White Squall

White Squall is about a training ship and its crew, who some time in the sixties set sail to turn boys into men. Among them is Chuck Gieg, a nice, well-balanced boy from a middle-class family. Another, Frank Beaumont, is a maladjusted rich man's son. Most of the 16-year-old lads, however, come from poor social backgrounds and unhappy family situations. Even though the film is more about the boys as a group and a unit, it would be nice if it were possible to tell the lads apart. It is a self-inflicted problem, for the casting director and whoever else is responsible for the casting have chosen one nut-brown, spotless youth after another. In my view, that is deeply unrealistic.

The skipper, Sheldon, is strict but fair, so the boys end up fond of him and his iron discipline. The voyage ends tragically, however, as the ship is hit by a squall and sinks - Sheldon's wife and a couple of the boys perish.

At the subsequent maritime inquiry, where Sheldon stands accused and risks losing his licence and his honour, the boys go to bat for him. It is an ending that seems about as tacked-on and steeped in sentimentality as the ending of "Scent of a Woman". Definitely not to my taste. The ending took some of the shine off a film that was mostly good entertainment.

In the otherwise fairly accurate film database www.imdb.com, some of the supporting actresses are labelled "Danish girl", but in the film the girls are supposed to be speaking Dutch. They were certainly not speaking Danish. The misconception is understandable, though, for the actors' names are, with a few exceptions, Danish. The girl with the largest part is, moreover, played by Camilla Overbye Roos.