Watch The Deep Blue Sea For Free

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Good movie but grossly overrated

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Anyone expecting an aristocratic performance by Vivien Leigh is doomed to disappointment. Clad in a drab series of blouses and slacks, she makes Hester Collier a self-interested neurotic perpetually needing succour from anyone willing to listen. Her main problem is a lack of self-reliance, as the Doctor (Eric Portman) informs her. The men in her life are self-interested in their different ways, and have no emotional capacity to empathise with her. The only person who understands anything is her landlady (Dandy Nichols).Director Anatole Litvak opens the play to include multiple views of the seedier parts of London, where Hester (Leigh) has voluntarily ended up. The sera is hard and tough - not the place for a shrinking violet trying to assert her authority yet failing.

After watching the Terence Rattigan DVD collection (with most of the adaptations being from the 70s and 80s) when staying with family friends last year, Rattigan very quickly became one of my favourite playwrights and he still is. His dialogue is so intelligent, witty and meaty, his characterisation so dynamic, complex and real and the storytelling so beautifully constructed.'The Deep Blue Sea' may not be among my favourite Rattigan plays ('The Browning Version', 'The Winslow Boy', 'Separate Tables'), but it's still wonderful and distinctively Rattigan. The writing is 24-carat Rattigan and the story is timeless in its searing emotion and romantic passion. It's very sharply observant and emotionally searing. This rarely viewed and as of now unavailable film version of 'The Deep Blue Sea' is deserving of more exposure.It may not be one of the best representations of Rattigan in general (i.e. 1951's 'The Browning Version', 1948's 'The Winslow Boy' and 1958's 'Separate Tables'), but it is as good an adaptation of 'The Deep Blue Sea' as can suffice (not the best but one of them). It is a shame that it is unavailable on DVD and can as of now only be viewed in a rather poor print on Youtube. If and when available on DVD, while it's not perfect it deserves to be, it needs to be a restoration. It is a shame that it got a tepid response when released, it is understandable in a way that it didn't connect with viewers considering the film competition that year and that it was considered too cold, talky and sedate at the time and perhaps the subject was a little inaccessible to some at the time.With that being said, 'The Deep Blue Sea' is still well worth the viewing. Mainly for seeing Kenneth More in one of his best performances (he is brilliant here), Vivien Leigh in an achingly personal performance (that sees her as beautiful, but not too beautiful, and to me she wasn't too cold) and the two of them together in a pretty passionate chemistry (do disagree respectfully with More himself that it was poor) that contrasts well with the suitably passionless one for Hester's marriage as it should be. Plus a sterling, distinguished supporting cast with Eric Portman and Emlyn Williams being the standouts. The only exception with the latter is Jimmy Hanley, who is a little wooden.Malcolm Arnold's music score is understated but swells passionately at the right moments. The script is thought-provoking and observant, with the wit and nuances captured well even with changes, there is a lot of talk but that is the case with the play itself and Rattigan in general. The story may not be as searing as with the play and may lack its intimacy in places, but the characters, the meaty way they're written and their stories are handled quite well.Anatole Litvak's direction could have been more expansive, other film adaptations of Rattigan's work have done a better job of opening up their respective source material and even extending it, and although it is an intimate story the direction is a little too sedate and self-contained. 'The Deep Blue Sea' has been criticised for substandard production values, to me the settings and costumes are lovely to look at and some of the film is atmospherically lit but it is let down by the poor print with the faded and grainy picture quality and less than lavish and at times incomplete looking photography.Overall, underviewed film that despite its faults is interesting and worth the watch. 7/10 Bethany Cox

In the 21st century there are apparently no weak indecisive women like Hester ; women who totally subjugate themselves to men.Or if there are we never see them on the screen.Miss V.Leigh seems like a relic from the Victorian era,but in fact in the male - dominated 1950s middle - classes her character was not exactly ploughing a lonely furrow. Married to a judge,she would have spent most of her time re - arranging the doilies and making cucumber sandwiches for her husband's friends. No question of empowerment for her.Perhaps we should,in the circumstances have just a little sympathy for her,desperate to grab a little happiness and excitement with her ex - fighter pilot lover. The fact that he is,frankly,a bit of a trimmer,should merely increase that sympathy.As Freddie,Mr K.More plays against type.He has a superficial charm but there is less in him than meets the eye.Mr More was about to embark on a winning streak engendered by "Genevieve" and "Doctor in the house" and many of his fans viewed "The deep blue sea" in much the same way as Dirk Bogarde's regarded "The Doctor's Dilemma" - a temporary blip in a long and successful career. Miss Leigh lends her ethereal beauty to the role,and in an age when women were expected to be subservient,her self - effacement and naivety would have been looked on as desirable characteristics. She made so few movies that her devotees,naturally enough,trend to treasure each one.My personal preferences would be "St Martin's Lane" and "Waterloo Bridge" when her startling beauty leapt from the screen, here,in early middle age she still emits a strange innocence,as if her she can't believe what her heart is making her do. Mr E.Williams - actor/playwright/author - plays the judge as a fair and compassionate man with an understanding of human weakness.Both he and Freddie are characteristic creations of Mr Ratigan whose work was to become deeply unfashionable shortly after the release of this movie. Actors who wanted to get on the West End stage would soon have to learn to slurp their soup and eat their peas with a knife,and parts for butlers became in short supply. He may have been thought to have been biting the hands that fed him in "The deep blue sea" by depicting the theatre - going classes as immoral and clay - footed and as such a contributor to his own downfall,but the march of Osborne,Wesker,Pinter and co was inexorable. Viewed as a movie per se it is not particularly exciting,competent rather than inspired,ordinary rather than cutting edge,nobody was going to say to Mr Litvak "Tony,you're soooo rock 'n' rol1",but the essence of the play is put over well enough.Like so many works of the theatre it is best experienced in its own medium and is regularly revived quite successfully.As an example of the ouevre of the leading players it is a little out of the usual and consequently a curiosity rather than a "must-see",but if you want to see Mr More as a good old - fashioned cad this is your only chance to do so.

Vivien Leigh, one of the most beautiful women ever to appear on the screen, is the only reason to watch this movie. The plot is old and tired, but Miss Leigh is always a delight to watch.