A flag is a piece of fabric with a distinctive design that is usually rectangular and used as a symbol, as a signaling device, or decoration. The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed by a flag, or to its depiction in another medium.
The first flags were used to assist military coordination on battlefields, and flags have since evolved into a general tool for rudimentary signalling and identification, especially in environments where communication is similarly challenging (such as the maritime environment where semaphore is used). National flags are potent patriotic symbols with varied wide-ranging interpretations, often including strong military associations due to their original and ongoing military uses. Flags are also used in messaging, advertising, or for other decorative purposes. The study of flags is known as vexillology, from the Latin vexillum meaning flag or banner.
In antiquity, field signs or standards were used in warfare that can be categorized as vexilloid or "flag-like". Examples include the Achaemenid battle standard Derafsh Kaviani, and the standards of the Roman legions such as the eagle of Augustus Caesar's Xth legion, or the dragon standard of the Sarmatians; the latter was let fly freely in the wind, carried by a horseman, but judging from depictions it was more similar to an elongated dragon kite than to a simple flag.
Plot
This is the story of a British Naval ship, HMS Torrin, from its construction to its sinking in the Mediterranean during action in World War II. The ship's first and only commanding officer is the experienced Captain E.V. Kinross who trains his men not only to be loyal to him but to the country and most importantly, to themselves. They face challenges at sea and also at home. They lose some of their shipmates in action and some of their loved ones in the devastation that is the blitz. Throughout it all, the men of the Torrin serve valiantly and heroically.
Keywords: based-on-true-story, battleship, bomber, british-navy, captain, crew, destroyer, flashback, harbor, knitting
Noel Coward's Academy Award Winner [UK Video]
The greatest human drama of war filmed! The greatest picture you've ever seen! [UK Theatrical]
The Greatest Motion Picture Of Our Time! [USA Theatrical]
IT STANDS ALONE - The Greatest Of All Motion Pictures! [Australia theatrical]
You'll Never Forget...In Which We Serve [UK Theatrical]
[first lines]::Voice: [voiceover] This is the story of a ship... [long sequence of ship-building and launch]
[last lines]::Voice: [voiceover] Here ends the story of a ship, but there will always be other ships; we are an island race, through all our centuries the sea has ruled our destiny. There will always be other ships and men to sail in them. It is these men, in peace or war, to whom we owe so much. Above all victories, beyond all loss, in spite of changing values and a changing world they give to us, their countrymen, eternal and indominitable pride. [sequence of ships launching and at sea]::Capt. Edward V. Kinross: Open fire!::Voice: God bless our ships... and all who sail in them. [close-up of the Royal Navy ensign]
Flags: Very pretty sky, sir. Somebody sent me a calendar rather like that last Christmas.::Capt. Edward V. Kinross: Did it have a squadron of Dorniers in the upper right-hand corner?::Flags: No, sir.::Capt. Edward V. Kinross: That's where art parts company with reality.
Sell everything that you once owned,
On the internet, and move out of home.
Get an education or start paying rent.
You soon forget what those songs meant.
So here is your youth, packed into boxes.
Which ideals were yours?
Which were the fashionable choices?
Here’s you opinions
and the lives you led.
I remember the conversations.
Every word we said.
These shirts were monuments to the places we had been,
They’re stacked like folded flags, reminders of who you
used to be.
We all drift from scene to scene,
you forget the words, like you forget me.
Move to the city,Get a good job.
Maybe live somewhere pretty,
maybe you’ll find god!
So here’s your “new life”. the new things you own.
Here’s your new friends,
forget the ones back home.
Look back on those years
and the times we spent
and remember the conversation.
and the words we said.
These shirts were monuments to the places we had been,
They’re stacked like folded flags, reminders of who you
used to be.
And you said “aren’t we a generation, whose songs all
have been sung?”
We’re still here and I can’t hear you over the ringing
in my ears.
“aren’t we a generation, whose songs all have been
sung?”
We’re still here and I can’t hear you over the ringing
in my ears.
Remember the past to keep my feet on the ground.
Remember the songs and I still sing them loud.
Remember the shows and all that we went through.
I remember the past and I’ll remember you.
And you said “aren’t we a generation, whose songs all
have been sung?”
We’re still here and I can’t hear you over the ringing
in my ears.
“aren’t we a generation, whose songs all have been
sung?”
We’re still here and I can’t hear you over the ringing
I know you are, another planet miles apart
Is it a question of things you really
Should have cared about?
You took a drive, countries called
More than your friends did, they watched you fall
And now you've pulled the wires right from the wall
Flags, don't ask me how I'm doing
I'm doing fine
Set it straight, so there is no road left, only water
Spent your time hopelessly alone
It's no real price to pay anyway
And your first letter came
Stressing lines against the whitening page
A trauma type, saturation stains
Flags, he went from riches to rags
Where are my friends? I'm a burden to their hallowed sense
When I felt my head came to an end
I made promises, I made promises never kept
Your head at night
So many thoughts fought for the finish line
When there's no beginning before you're running out on time
You're so hard to ignore
You're on my mind from beach to trestle door
I'm thinking of you, flat out cold, beneath the starboard floor
Flags, don't ask me how he's doing
He's doing fine
Nothing seems to work behind these walls
Communication is breaking down
Empathy is nothing but a myth
So tell me who you really are
Flash
And our world is no more
From coast to coast
From flag to flag
From coast to coast
We wave our flags
Mirrors on the wall don't tell the truth
I try to look the other way
Reflect myself in eyes of those I love
They tell me who I really am
Flash
And our world is no more
From coast to coast
From flag to flag
From coast to coast
We wave our flags
Then it occurred to me
We're standing close now
To breaking up
From coast to coast
We wave our flags for nothing
From coast to coast
We wave our flags for nothing
From coast to coast
I have seen your garden growing madly
There I find you, hands in the earth
I have heard you talking with your children
On your level, never talking down
And I don't know how you cannot see
Where your gifts may be found
You say you know no tricks, have no talents
Isn't everyone supposed to have their own?
Yes, but few are obvious
Few draw notice to those who possess them
Like flags waving themselves
And you wonder how, how I can say
That your gifts do abound
I don't know how you cannot see
Where your gifts may be found.
Do you understand when I say
Come, tell me your trouble
I'm not your answer
But I'm a listening ear
Reality has left you reeling
All facts and no feeling
No faith and all fear
I don't know why a good man will fall
While a wicked one stands
And our lives blow about
Like flags on the land
Who's at fault is not important
Good intentions lie dormant
And we're all to blame
While apathy acts like an ally
My enemy and I are one and the same
I don't know why the innocents fall
While the monsters still stand
And our lives blow about
Like flags on the land
I don't know why our words are so proud
Yet their promise soothing
And our lives blow about
Like flags in the wind
You who mourn will be comforted
You who hunger will hunger no more
All the last shall be first, of this I am sure
You who weep now will laugh again
All you lonely be lonely no more
Yes, the last will be first, of this I'm sure
I don't know why the innocents fall
While the monsters stand
I don't know why the little ones thirst
But I know the last shall be first
I know the last shall be first