{{Short description|1941 British film by Walter Forde}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}} {{Use British English|date=July 2019}} {{Infobox film | name = Atlantic Ferry<br />{{aka}} Sons of the Sea | image = Atlantic_Ferry_aka_Sons_of_the_Sea_1941_poster.jpg | alt = Blue-toned movie poster showing a man holding a woman as they gaze into each other's eyes, with another man watching from behind and sailors below; large yellow text reads Sons of the Sea. | caption = Theatrical release poster | director = Walter Forde | producer = {{Plainlist| * Max Milder (uncredited) * Culley Forde (associate producer) }} | writer = {{Plainlist| * Derek MacIver (story) * Wynne MacIver (story) * Gordon Wellesley * Edward Dryhurst * Emeric Pressburger }} | narrator = | starring = {{Plainlist| * Michael Redgrave * Valerie Hobson * Griffith Jones }} | music = Jack Beaver | cinematography = Basil Emmott<ref>{{cite book|last=Love|first=Bessie|year=1977|title=From Hollywood with Love: An Autobiography of Bessie Love|location=London|publisher=Elm Tree Books|oclc=734075937|page=154}}</ref> | editing = Terence Fisher | studio = Warner Bros. Pictures | distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures | released = {{Film date|1941|09|06|UK|1942|02|07|U.S.|df=y}} | runtime = | country = {{Plainlist| * United Kingdom * United States }} | language = English | budget = £97,355<ref name="warnersone">Steve Chibnall (2019) Hollywood-on-Thames: the British productions ofWarner Bros. – First National, 1931–1945, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 39:4, 687-724, DOI: 10.1080/01439685.2019.1615292 at p 714</ref> | gross = £88,558<ref name="warnersone"/> }} '''''Atlantic Ferry''''' (U.S. title: '''''Sons of the Sea''''') is a 1941 British film directed by Walter Forde and starring Michael Redgrave and Valerie Hobson.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a43ce30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190212011458/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a43ce30|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 February 2019|title=''Atlantic Ferry'' (1941)|website=British Film Institute|access-date=7 September 2014}}</ref> It was made at Teddington Studios.
==Plot== In 1837 Liverpool, brothers Charles and David MacIver have great faith in steam-powered ships. Their first attempt, the coastal freighter ''Gigantic'', proves to be an embarrassing and costly failure, sinking immediately after being launched. David becomes discouraged and, to save their failing shipping firm, agrees to a merger proposed by longtime rival George Burns.
Charles, however, is undaunted, despite being turned down by every banker when he seeks new funding. He gives his share of the family firm to David and sets out on his own. He teams up with Nova Scotian Samuel Cunard and engineer Robert Napier, and they build the RMS ''Britannia''. They win a British mail contract and make the first steamship crossing of the Atlantic, from Liverpool to Boston, in record time, despite a storm that threatens to sink the ship.
Romantic complications ensue when both brothers fall in love with Mary Ann Morison, the daughter of an important government shipping official. She agrees to marry David (before she becomes acquainted with his brother), but it is Charles who wins her heart.
==Cast== {{Cast listing| * Michael Redgrave as Charles MacIver * Valerie Hobson as Mary Ann Morison * Griffith Jones as David MacIver * Hartley Power as Samuel Cunard * Margaretta Scott as Susan Donaldson * Bessie Love as Begonia Baggot * Milton Rosmer as George Burns * Frederick Leister as James Morison * Henry Oscar as Josiah Eagles * Edmund Willard as Robert Napier * Charles Victor as Tim Grogan * Frank Tickle as Mr. Donaldson * Leslie Bradley as Horatio Stubbs * Felix Aylmer as bank president * Joss Ambler as Dr. Lardner }}
==Reception== The film received neutral-to-negative reviews.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/motionpictureher1461unse/page/50|magazine=Motion Picture Herald|page=51|date=25 April 1942|first=L.C.|last=Anderson|title=What the Picture Did for Me|quote=Put this one on the shelf. It won't suit folks who are accustomed to seeing good films made in America.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tcm.turner.com/tcmdb/title/67757/Sons-of-the-Sea/|website=TCM|title=''Sons of the Sea'' (1942)}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/v45692|website=AllMovie|title=''Sons of the Sea'' (1942)}}</ref>
According to Warner Bros. records, it earned $87,000 domestically and $16,000 foreign.<ref name="warners">The William Schaefer Ledger, Appendix 1, ''Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television'', (1995) 15:sup1, 1–31 p. 22 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb title|0033358}} * {{TCMDb title|67757}}} * {{AFI film|27761}} * [https://archive.org/details/pictureshowannua00amal_15/page/156 Film stills] from ''Picture Show Annual''
{{Walter Forde}}
Category:1941 films Category:1941 romantic drama films Category:1941 English-language films Category:British black-and-white films Category:British romantic drama films Category:Films directed by Walter Forde Category:Films scored by Jack Beaver Category:Films set in Liverpool Category:Films set in the 1830s Category:Films set in the Atlantic Ocean Category:British seafaring films Category:Warner Bros. films Category:1941 British films Category:English-language romantic drama films