward. The quartet then produced Brief Encounter (also 1945), with Havelock-Allan and Neame sharing producing duties with Coward, with Coward helping write

2494-451: The script, an adaption of his 1936 one-act play Still Life . Neame did not serve as director of photography on the film, or subsequent Cineguild productions. Instead, Robert Krasker was the lighting cameraman. Brief Encounter won the Palme d'Or at the 1946 Cannes Film Festival . Lead Celia Johnson was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress at the 1947 awards, and Lean picked up

2552-504: The speech at the end of the film, when Capt. Kinross addresses the survivors from the Torrin in Alexandria, Coward used the real speech that Mountbatten gave to the surviving crew of HMS Kelly after they were rescued and taken to Egypt. Coward was determined to portray Captain Kinross in the film despite the studio's concern that his public "dressing gown and cigarette-holder" persona might make it difficult for audiences to accept him in

2610-412: The start of each day. The Frankenstein makeup by Jack Pierce consisted of spirit gum, cotton, collodion , and wax, taking around 3 hours to apply in the morning, and another 1-2 hours to remove at the end of the day. Rubber began to be used to make appliances in the late 30s, with Pierce making rubber head forms and broken neck appliances for Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi respectively. A rubber snout

2668-414: The time being harried by dive bombers. Safely back in harbour, Captain Kinross tells the assembled ship's company that during the battle nearly all the crew performed as he would expect, but one man did not. However, he surprises everyone when he says that he let him off with caution as he feels that, as captain, he failed to make him understand his duty. Returning to the present, the float survivors watch

2726-460: Was banned in Egypt for portraying Fagin too sympathetically. Cineguild went on to produce two lesser known pictures before disbanding: The Passionate Friends (1949), a romantic drama produced by Ronald Neame and directed by David Lean (Lean also co-wrote the script); and Madeleine (1950), a film based on a true story of a wealthy woman in mid-19th Century Scotland who murders her lover, which also

2784-508: Was considered so ground breaking that when it failed to win any recognition at the 53rd Academy Awards letters of protests argued for it to receive an honorary award – this was ignored but did lead to the creation of the Academy Award for Best Makeup the following year. Before sculpted prosthetic appliances became standard, special effects makeup artists would have to build up forms on the actor's face before shooting began, which often took several hours and would have to be done from scratch at

2842-525: Was directed by Lean. Both films starred Ann Todd , whom Lean married in 1949, between the production of the two films. In Which We Serve In Which We Serve is a 1942 British patriotic war film directed by Noël Coward and David Lean , who made his debut as a director. It was made during the Second World War with the assistance of the Ministry of Information . The screenplay by Coward

2900-408: Was his first film project, but because he felt it was his contribution to the war effort and he wanted it to be perceived as such by the public. The première was a gala event held as a benefit for several naval charities and Coward was pleased to see a large presence of military personnel. Richard Attenborough appeared as a sailor deserting his post under fire. His name and character were omitted from

2958-640: Was hurt financially when it was subjected to boycotts in Germany and the United States for perceived anti-semitism. The make-up of Alec Guinness , who portrayed Fagin , was based on George Cruikshank 's original illustrations for the Dickens novel, and it was considered anti-semitic by some as it was felt to perpetrate Jewish racial stereotypes . Guinness wore heavy make-up , including a large prosthetic nose, to evoke Cruikshank's illustrations. The US Production Code Administration had advised David Lean to "bear in mind

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3016-467: Was inspired by the exploits of Captain Lord Louis Mountbatten , who was in command of the destroyer HMS  Kelly when it was sunk during the Battle of Crete . Coward composed the music as well as starring in the film as the ship's captain. The film also starred John Mills , Bernard Miles , Celia Johnson and Richard Attenborough in his first screen role. In Which We Serve received

3074-500: Was made as written because it included lengthy scenes in Paris , China , and the West Indies . Havelock-Allan told Coward he needed to trim the plot down to the basics by eliminating everything that was not related to the Torrin or its crew. Heeding the advice, Coward started his story with the laying of the ship's keel in 1939 and concluded it soon after it sank off the coast of Crete. For

3132-610: Was made for Lon Chaney Jr. to wear in The Wolfman, though application of the hair for the titular character could take up to 16 hours. Foam latex was first used by makeup artist Jack Dawn for The Wizard of Oz in 1939 to create the makeup for the Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow. It wasn't until John Chambers 's work on Planet of the Apes in 1968 that prosthetics transitioned from full face appliances to smaller, overlapping pieces which afforded

3190-511: Was not explicitly identified as Jewish in the screenplay. The March 1949 release of the film in Germany was met with protests outside the Kurbel Cinema by Jewish objectors. The Mayor of Berlin , Ernst Reuter , was a signatory to their petition which called for the withdrawal of the film. The depiction of Fagin was considered especially problematic in the recent aftermath of The Holocaust . As

3248-557: Was presented with an Academy Honorary Award for "his outstanding production achievement." In Which We Serve also won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film (beating Casablanca ) and the Argentine Film Critics Association Award for Best Foreign Film in 1943. A Region 2 DVD with a running time of 96 minutes was released by Carlton on 11 October 1999. A Region 1 DVD

3306-404: Was recast after actor William Hartnell turned up late for his first day of shooting. Coward berated Hartnell in front of cast and crew for his unprofessionalism. He then made him personally apologise to everyone before sacking him. Michael Anderson , the film's first-assistant director , took over the part (credited as "Mickey Anderson"). Coward was anxious that it succeed, not only because it

3364-677: Was released as part of the David Lean Collection by MGM on 7 September 2004. It features subtitles in English, Spanish, and French and an English audio track in Dolby Digital 1.0. In March 2012 The Criterion Collection released In Which We Serve on Blu-ray and DVD as part of the 'David Lean Directs Noël Coward' box set, which includes a short documentary on the making of In Which We Serve . Prosthetic makeup Prosthetic makeup also known as special makeup effects or FX prosthesis,

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