Patrick Macnee

(On Cable TV, September 2021) There’s an unmistakable aura of nostalgia surrounding The Sea Wolves, both in concept and execution. Not only taking 1980 Great Britain audiences to the glory days of World War II, it also features a variety of actors who peaked years before. Oh, sure, Roger Moore was at the mid-Bond tenure prime of his career at the time — but he was well into his fifties, and the other players in the film are none other than Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Patrick Macnee — all great actors, but all running on past glories. The plot has to do with older and semi-retired military personnel taking on Nazi radio transmissions off the coast of India, under the guise of being lost fishermen. The presence of Moore, not really playing much of a variation on his debonair persona, does lend some additional sense of adventure to the film, but it’s the older actors who are asked to carry much of the humour and adventure. There’s even a little bit of post-colonial wistfulness in taking in the Indian setting. While the story is adapted from a relatively obscure real-life incident, everyone will acknowledge the rather large liberties taken with the fact. The Sea Wolves does amount to a decent WW2 adventure in a somewhat classical mould — virtuous allies, perfidious Nazis, stiff upper-lip and a rather happy ending without anguish. It fits the bill for pleasant, not-too-demanding viewing, echoing other, somewhat better works from the actors involved.