61 thoughts on “Richard Attenborough Movies”

1. 8/When I was moving up the ranks in the Northern Ireland Civil Service my 3 Big Bosses used to celebrate monthly pay day by going out for a meal together at a swanky hotel; and being Randy Scott/Cary Grant type tight wads they would not simply split the bill in 3 equal ways but would argue about who got peas instead of bacon etc and start comparing the individuals prices of what one got against the other’s choices.

   9/On one occasion the debate became so long and heated and was attracting the attention of other customers that the hotel manager finally told the 3 Big Bosses that if they didn’t settle up soon he would send for the police; whereupon Big Big Boss promptly paid and collected from the other 2 next day at the office.

   10/Years later I got promoted to the post of No 2 Boss’ assistant and became very friendly with him; and in the meantime Big Big Boss had moved further up the ladder and had become the very top man in an entire government department – ie 2nd to only the political Minister. No 2 Boss [nicknamed Big D] was retiring and it was decided that Big Big Boss would do the honours by handing Big D his retirement present.

   11/Big Big Boss sent for me and said “Bob you’ve been pretty close to Big D in recent years and I want to throw a few funny anecdotes into my presentation speech. Are there any you can think of?” I replied “Well Permanent Secretary there was the time that you and Big D and Paddy argued over a hotel bill and the manager nearly set the police on you for causing a disturbance. But maybe Big D wouldn’t want to be reminded of that.” The Permanent Secretary looked at me oddly said “I don’t think I’d like to be reminded of THAT either Bob!”

   12/I was reminded or Larry’s Lord Wellington saying to Lady Caroline Lamb with whom he had just slept in the 1972 film of that name “Madam I cannot sponsor your husband [William Lamb] at court. HE is considered a buffoon whereas I am a SERIOUS Man!”

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2. 4/In Items 2 and 3 of your reply to me Sir M has anyway possibly been forgetful when he mentions A Hill in Virginia as being his first experience with the movies. As IMDB makes clear Teacher Beware was made before ‘Hill’ [but not released in the USA until a year later] but like the Morning Departure part was an uncredited [and maybe again non-speaking] role and he now dismisses such “trivia”; or it could be though that he is ‘ashamed’ of those parts – see Part 3 for possible detailed explanation.

   5/SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE DOG THAT DIDN’T BARK IN THE NIGHT. Certainly in what you have quoted Sir Mike does not say he wasn’t in Morning Departure and has never as far as I personally am aware contradicted any of the references to his being in that movie; but in a roundabout way he maybe tells us that he WAS in it.

   6/Because if he was not in MD then before Teacher Beware he had no screen roles WHATSOEVER in movies or TV but in item 3 of your reply to me you quote him saying: “A miracle- I couldn’t believe it. Who would have me in a film? I hadn’t even had a SPEAKING part in TELEVISION yet”. My capitals – but if he had not been in Morning Departure why would HE emphasize “speaking”?

   7/As I have said above Morning Departure was made for and shown on television and then released in the cinemas and if he had not been in it surely he would have said something like “I hadn’t even been in television before.” Is this a clue that Larry’s Great Detective Singen Lord Merridew from Sleuth should be chasing-down? – though between us possibly you and I will get to the bottom of the matter yet!

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3. HI ROBERT FORD: “Oh look” said the woman at the parade. “everybody’s out of step but my wee Johnnie?” Excellent research on your part. Thank you for your courtesy on at least taking the matter seriously and going to the trouble of researching it. However –

   1/ WHOA BIKE! IMDB DOES list Sir M in the cast of Morning Departure – I invite you to check it out again. You regularly quote IMDB as your own trivia source – should your viewers now be suspect of it as a reliable source given that you have also washed your hands off Wikipedia for quoting Mike in MD? [Please don’t get round to saying that Joel Hirschhorn is not a totally reliable source. Draw the line somewhere!]

   2/Morning Departure was first made for television and then later in 1950 given cinematic showings. That and the fact that Caine had a walk-on part [non speaking] in it is possibly why it is often not mentioned as one of Sir Mike’s movies

   3/IMDB also stresses that it was a movie AND television debut for Sir M. The Kent England theatre advertisement that I quoted was for a stage version of Morning Departure way back in 1958 when Sir Mike had just started to do the cinematic rounds in movies such as Teacher Beware [aka Panic in the Classroom]/A Hill in Virginia/and How to Murder a Rich Critic and his career background details would have been fresh in everybody’s minds and the theatre would have been keen to highlight the fact that Britain’s new Golden Boy find was in the screen version of the play.

