{{Short description|1953 British film by Lewis Gilbert}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}} {{Use British English|date=June 2016}} {{Infobox film | name = Albert R.N. | image = Albertrn.jpg | caption = Theatrical release poster | director = [[Lewis Gilbert]] | writer = {{ubl|[[Vernon Harris]]|[[Guy Morgan (writer)|Guy Morgan]]}} | based_on = ''Albert R.N.'' by Guy Morgan and Edward Sammis | starring = {{ubl|[[Jack Warner (actor)|Jack Warner]]|[[Anthony Steel (actor)|Anthony Steel]]|[[Robert Beatty]]}} | producer = [[Daniel M. Angel]] | editing = [[Charles Hasse]] | music = [[Malcolm Arnold]] | cinematography = [[Jack Asher]] | studio = Angel Productions | distributor = [[Eros Films]] | released = {{Film date|1953|11|23|df=yes}} | country = United Kingdom | budget = £88,378<ref name="brian">Brian MacFarlane, ''An Autobiography of British Cinema'', Methuen 1997 p. 220</ref><ref name="money">Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p 358</ref> | runtime = 88 minutes | language = English }}
'''''Albert R.N.''''' is a 1953 British [[war film]] directed by [[Lewis Gilbert]] and starring [[Jack Warner (actor)|Jack Warner]], [[Anthony Steel (actor)|Anthony Steel]] and [[Robert Beatty]]. It was based on the 1952 play of the same title by [[Guy Morgan (writer)|Guy Morgan]] and Edward Sammis.
==Plot== An escape tunnel for the naval officer prisoners during the [[Second World War]] at a German [[prisoner-of-war camp]] is discovered.
Lieutenant Ainsworth devises a scheme with the escape committee to use the components of a [[mannequin]] named Albert to convince the Germans that all prisoners sent outside the camp for a bathhouse wash up are returned to the camp. A piece of Albert is smuggled with the prisoners going to the bathhouse and reassembled for the return. Ainsworth also has a woman [[pen pal]] he has never seen; he plans to marry her once he is free. Though the originator has the right to try out his own idea, Ainsworth insists that his hut mates draw cards for the privilege; Erickson wins and gets away.
After waiting a while, they decide to reuse the ploy. This time, Ainsworth's friend, after hearing that his pen pal has not written in a while, sees to it that the draw is rigged so that he wins. Ainsworth auctions his place, only to have Captain Maddox, the senior prisoner of war, order him to go. Ainsworth is recaptured the same day. Later, the camp commandant informs the men that Erickson was shot while resisting arrest by the Gestapo; his ashes are handed over.
When SS {{lang|de|Hauptsturmführer}} Schultz expresses interest in American Lieutenant "Texas" Norton's chronometer, Norton notes Schultz is in charge of the camp's boundary lights and asks him to see that they malfunction during the next Allied night bombing raid in exchange for the chronometer, but it is a trap. Schultz signals his men to turn the lights back on while Norton is cutting through the [[barbed wire]] fence, then shoots him down in cold blood.
Schultz tries to suborn Ainsworth but Ainsworth tells him he will see to it he is prosecuted for murder after the war. When Schultz becomes the new {{lang|de|Kommandant}}, Ainsworth insists on trying to escape again, using Albert. He gets away but waits at night to confront Schultz outside the camp. After a struggle, he gets Schultz's pistol. When Allied bombs drop uncomfortably close by, Schultz runs for it. Ainsworth is unable to bring himself to shoot the fleeing German in the back but a bomb kills him. Ainsworth takes back Norton's chronometer from the dead man and walks away.
