Lifeline to Victory - VHS transfert

[@427fastback]

I was in this movie. I was dressed as a British Lieutenant. I was serving in the Canadian Navy at the time and working in the building were the map was located. I also worked on the HMCS Sackville "Fireweed" years before the movie.😆

[@grahambaker1736]

Superb movie about the RCN escorting the wartime convoy ships from Canada during WWII, the cold weather, high seas and the continual threat of submarine attacks. These men took tremendous risks to get the supplies through to the UK. Many ships were lost both Naval and Merchant, we are truly indebted to these brave men, we will not forget their valour and courage to aid us in our hour of need. Thank you!

[@martinjulien8233]

I played Canelli in this movie. A life-changing gig. No CGI. Filmed on the North Atlantic. Inspirational to consider real sacrifice and bravery. Thanks for recovering this, Oli Pref.

[@Prefster1942]

How long was filming on the ocean? Where you sleeping, eating on board? Did you had some sort of boot camp before? I have so many questions!!

[@JohnnyH1982]

He still catches himself thinking "Where's Morrison?". It's awesome one of the actors commented here, we literally ran our VHS copy to tatters watching this movie on repeat.

[@Prefster1942]

@@JohnnyH1982 loll! So did I! That's why I had it transfered to dvd.

[@JohnnyH1982]

@@Prefster1942 haha, I just watched again after leaving this comment.

[@terencegraham4901]

We towed out the hms Sackville with tugs out to chebucto head which was a few miles past the shearwater entrance to halifax docks.. we filmed the night scenes with black canvass around the ship while it stayed docked as well.. The water rescue scene filmed at halifax pool..

[@hughiecampbell7460]

My Father served from 1939 to 1945 RCN and one of the ships he served on was HMCS TRILLIUM which was the only Corvette in the Canadian Navy to spend the entire War as an open Ocean Escort between Halifax NS and Londonderry Northern Ireland and boy did he have a lot of memories of his service time.

[@andrewfrancis4462]

Great movie indeed. It shouldn't be forgotten that Britain's struggle was also the Commonwealth and empire's - that's Canada, Aust., NZ, India, and all the others. It was an Allied effort, which later included America and the Soviets. Never forget it.

[@ypfsg7177]

Like the ships it portrays this movie punches above its weight. Glad I came across it.

[@333010101]

I'll follow Martin ( a year later) to offer my gratitude as well Oli Pref. I was the lead in this film and it was a fabulous experience with an awesome cast and a superb director, Eric Till. 🙏

[@Prefster1942]

Lead as Micheal Riley, the very Paul Devereaux?? Wow! I never thought I would get the cast to comment on here! Funny thing, the man who restored and cleaned the original tape and made the transfert to dvd was an extra on the film.

[@Prefster1942]

I think it was your agent at the time or someone from the production who pointed me out to the vhs tape on ebay after I wrote several emails to learn more about the movie.

[@geoffreyashcroft3774]

I own this movie on VHS! Had it since the 90s. Its what inspired me to be a Stoker(marine engineer) in the Royal Canadian Navy! Still serving 18 years strong!

[@johnspruit7296]

Thank you for your service.

[@laankebygg3685]

Good on ya mate. I was in the Royal Australian Navy 'Heavy L'. Second time I have seen this movie and enjoyed it as much this time as last 🙂.

[@GeorgeRuffner-iy7bm]

Thank you for your service! 👍😎👌

[@johnspruit7296]

Important history that needs to be taught in all Canadian schools. Thank you for your service and sacrifice . A great movie.

[@Prefster1942]

You are absolutely right, this should be taught in schools. To honor the memory at least.

[@attaat]

You are wrong, It needs to be taught in ALL schools. Thank you to our Canadian brothers and sisters from a gratefull Brit.

