Director: Lewis Gilbert
Screenplay: Nigel Kneale, Edmund H. North
Based on the novel by: Frank Tilsley
Producers: John Brabourne
Starring: Alec Guinness, Dirk Bogarde, Anthony Quayle
Year: 1962
Country: UK
BBFC Certification: PG
Duration: 101 mins
Ever since I fell in love with Michael Curtiz’s The Adventures of Robin Hood, I have adored Adventure films. But starting with such a high watermark for the genre had its price. Though I would ultimately find many terrific Adventure films in its wake, the inevitable comparison to that slice of Old Hollywood magic meant that my response to lesser works would often be a fidgety inability to lose myself in the viewing experience. I would be longing for the Technicolor Sherwood too hard to appreciate whatever buckle was being adequately swashed right in front of me. Eventually, as I discovered more and more gems of the genre, I was able to begin appreciating each ripping yarn on its own terms, but I was still left with an enduring sense that there is nothing more depressing than an Adventure film that is failing to rouse the little boy in me. Enter H.M.S. Defiant.
H.M.S. Defiant is far from the worst Adventure film I’ve ever seen. I much prefer the American title Damn the Defiant!, although the film itself is too stuffy and sluggish to really earn either that casual swear or its exclamation mark. The title H.M.S. Defiant is far more in keeping with the deliberate pacing and tighter focus on the psychological battle between Alec Guinness’s fair-minded captain and Dirk Bogarde’s sadistic first lieutenant. This is where H.M.S. Defiant finds its narrative strength, as tempestuous wrangling between officers is often very entertaining to watch. Bogarde is effectively detestable and Guinness is stiffly admirable but neither man is working to the full extent of their powers here. Guinness has a natural charisma which makes him magnetic even in lesser performances but the thin psychological basis of H.M.S. Defiant is too easily comparable with the much more astute brain games of The Bridge on the River Kwai from a few years earlier, a comparison which instantly exposes the difference between Guinness on autopilot and Guinness on fire.
In truth, H.M.S. Defiant wrong footed me before anything had really happened, as the film’s sets and effects are so laughably fake that I was taken out of the experience before I even had a chance to find a way in. The image of Guinness and Bogarde superimposed over scenery that is being artificially bobbed up and down to (barely) create the illusion of waves meant I started the film with a mirthless laugh rather than the air of excitement that had been my hoped-for viewing partner before I pressed play. We’re then immediately taken to a small town where carousers try to avoid press gangs. Although the scenes of desperate men fleeing through the streets have a hint of propulsive energy, they are undermined by the fact that the set looks like it might blow away if they reach too high a speed. The town really does look like the backdrop of a school play and this comparison is hard to shake off once H.M.S. Defiant sets sail. The ship sets are better but the artificiality has been exposed at such an early stage that I found it hard to imagine I was watching a ship on the ocean rather than actors on a stage. The style of acting adopted here exacerbates that effect. I’m not averse to the notion of a filmed play necessarily but H.M.S. Defiant is a film crying out for the salt air in its lungs rather than the smell of greasepaint in its nostrils.
I’ve been quite harsh on H.M.S. Defiant but once I accepted what I was getting, it was not too bad an example of this particular type of film. Guinness, Bogarde and Quayle are all enjoyable in their subdued take on theatricality, while there are many stronger supporting performances that add some much needed colour, such as Maurice Denham’s ship’s surgeon and Murray Melvin (so wonderful that same year in A Taste of Honey) as a fraudulent gentleman. A centrepiece battle between two ships is well staged and sees the film come to belated life for a period. Ultimately, however, the film somewhat saunters to an end with a strangled route towards closure that involves one too many rousing appeals to patriotism. Though it was popular at the time of its release, it’s clear why H.M.S. Defiant has not risen to the level of a classic over the years. Director Lewis Gilbert would go on to greater success with Alfie, Educating Rita and a handful of Bond films but H.M.S. Defiant is more a forgettable curio. It’s lot is more among the adequate time-passers by which you might find yourself momentarily diverted on a bank holiday weekend.
H.M.S. Defiant was released by Indicator on limited edition Blu-ray on 21 July 2025. Special features are as follows:
High Definition remaster
Two presentations of the film: H.M.S. Defiant, with the original UK title sequence; and Damn the Defiant!, with the alternative US titles
Original stereo audio
The Guardian Interview with Lewis Gilbert (1995): archival video recording of the prolific director in conversation with Tony Sloman at the National Film Theatre, London
The BEHP Interview with Lewis Gilbert (1996): archival audio recording, made as part of the British Entertainment History Project, featuring the director in conversation with Roy Fowler
Cast Adrift (2022): actors Brian Phelan, Peter Gill, and Roger Mutton recall their work on the film
Defiant Crew (2022): interviews with a selection of original members of the production team
Original theatrical trailer
Image gallery: publicity and promotional material
New English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Limited edition exclusive booklet with new essay by Sheldon Hall, archival interviews with Dirk Bogarde and Murray Melvin, extracts from the film’s pressbook, and film credits
UK premiere on Blu-ray
Limited edition of 3,000 copies for the UK