The Key

The Key is a 1958 British-American war film set in 1941 during the Battle of the Atlantic. It was based on the 1951 novel by Jan de Hartog (later republished as The Distant Shore and The Key) and was directed by Sir Carol Reed. William Holden, Sophia Loren and Trevor Howard starred in the production. The key to a flat in wartime Britain may augur bad luck for a succession of tug captains of the Royal Navy whose task is to rescue crippled ships in "U-boat Alley." As each takes possession from his unfortunate predecessor, the flat's other occupant, a Swiss expatriate named Stella, apparently comes with it. The latest captain struggles with his conflicting fears and affection for its apparent jinx. Plot American David Ross (William Holden), a former tugboat captain now in the Canadian Army, is hastily commissioned in the Royal Navy and assigned to rotating command of W88, a double-screwed rescue tug then in dry dock due to battle damage. His predecessor committed suicide. The slow, poorly armed tugs bring in "lame ducks," freighters crippled near Britain by German attacks. The main danger is from U-boats and aircraft. David is reunited with an old friend, Captain Chris Ford (Trevor Howard), who commands another tug about to go on a mission. Chris takes David with him and they are attacked twice. That night Chris brings him home to his flat to meet his lover, Stella (Sophia Loren), who wears a wedding ring. She had been engaged to Philip Westerby, another tugboat captain, but he was killed the day before their wedding. A friend of Chris's, Van Barger, took possession of the hard-to-find flat and Stella stayed with him. Knowing the extreme danger of his job, Van Barger then gave a copy of his key to the flat to Chris, so that Stella would be taken care of no matter what. When Chris chooses David to be the next in line, he tries to refuse, but his friend is insistent.