[@Streicher17]

Great movie! The screenaditor clearly had contact with the memories of the Crews and Staff. HMCS Windflower really had that mock gun when she sailed for Britain ... Untrained Crews and sometimes bad workmanship during construction were a teething problem in the Expansionnavy of 1941. When it was solved, the Corvettes and their Crews were the best to find! I peronally like the scenes with original material of the Corvettes from 1942 and, Thank god, good old Sackville was preserved and used, as was HMS Coreopsis in the Cruel sea. It ist a really good addition to the great movies "The cruel sea" and "Das Boot"

[@martiwright4721]

Thank you SOOOMuch! I have an old tattered tape from the tv of this, but I have never been able to find it here in the states since I t was on tv years ago.

[@Prefster1942]

Thanks! I was very lucky to get the movie on ebay, many years ago. I was looking for it since it aired on movie channel back in the mid 1990s and I was a kid learning what Canada did back in WW2.

[@tomwellard8234]

I've been searching for this movie for ages use to have it on VHS tape,many thanks for uploading this, could never remember the title all I could remember was it had victory in it,👍

[@johngsteel]

Enjoyable movie. Great story. Worth watching! Those who served in WWII deserve respect from us all.

[@peterjohnson617]

all of those who fought that war for Our freedom might just have second thoughts seeing the state of the world today..... I do respect them all my, dad was one of them

[@QCCitizen-l3f]

Thank for posting this. It shows what it was like for my father who was in the RCN on these convoys. He is gone now. My husband is in the background in 4 scenes and had the opportunity to be a part of this while still on active duty in the RCN himself.

[@rescuepetsrule6842]

I'm not sure if this is the same convoy that picked up the children, but there was one that did. Two little sisters were rescued and taken back to England, where their frantic parents still wanted them in Canada- 'safe'. They put more children on another ship, along with the 2 sisters that had already been nearly drowned. Sadly, another U-Boat sunk that ship, too, and this time, the sisters drowned. Imagine what they went through- twice. Their parents probably were destroyed by guilt. Search the SS Benares for more stories of ill-fated attempts to rescue children. The Canadians did a lot more during the War but they didn't get as much credit as the 'big' players. SALUTE, Canadians that fought so bravely!

[@gordonfrickers5592]

Thank you for this post, a fine film I've never seen before. Surprisingly real, vivid, for a 1993 film. As an adolescent in the 1960's growing up among veterans I read all I could find on World War II including the now famous book 'The Cruel Sea' about a similar corvette, 'Compass Rose' and I heard many veterans talk of their experiences. For sure the Merchant ship crews got a raw deal, deserved all the protection they could get. Theirs was one of if not the highest casualty rate per man at sea. Worse, their pay stopped the moment their ship was sunk and they were given no recognition until long after all the other British & Commonwealth military services. For a low budget film this one seems to me cleverly made although on a lighter note, I'm not surprised the crew had to shout when in action, the background music was very noisy. As for the people of Royal Canadian Navy, thank you is sincerely meant although it feels inadequate.

[@stephenland9361]

The thought of trying to fight a sea battle, or just run the ship from the open bridge of a Corvette in the North Atlantic during a winter storm... god but those were some tough bastards. My uncle served in the RCN on a Corvette during the war. He went from high school in BC straight to the Navy. I'm sure his previous experience on the water was with rowboats.

[@peterjohnson617]

well hopefully on the rowboats no one was shooting at him.......respect to him.....

[@benjaminrush4443]

Use to go to a local Video Store during the 90's. Great. Two Nights a rental; get two-one free. VHS & DVD. Then came Block Buster. Today, the local libraries are on circuits & share. But many are diminishing for Streaming is eliminating the DVD. There are some movies & TV series I missed the latest season(s). Libraries use to get donations & buy for use. Covid ended that. Thanks for this Upload.

[@stevestruthers6180]

Wow. For a low-budget movie, this was really well done. Decent script, decent acting, intelligent plot, off-the-scale technical accuracy, it's all there. I've seen big-budget Hollywood productions that didn't do as well as this movie. It's a shame it never saw wider theatrical release.