==Cast== {{div col}} * [[Jack Warner (actor)|Jack Warner]] as Captain Maddox * [[Anthony Steel (actor)|Anthony Steel]] as Lieutenant Geoffrey Ainsworth * [[Robert Beatty]] as Lieutenant Jim Reed * [[William Sylvester]] as Lieutenant Texas Norton * [[Anton Diffring]] as SS Hauptsturmführer Schultz (credited as a [[Hauptmann]], the [[German Army (Wehrmacht)|Heer]] equivalent in the credits) * [[Michael Balfour (actor)|Michael Balfour]] as Lieutenant Henry Adams * [[Guy Middleton]] as Captain Barton * [[Paul Carpenter (actor)|Paul Carpenter]] as Lieutenant Fred Erickson * [[Moultrie Kelsall]] as Commander Henry Dawson * [[Eddie Byrne]] as Commander Joe Brennan * [[Geoffrey Hibbert]] as Lieutenant Cutter Craig * [[Peter Jones (actor)|Peter Jones]] as Lieutenant Schoolie Browne * [[Frederick Valk]] as Camp Kommandant * [[Frederick Schiller]] as Herman * [[Walter Gotell]] as Feldwebel * [[Peter Swanwick]] as Obergefreiter {{div col end}}
==Historical background== The film is based on a true story. "Albert [[Royal Navy|R.N.]]" was a dummy constructed in [[Marlag und Milag Nord|Marlag O]], the prisoner of war camp in northern Germany for naval officers. The head was sculpted by war artist [[John Worsley (artist)|John Worsley]] (1919–2000), the body by Lieutenant Bob Staines RNVR, and Lieutenant-Commander Tony Bentley-Buckle devised a mechanism enabling Albert's eyes to blink and move, adding realism to the dummy.<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/military-obituaries/naval-obituaries/7982962/Lieutenant-Commander-Tony-Bentley-Buckle.html Daily Telegraph obituary: Lieutenant-Commander Tony Bentley-Buckle]</ref> "Albert" was used as a stand-in for a head count while a prisoner escaped and was used on two occasions.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/news/2000/oct/13/guardianobituaries.books Steve Holland, 'John Worsley: Energetic artist who drew a debonair police hero for the Eagle comic, and created Albert RN, the dummy hero of a famed wartime escape', ''The Guardian'', 13 October 2000] accessed 11 July 2012</ref> In the first attempt Lieutenant William "Blondie" Mewes RNVR escaped from the camp shower block and the skilful use of "Albert" during roll-calls gave him four days head start before a missing PoW was reported. Mewes was recaptured in Lübeck and returned to Marlag camp. The second occasion failed when the escaping PoW was discovered hiding in the camp shower block and "Albert" was discovered in the subsequent searches.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Worsley | first1=John | author-link1=John Worsley (artist) | last2=Giggal | first2=Kenneth |title=John Worsley's War: An Official War Artist in World War II |location=Shrewsbury | publisher=Airlife |year=1993 |isbn=978-1-85310-257-8}}</ref>
Worsley made a new "Albert" for use in the film. Senior Commissioned Gunner (TAS) Lieutenant John William Goble RN aided Worsley in the development of "Albert" in the POW camp, Marlag O and acted as technical adviser for the film. Worsley made a third "Albert" for the retrospective exhibition of his work held in [[Brighton College]]'s Burstow Gallery. After the show, it was donated to the [[Royal Naval Museum]] Portsmouth. Guy Morgan and Edward Sammis, who were British POWs, wrote a play based on the story on which this film was based. This was subsequently adapted into a screenplay.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article57568306 |title=Dummy as star of film. |newspaper=[[The Mail (Adelaide)|The Mail]] |location=Adelaide |date=13 September 1952 |access-date=11 July 2012 |page=7 Supplement: SUNDAY MAGAZINE |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
==Production== The film was first planned as a project for [[Romulus Productions]] and star [[Sonny Tufts]] (as an American film star), [[Trevor Howard]], [[Anton Walbrook]] and [[Ralph Richardson]].<ref>'Slapstick' Will Tell Big Comedy Saga; Tufts Builds British Career Schallert, Edwin. ''Los Angeles Times'' 12 January 1953: B9.</ref> Jack Warner and Anthony Steel were both leased to producer Daniel Angel by the [[Rank Organisation]]. Both had previously appeared in POW movies, ''[[The Captive Heart]]'' (1946) and ''[[The Wooden Horse]]'' (1950) respectively, and had just made ''[[Emergency Call (1952 film)|Emergency Call]]'' together. Steel frequently made war films in support of an older British actor.<ref name="vagg">{{cite magazine |magazine=Filmink |first=Stephen |last=Vagg |url=https://www.filmink.com.au/the-emasculation-of-anthony-steel-a-cold-streak-saga/ |title=The Emasculation of Anthony Steel: A Cold Streak Saga |date=September 23, 2020}}</ref> A POW camp was built on Headley Heath.<ref name="brian"/> At one stage the film was going to be called ''The Spare Man''.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58876614 |title=FROM LONDON. |work=[[The Mail (Adelaide)|The Mail]] |location=Adelaide |date=17 October 1953 |access-date=11 July 2012 |page=60 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
==Release== Lewis Gilbert said the film earned its money back in the United Kingdom.<ref name="brian"/> ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' on 21 October 1953, page 181, described it as "Well-done British-made prison meller, lacks names for U.S. market", and went on to say, "A solid all-round cast admirably fits into the plot. Anthony Steel handsomely suggests the young artist responsible for the creation of 'Albert' and Jack Warner is reliably cast as the senior British officer who maintains discipline with understanding in the camp. Robert Beatty, William Sylvester and Guy Middleton are among the principal POWs. Frederick Valk is a sympathetic camp commandant, but Anton Diffring suggests the typical ruthless Nazi type."<ref>[https://archive.org/details/variety192-1953-10/page/n181/mode/1up?q=%22anthony+steel%22 Review of film] at Variety</ref>{{full citation needed|date=June 2022}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb title|id=0045487|title=Albert RN}}
{{Lewis Gilbert}}
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[[Category:1953 films]] [[Category:1953 war films]] [[Category:British black-and-white films]] [[Category:British war films]] [[Category:Films directed by Lewis Gilbert]] [[Category:Films scored by Malcolm Arnold]] [[Category:World War II films based on actual events]] [[Category:World War II prisoner of war films]] [[Category:1953 English-language films]] [[Category:1953 British films]] [[Category:English-language war films]]