The Key
“He had the life expectancy of a match.”
Synopsis
In wartime England, circa 1941, poorly-armed tugs are sent into "U-Boat Alley" to rescue damaged Allied ships. An American named David Ross arrives to captain one of these tugs. He's given a key by a fellow tugboat-man -- a key to an apartment and its pretty female resident. Should something happen to the friend, Ross can use the key.
Credits
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How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
Principal cast & crew: 18
These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Bert BatesShot by Oswald MorrisScored by Malcolm ArnoldDesigned by Wilfred Shingleton
Also known as
- Der Schlüsselde
- La llavees
- La Cleffr
- La chiaveit
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Cast & Crew
18 unique people credited
Top billed cast
William Holden
as Captain David Ross
Sophia Loren
as Stella
William Holden Nm0000034
as Captain David Ross
Trevor Howard
as Captain Chris Ford
Oscar Homolka
as Captain Van Dam
Kieron Moore
as Kane
Bernard Lee
as Cmdr. Wadlow
Beatrix Lehmann
as Housekeeper
Noel Purcell
as Hotel Porter
Bryan Forbes
as First Mate Weaver
Sidney Vivian
as Grogan
Directors
1Writers
2Producers
1Other crew
5Parents Guide
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