[@Prefster1942]

You are absolutely right. Sadly, IMO, most Canadian where never really proud of their military heritage and merits. We do not have a well oiled machine like Hollywood to keep it alive and well represented. But once in a while, we see something come up like this movie.

[@robertwaid3579]

Very impressive, this Film was! Till the other Day when I found it here? I had never heard or knew of it's Existence! I thoroughly enjoyed it? Thank You for sharing it. Wyoming, Robert, 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇨🇦🇺🇸🇨🇦🇺🇸👀👀👍👍🤔🤔🕊️🕊️🙏🙏

[@Prefster1942]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@brianneale2006]

Very good War film on the Canadian seamen who fought on the Convoy protection escort Destroyers and Corvettes

[@janiekcarney5482]

Good quality audio and video. Thank you!!

[@MEJ3783]

Superb! I've not seen this for years and been hoping for a copy on DVD for a long time! Thanks for uploading!

[@paultanker5606]

G'Day, as one Colonial to another ,well done ,great movie,good story line,all the best from Australia!

[@skylongskylong1982]

The Merchant Navy in the U.K. had the second major deaths after the British Army, from 1939, to 1945. I presume Commonwealth Merchant Navy, also had a major losses to. Forgotten Hero’s.

[@Prefster1942]

Interesting fact! I knew many sailors had loat their lives but not that much.

[@IntheBlood67]

ATTENTION! HAND SALUTE!

[@peterjohnson617]

I love ww2 movies and I also have a personal habit of not watching movies that were made after I was born...1951.the first 25 minutes of this film has only reinforced that. I`ve got 25 min`s of my life invested so I will watch the rest....one can only hope.......As a hockey fan of 60 plus years there will always be a special place in my heart for Canada....Respect......hey.....

[@peterjohnson617]

respect to any person who sailed the seas to help us win that war......I will stick to the old black/white movies from the 40`s.......strange how quickly night turns to day in the north Atlantic [1;..32;]....my dad ,a Brooklyn boy, sailed from N.Y. to Scotland in 1943 where he stayed until early June of 44......on the 6th of that month he got to go to France,via Omaha Beach......He somehow lived to come home to Brooklyn in 46......like most of the guys he went with,they found it very hard to talk about it when they finally got back home.....peace,pj.... btw.... Memorial Day is not a reason to have a sale.......

[@stevesloan7132]

Great film. Good script and acting! Thank you so much for sharing this rare film!

[@Prefster1942]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@samnigam3451]

Huge respects 🙏 to Canadian Navy during WWII from Sam India 🇮🇳. They did their duty well... it was not easy chasing n sinking U Boats but many HMS US Navy including Canadian Navy destroyer crews did their job with military professionalism.

[@janiekcarney5482]

This is really good. Thank you.

[@brianneale2006]

One of my Uncles was a seaman on board H.M.S Isis during the Second World War and the Isis was part of Force H for a while.

[@daveharrison8845]

I feel like there might be a small corralation with Anne Conwell to Vera Lynn, but her piece since in the capt's cabin at 1:19:00 is similar to we will meet again, and when there are at the Theatre, you can hear what appears to be A Nighting gale sang in Berkley square, by Anne Shelton.

[@camseymour8680]

many thanks! I tried to find this for years also, great memory of sitting and watching this with my Dad when this movie came out on tv, he served in Corvettes 43 to 45 RCNVR.

[@terencegraham4901]

I was 1 of a few Canadian navy sailors to be on board hms Sackville when she was towed into the Atlantic Ocean 4 2 days of filming Couldn't imagine sailing it across the Atlantic Your Dad was a hero Great share..

