The Key (1958 film)

The Key is a 1958 British war film set in 1941 during the Battle of the Atlantic. It was based on the 1951 novel The Distant Shore by Jan de Hartog, published in the UK under the title Stella, and was directed by Carol Reed. William Holden, Sophia Loren and Trevor Howard starred in the production.

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 doublescrewed rescue tug then in dry dock due to battle damage. His predecessor was a suicide. The slow, poorly armed tugboats bring in lame ducks, freighters crippled near England by German attacks. The main danger is from Uboats 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 Chriss, Van Barger, took possession of the hardtofind 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. ........

Source: Wikipedia