Midshipman Easy

Midshipman Easy is a 1935 British adventure film directed by Carol Reed and starring Hughie Green, Margaret Lockwood and Harry Tate. A young man runs away from home, joins the navy and goes to sea in the 1790s. He rescues a captive woman from a Spanish ship and battles pirates and smugglers. It was based on the novel Mr Midshipman Easy 1836 by Frederick Marryat.

The cliff top action sequences and rocky shore scenes of the film were shot on the Isle of Portland.Allmovie noted a ripping yarn and Britmovie noted, a great work of popular entertainment in its own era, Captain Marryats novel is a logical subject for the mass audience that attends films, but concluded, the films budget was as limited as other British movies of the period, and most of it was shot at the Ealing Studios in London. A minor financial and critical success in England, Midshipman Easy did not even strike the British as more than a spirited bit of ephemera and there is very little about the picture to change anyones mind today. and NitrateVille wrote, a rather remarkable little British film, a sort of boys view of going to sea, that boasts several excellent performances and one that is downright astonishing...a remarkable performance by Robert Adams, a black actor, who plays Mesty. Mestys job onboard the ship is rather vague, but he becomes Earlys protector and righthand man. Hes promoted to the rank of corporal and later saves Earlys life by fighting the Italian desperado and throwing him over a cliff. The class and bravery of this black character in a 1935 British film outpaces anything I can think of in an American film of the era. ........

Source: Wikipedia