[@camseymour8680]

@@terencegraham4901 thank you Terence! watching this with my Dad was incredible! man, I loved to get him talking, I would sneak into him with a question and he would talk for hours, he loved his Navy time no matter how bad life was aboard a Corvette, I would know just to be quiet and listen, he was a running commentary for life on a corvette and if I got him going the stories were incredible! this movie says a lot, not like a hollywood movie as most people would not watch this thinking its a horrible movie, I don't, the story is very realistic, every ship my dad was on he was the youngest on board and he got gyped out of being Captain for the day at Christmas because he could not admit his age (17 when he joined) funny thing was he was also known as the toughest guy on the ship and that's not a bullshit story, he said the "Jimmie's could be nasty sob's" but he got along ok, my Dad served in HMCS Shediac, HMCS Edmundston and then went on to the Frigate HMCS Strathadam, when he came home before his 20th birthday he joined the Toronto fire dept. and earned the reputation as the toughest Toronto firefighter in the city, man, I have about a thousand more questions now but he's not here to answer them, there is no one more of a hero to me than my Dad, thank you for your comment Terence! made me feel good! and thank you for your service!

[@daveharrison8845]

@@terencegraham4901 My grandfather served on a minesweeper in 1945, and he was ASDIC operator, so i use the Sub detectors scenes to tell people what he did.

[@janiekcarney5482]

Impossible decisions have to be made.

[@JohnnyH1982]

Thanks for uploading this, I haven't seen it in 20+ years and it still stands up really well!

[@stephenland9361]

And another WWII story involving my family. At 1:17:20, they mention children taken to Canada from Britain to keep them safe from the Blitz. My Grand Dad, father's side, got a telegram from his brother in London. At the time Grand dad lived in Victoria, BC. "Little Johnny arrives Halifax (some date). Be there to meet him." Grand Dad sent back, "Be there yourself. You're closer than I am."

[@Prefster1942]

Loll! Funny how Europeans din't realise how big Canada is .

[@daveharrison8845]

truly love this movie!

[@altoncrane9714]

A hidden gem and actually a great movie.

[@msamour]

I spent 20 years in the Canadian Navy, and the behaviour I'm seeing from the leadership in this movie reminds me of the same leadership that I was subjected to. No wonder my father told me Petty Officers did not go on the upper decks after dark. They were afraid of being thrown overboard. They treated people like shit in the 1940's just like they did in the 90's and early 2000's.

[@rossmansell5877]

Apparently a Master of Arms was "nudged overboard" on a cruiser in the Atlantic but he was thrown back on the quarterdeck by a wave from the bow wave meeting a natural wave..luck old Master at Arms!!

[@msamour]

@@rossmansell5877 I hope he changed his outlook on life following that because there is always Bos'n bingo in the after rope stores if he didn't get the message the first time...

[@brianneale2006]

The sea is in my blood as my mothers grandfather was a seaman on board the Olympic the sister ship of the Titanic and one of my mothers brother was a naval seaman on board H.M.S.Isis during the Second World War; A Destroyer which was part of Force H for a while

[@daveharrison8845]

I am part of the trust that operates and owns the Sackville, and the guy to plays Cyrus in Trailer Park Boys is in this film as well.

[@markbackus1449]

Very good film.

[@terencegraham4901]

Awesome.. Totally awesome..

[@margaretsmith5993]

How lucky someone is going through the process of war, but thanks for the new world

[@violinoscar]

A really good movie. Better than the rubbish coming out of Hollywood.

[@oldgringo2001]

`42:35 A sign reads "John Brown and Company, Clydebank.", so this is supposed to be Scotland. This is where many ocean liners were built, including Lusitania, both Mauretanias, Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth. Out of business in 1966, but still very much a going concern during WWII.

[@RafaelGil2022]

very good movie

[@IntheBlood67]

Not bad.....Not bad at all............Well worth watching, espcially if you've read "the Cruel Sea"!

[@anthonygrant317]

Beautiful Canada Proud.

[@vaslav030547]

The work of Bletchley Park helped to bring a quicker end to the Battle of the Atlantic. The world did change, but sadly innocent blood is still spilt today through futile wars and a craving for power. The human race will never learn.

[@hughgaynor-aldrich6735]

Been looking for a DVD copy for years, particularily one with no bad language edit.......