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4. WIKIPEDIA 1950 MORNING DEPARTURE CAST LIST [“Check it out!”]
   JOHN MILLS as the captain, Lieutenant Commander Peter Armstrong
   Nigel Patrick as the first lieutenant, Lieutenant Manson
   Peter Hammond as Sub-Lieutenant Oakley
   Andrew Crawford as Sub-Lieutenant J. McFee
   Michael Brennan as Chief Petty Officer Barlow
   George Cole as Engine Room Artificer Marks
   Victor Maddern as Leading Telegraphist Hillbrook
   Roddy McMillan as Leading Seaman Andrews
   Frank Coburn as Leading Seaman Brough
   Jack Stewart as Leading Seaman Kelly
   James Hayter as Able Seaman Higgins
   Wylie Watson as Able Seaman Nobby Clark
   RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH as Stoker Snipe
   George Thorpe as Captain Fenton
   Bernard Lee as Commander Gates
   Kenneth More as Lieutenant Commander James
   Alastair Hunter as Captain Jenner
   Helen Cherry as Helen Armstrong
   Lana Morris as Rose Snipe
   Zena Marshall as Wren
   MICHAEL CAINE as Teaboy (uncredited)

   NOTE Most of the names on this cast list where familiar thespians in British films in the 50s – for example Nigel Patrick/George Cole/Victor Madden/Helen Cherry/Lana Morris and of course future English movie Great Kenneth More. Nigel Patrick made newspaper front page headlines over here when he got the better of “American tough guy” Richard Widmark in a fisticuffs encounter in 1955’s A Prize of Gold – patriotic Brits such as the Steves of those days cheering Nigel on! It led to Nigel getting a good part the following year in Hollywood big budget flick Raintree County released in 1957 starring Liz and Monty.

   I should stress that Wikipedia doesn’t give Bruce Willis any credit whatsoever for Split – again: check it out!; but then I suppose that Mr Willis [as distinct from a Sir Bruce and Lady Demi] being probably a beer-swilling American rather than a tea-drinking Brit gives the former some advantages on the Cogerson site.

   God bless Virginia
   Land that I love
   Stand beside her
   And guide her
   Through the night
   With the light from above.

   From the mountains
   To the prairies
   To the oceans, white with foam
   God bless Virginia
   My home sweet home.

   “KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON” STEVE!

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   1. I love Wiki….but anybody can edit the article….I think whoever edited the movie page, has gotten confused. As for Split…the entire reason I saw Split in theaters was for Bruce’s appearance at the end. If you type Bruce Willis in Split you get lots of articles…this is number one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My8kfz_Ddqg If you type Michael Caine in Morning Departure you get this…..http://www.playhouse.org.uk/morning-departure/ A page filled with lots of errors….and a source for Wiki? I know…I live in a glass house…and I am throwing rocks….lol

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      1. Confusion would indeed be justified as many people must then be doing extensive editing across the internet involving Michael Caine in Morning Departure.

         1/ Here is an advertisement for Erin Playhouse 38-40 High Street Kent England which appears on the internet. The play version of the film was being performed at the Erin when this advertisement was displayed outside the theatre.

         “Made into a film starring John Mills and Richard Attenborough, and featuring the screen debut of Michael Caine, ‘Morning Departure’ is an engaging and heartfelt play about the lives about the lives of sailors trapped in their sunken submarine awaiting rescue.”

         2/The Complete list of Michael Caine films. https://www.youtube.com/watch?V=RXOF3kY3uxU

         3/QUESTION ON INTERNET QUIZ
         What actors and actresses appeared in Morning Departure – 1950?
         12
         Answer
         ________________________________________
         Top Answer

         March 27, 2014 4:08AM
         The cast of Morning Departure – 1950 includes: Richard Attenborough as Stoker Snipe Michael Brennan as CPO Barlow Michael Caine as Teaboy Helen Cherry as Helen Armstong Frank Coburn

         4/OSOBNOSTI cz -Michael Caine filmography extract.
         Ranní vyplutí (1950) Morning Departure
         role: Teaboy(uncredited) .

         5/FILMFRONT SITE
         Morning Departure 1950
         Director Roy Ward Baker
         Cast:
         Victor Madden as Hillbrook
         Nigel Patrick as Manson
         John Mills as Armstrong
         Andrew Crawford as McFee
         Richard Attenborough as Snipe
         Michael Caine as Tegutt

         6/FACEBOOK
         Morning Departure is a 1950 British naval drama film about life aboard a sunken submarine, directed by Roy Ward Baker, and starring John Mills and Richard Attenborough. It is based on a stage play of the same name by Kenneth Woollard, which had also been shown as a live TV play by the BBC both in 1946 and 1948. It was the feature film debut of Michael Caine.PlotThe story is set after the end of the Second World War and concerns a British submarine, HMS Trojan, which is out on a routine exercise to test its new snorkel mast when it encounters a derelict floating magnetic mine left over from the war.

