Yangtse Incident (film)

Yangtse Incident: The Story of HMS Amethyst
Directed by	Michael Anderson
Produced by	Herbert Wilcox
Written by	Eric Ambler
Starring	Richard Todd William Hartnell Akim Tamiroff
Distributed by	British Lion Films Wilcox-Neagle
Release date(s)	1 April 1957 (premiere)
Running time	113 min
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Yangtse Incident: The Story of HMS Amethyst is a 1957 British war film that tells the story of the British frigate HMS Amethyst caught up in the Chinese Civil War.

It was based upon the book written by Lawrence Earl. The film was known in the US by the alternative titles Battle Hell, Escape of the Amethyst, Their Greatest Glory and Yangtze Incident. Non-English language titles include the direct German translation of Yangtse-Zwischenfall, and Commando sur le Yang-Tse in France. In Belgium it was known as Feu sur le Yangtse (French) and Vuur op de Yangtse (Flemish/Dutch), both meaning "Fire on the Yangtse".

The film was entered into the 1957 Cannes Film Festival.

Plot

On 19 April 1949, the Royal Navy frigate HMS Amethyst sails up the Yangtze River on her way to Nanking, the Chinese capital, to deliver supplies to the British Embassy. Suddenly, without warning, People's Liberation Army (PLA) shore batteries open fire and after a heavy engagement, Amethyst lies grounded in the mud and badly damaged. Fifty-four of her crew are dead, dying or seriously wounded while others deteriorate from the tropical heat and the lack of essential medicines. The local Communist official Colonel Peng (played by Akim Tamiroff) is adamant: either accept responsibility for the entire incident, or the Amethyst will remain his prisoner.

After an attempt by HMS Consort to tow Amethyst off the mud bank fails, Lieutenant Commander John Kerans (played by Richard Todd) decides to risk steaming down the Yangtze at night without a pilot or suitable charts. After some subtle alterations to the ship's outline to try to disguise her, Amethyst slips her cable and headed downriver in the dark following a local merchant ship, which Amethyst uses to show the way through the shoals and distract the PLA.

Having finally broken through the boom at the mouth of the river, she sends a signal to HMS Concord: "Have rejoined the fleet south of Woosung ... No damage... No casualties....God save the King."

Cast

• Richard Todd as Lieutenant Commander John Kerans, RN
• William Hartnell as Leading Seaman Frank
• Akim Tamiroff as Colonel Peng
• Donald Houston as Lieutenant Weston, RN
• Keye Luke as Captain Kuo Tai
• Sophie Stewart as Miss Charlotte Dunlap
• Robert Urquhart as Flight Lieutenant Fearnley
• James Kenney as Lieutenant Hett, RN
• Richard Leech as Lieutenant Strain, RN
• Barry Foster as Petty Officer McCarthy, RN
• Thomas Heathcote as Mr. Monaghan, RN
• Sam Kydd as Able Seaman Walker, RN
• Ewen Solon as ERA Williams, RN
• Kenneth Cope as Mr. McNamara
• Alfred Burke as Petty Officer
• Richard Coleman as Lieutenant Commander Skinner, RN
• Ian Bannen as Able Seaman Bannister, RN
• Gene Anderson as Ruth Worth
• Bernard Cribbins as Able Seaman James Bryson,RN (his feature film debut)

Production

• HMS Amethyst was brought out of store to participate in the film as herself. As the Amethyst's main engines were no longer operational, her sister Black Swan class sloop HMS Magpie stood in for shots of the ship moving and firing her guns.
• John Kerans, by then promoted to commander, served as technical advisor during the production.
• The Destroyer HMS Teazer stood in for both HMS Consort and HMS Concord. As Consort, down from Nanking, she wore the correct pennant number D76; as Concord, up from Shanghai, her pennant number was covered by Union flags. Teazer is depicted firing her guns broadside and turning at speed in the narrow confines of the Stour estuary as "Consort" attempts to get a towing line to Amethyst under heavy gunfire.
• The rivers Orwell and Stour - which run between Ipswich and Manningtree, in Suffolk, England - doubled as the Yangtze River during the making of this film. The Chinese PLA gun batteries - depicted by old Royal Navy field guns on land carriages - were deployed on the sloping banks of the Boys' Training Establishment HMS Ganges which was sited at Shotley Gate, facing Felixstowe on the Orwell, and Harwich on the Stour, where the rivers converge.

See also

• Simon (Amethyst's cat)
• Yangtze Incident

External links

• Yangtse Incident at the Internet Movie Database
• Yangtse Incident at the British Film Institute