[@gregcraven984]

filmed on the HM Sackville in Halifax !! its a museum ship

[@gordonfrickers5592]

Good for a low budget film which has borrowed heavily from the outstanding book by Nicholas Monserrat 'The Cruel Sea'. I recommend both the book and the film by the same name. They were ordinary people just like you and me. They raised themselves to become true heroes, so can we. We have new enemies using new methods, many are already among us. Can you become a true hero?

[@janiekcarney5482]

Yelling at your men doesn’t help anything.

[@jamesrutter8747]

I have an original VHS demo tape from the company that made the film.

[@gartjone1846]

😊 thanks from Australia mayyyte 👍🇭🇲

[@icarlyfan102]

Been looking for this movie for a while, as have many others. Thank you for uploading! I'm curious, did you record this yourself? If not, where did you manage to find this?

[@Prefster1942]

I bought a vhs copy on ebay many years ago. I had it transfered on a dvd by a local shop.

[@icarlyfan102]

@@Prefster1942 Had nearly lost hope on seeing this movie as it was only released on PPV on TV many years ago as far as I can tell. Great find, thanks again!

[@terencegraham4901]

I help a survivor out the water Filmed in the halifax pool..

[@Prefster1942]

The guy who made the transfered told me he was also involved in the movie. One of the guards at Oldbest admiralty office.

[@terencegraham4901]

Yeah that part of the movie was filmed apart from my 2 month stint on set.. me and 7 other sailors mostly bosuns were tasked to the movie ..on my career records it even says actor .. a great experience

[@donniedickerson8077]

Great 👍

[@ms-lazuli7435]

If you want to see a good film about the Battle of the Atlantic, watch the adaptation of the Cruel Sea, that's a good film.

[@lesliemackay7853]

Enjoyed the movie. Reminded of one of My Mates Dad's, island farming stock, couldn't be involved in killing the beasts, Sept 39 couldn't be a conceinty so joined the Merchant Service. Lost two ships North Atlantic when employment ceased at sinking. Ended up doing PQ-QP.. A Gentleman, sadly missed. The Greenock accents are movie only, and Greenock was largely built of sandstone, not brick. One of the famous raids hit a sugar factory, burning molten sugar flowed down the hill. Last Wednesday, as I passed through, a Frigate was on Picket with two pilot cutters, something to do with three Subs at Faslane? Times change, but stay the same.

[@jimclark6256]

I'm sorry for your poor sentence construction but admire your courage in making a comment about a brave man.

[@hhvictor2462]

There were many unheralded groups who significantly contributed to the war effort. I would see a film of women's contribution as well, such as in manufacture and piloting of planes. Unfortunately, I believe there are none.

[@Prefster1942]

You can try to watch Bomb Girls. A 2 seasons tv show about women working in a bomb factory during WW2. Very nice show.

[@hhvictor2462]

@@Prefster1942 Thx! I'll lookout for it.

[@rossmansell5877]

Very good...a few anomolies only ex matelots will spot but its really well done...

[@davidmunro1469]

GOD ALWAYS TAKES CARE OF BRAVE LITTLE BEAVERS.

[@Baz7575]

i just watched an ANGER MANAGMENT class

[@johnhaggerty748]

only the RCN would go after a sub with a green crew wooden gun and broken engine

[@pmullins1495]

Apparently Canadian socialist Politicians were no better prepared for entering WW2 than American socialist Politicians (and our inept Dept of War [inner dept deadly competion]).

[@paulobajko3527]

Filme com pouca ação, mas foi bom.

[@dpeter6396]

While the NA fight was conduct by brave men in sometimes sketchy ships with minimal weapons, this film is so full of dramatic BS it ruins the story. Too bad.

[@Kangawallapossumbat]

this is a very boring movie with bad acting

[@Prefster1942]

Loll! I never said it was a masterpiece. Its a movie about the Canadian involment in WW2 and this is realy rare.

[@markbackus1449]

Very good film.