         7/MORNING DEPARTURE QUOTES [on internet]
         Morning Departure (released as Operation Disaster in the United States) is a 1950 British naval drama film about life aboard a sunken submarine, directed by Roy Ward Baker, and starring John Mills and Richard Attenborough. It is based on a stage play of the same name by Kenneth Woollard, which had also been shown as a live TV play by the BBC both in 1946 and 1948. It was the feature film debut of Michael Caine.

         8/TV TROPES site– Morning Departure

         Morning Departure (released as Operation Disaster in the United States) is a 1950 British naval drama film about life aboard a sunken submarine, directed by Roy Ward Baker, and starring John Mills and Richard Attenborough. A young Michael Caine appears in his first feature film in an uncredited role as a teaboy.

         9/IMDB TRIVIA FOR MORNING DEPARTURE
         Movie and television debut of Sir Michael Caine (Teaboy).

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         1. Hey Bob. There are way more references to A Hill In Korea as being Michael Caine’s first movie.
            1. Michael Caine very briefyl worked for Rank Movies…he was an office boy….his job lasted a few weeks….and he was fired for smoking in the men’s bathroom. This was in 1952, two years after Morning Departure was made. Caine talks about his short time at Rank in both of his books The Elephant to Hollywood and What’s It All About.
            2. From Caine’s The Elephant to Hollywood page..”Who would have thought that it was my experience as a soldier in Korea that would lead to my first exposure to the movie business” Page 40. “In my first film I managed to forget just eight lines – and I only had to deliver them at a rate of one a week.” Both quotes are talking about A Hill In Korea.
            3. From What’s It All About… “A miracle- I couldn’t believe it. Who would have me in a film? I hadn’t even had a speaking part in television yet”. – Once again he is talking about his first movie experience….on A Hill In Korea.
            4. IMDb cast for Morning Departure – does not list Michael Caine.
            5. The Film Encyclopedia by Ephraim Katz – lists Michael Caine’s film debut as 1956’s A Hill In Korea.
            6. Joel Hirschhorn’s Rating The Movie Stars which lists bit parts and cameos lists Michael Caine’s film debut as 1956’s A Hill In Korea.
            7. Michael Caine’s wikipedia page – “Caine’s first film role was as one of the privates in George Baker’s platoon in the 1956 film A Hill in Korea.”.
            8. I just checked all my movie books….VideoHound, Rotten Tomatoes, Video Detective, Starglazer and others…all say his first movie is 1956’s A Hill in Korea.
            9. I even cracked open my 1950 The Film Daily 1950 Yearbok….and Michael Caine is not listed in the cast. Nor is Maurice Micklewhite.
            10. So all the sources I trust say he was not in Morning Departure/Operation Disaster….and a couple of sources I do not know…say he is….and those sources have lots of errors in their articles.
            So…I am pretty sure….and I know Michael Caine is sure….that A Hill In Korea is his first movie.

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5. “As for Sir Michael. Hmmmm…. I have read all of his biographies and I do not remember him writing about appearing in Operation Disaster/Morning Departure. He did work as a file clerk for a film company around that age…so maybe they threw him on the set for a day. Good stuff as always.” [Cogerson reply to Mr Roy]

   Mr Cogerson: I don’t think you appreciate how significant Sir Michael’s role was in Morning Departure [why do Americans always have to take sensible British movie titles and make them sound blood-curdling like Operation Disaster?]

   You see tea-drinking is a British institution which was always played up in English war movies as it symbolised the concept that even in war Brits still had a lot to live for if they could enjoy their tea; just as Americans were led to believe that wars always ended well if Gable or Flynn “got the girl”. [Even Reagan in his 1980 presidential campaign felt obliged to insist that although often only a B movie actor he did “get the girl” now and again in his films.]

   Therefore Sir Michael’s character in Morning Departure was a Gunga Din type person who carried tea to his ‘betters’ instead of water; and to patriotic Brits Sir Mike’s tea boy would have been more important than Sam Jaffe was as Gunga Din – indeed I would go as far as to say that to flag-waving Brits the Caine character would have been more exciting than that in Gunga Din of him to whom you often refer on your site as Al Leach.

   Accordingly Sir Mike being a big idol of OURS I am surprised and disappointed that regardless of how you think it all came about you don’t at least put in a marker here that Morning D was his ACTUAL first screen appearance even if you don’t credit him with its gross on his own page. Following in Part 2 is a reproduction of the current cast list on Wikipedia for Morning Departure.

   NB:Good still of Lord Dickie and Sir Tea above. Caine had become so important by then that Dickie might have made Sir Michael a cup of tea as a courtesy. All the more reason to make some mention of their joint Morning D involvement

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   1. Hey Bob…..I know the importance of tea overseas….but I think his “rumored” appearance in Morning Departure is not accurate…..like the rumor that Harrison Ford appears in The Great Escape during a train scene after the escape. It was not Ford and it was not Caine. His first film appearance was a A Hill In Korea. I would love to give him credit to lots of movies……but Operation Disaster is not one. Funny comment.

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