- THE SEA WOLVES,
The Last Charge of the Calcutta Light Horse
Andrew V. McLaglen (1980)
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1980, 120 MINS, UK
CAST:
(Lorimar)
How a band of pip-pip British civilians rallied
to King and country, tucked in their pot bellies and knocked out a German spy nest that
was playing havoc with wartime Allied shipping in the Indian Ocean.
Touted as 'the last great untold action story
of the war', film was scripted by Reginald
Rose from James Leaser's novel Boarding
Party.
Sea Wolves is unabashed flag-waving, a
salute to the Calcutta Light Horse, a part-time regiment whose membership consisted
mainly of colonial business types way past
draft age but recruited as volunteers for the
destruction of three German freighters interned in coastal waters off the then-neutral
Portuguese colony of Goa.
Gregory Peck's a Britisher in this one, but
the affected accent won't fool anyone. He and
Roger Moore are regular army. The stiff-uppered civvy retreads, headed by David Niven,
include Trevor Howard and Patrick Macnee.
The tucked in pot bellies fool no-one. This company of actors at this stage of their careers may well have knocked out anyone who dared take away their third helping of sunday roast but knock out a German spy nest? Sadly no, unless a reward of a fourth helping of the aforementioned sunday roast was on offer.
"Who ate all the pies? WHO ATE ALL THE PIES?" I hear you sing. This lot, obviously.
Ages at time of making the movie:
Filmed in Delhi and Goa. Niven hated Goa
At first, Niven turned the part down, but Peck insisted that he should be in the picture.
Niven's salary was $ 500,000 (£ 780,000 today) plus $ 1,500-a-week (£2300) expenses.
Shooting in temperature of up to 140 was exhausting and Niven became increasing worried about his motor neurone symptons - he had trouble lifting his heel - though he did not yet know what was causing them.
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