Say the name RC Sherriff to most people and their instant reaction is likely to be ‘the man who wrote Journey’s End.’ He is certainly best known for this, and the popular identification with his first widely produced play will surely grow all the while it remains on the GCSE set text list. The First World War classic was based on his own experiences serving in the trenches as a captain in the East Surrey Regiment.
It could also be argued, however, that Robert Cedric Sherriff deserves to be widely remembered for another reason, as the man who provided Hollywood with the first British ‘stiff upper lip’ characters – archetypes which persist today in the kind of roles given to actors like Colin Firth, Ralph Fiennes and Jeremy Irons.
Journey’s End was a huge success. First produced in late 1928, it then ran for two years in the West End, and went onto Broadway and other parts of the world. It enabled Sherriff to quit his job in insurance, first to go to study at Oxford and then to become a full time writer. He was lured to Hollywood by the legendary producer Sam Goldwyn (‘A verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on’, ‘Include me out’, etc, etc) where he worked both as a writer of original screenplays and a script ‘doctor’. His original work included The Invisible Man and Goodbye Mr Chips, and his rewrites such wartime classics as Mrs Miniver.
In his BFI monograph, John Ramsden noticed the importance of the timing of his arrival in Hollywood, in the early 1930s.
At exactly the moment when sound films were about to sweep all before them, in 1928, Sherriff captured in Journey’s End the way in which a certain type of British officer and gentleman spoke and behaved. He then carried these manners and forms of expression into his screenplays, was much imitated in doing so, and saw them develop into clichés of cinematic Englishness.(John Ramsden, The Dam Busters, Tauris, 2003, p.38.)
It’s worth noting that although Sherrif developed this style, he wasn’t himself from an upper middle class background. His father worked in insurance, and the young ‘Bob’ went to a grammar school, Kingston Grammar, not a public school. But his love of rowing and his service in the war as an officer would have brought him in touch with the kinds of people he is famous for depicting.
His understated style of writing is an important characteristic in what could be argued is Sherriff’s second most important work, the screenplay he wrote for The Dam Busters in 1954. There are many examples throughout this script where a character says just a word or two, but this is more than enough to drive the film’s narrative forward:
Gibson: ‘I wanted you for this. You’re the low-flying expert.’Martin: ‘Low flying? Fine.’—WAAF: ‘Are you flying tonight?’Pilot: ‘That’s the general idea.’—Wallace: ‘Why don’t you turn in, Gibby?’Gibson: ‘I have to write some letters first.’
This last exchange is the final piece of dialogue in the film. As the music swells to a great climax, Wallis moves away and Gibson turns and walks back to his office, acknowledging the salute of a passing sergeant. We know that he is about to undertake the commanding officer’s most terrible duty.
Sherriff was nominated for a BAFTA for his script, one of the two nominations he got for this award in 1955. The other was for the lesser known The Night My Number Came Up, which also featured Dam Busters actors Michael Redgrave, Ursula Jeans, Nigel Stock and Bill Kerr. However both were beaten by the classic comedy, The Ladykillers.
By the time The Dam Busters was made, Sherriff was living more or less permanently back home in England, in a large house, Rosebriars, in Esher. Although he was described as a shy and retiring man (see this reference, scroll almost to the bottom of the page) he was still actively involved in rowing, and was a member of several clubs until he died.
This passion for rowing explains a number of references in The Dam Busters – Melvin (‘Dinghy’) Young’s Blue for rowing at Oxford and Henry Maudslay’s feat of being captain of rowing at Eton are both mentioned. Young’s actual Boat Race oar was even used as a prop on the set, A prop made to look like Young’s Boat Race oar features in the sequence after the raid, when the camera zooms in on various reminders of the aircrew who have failed to return. [Updated, January 2013]
Dambusters Blog 
I watched a production of “Journey’s End” in 1957, put on by the sixth form pupils at Northgate GS. It was brilliant.
The “director” was Trevor Nunn, now Sir TN!
While I was living in Chilliwack,B.C., (Can.) in the early 1980’s I was fortunate to meet Harvey Weeks….He was a tail-gunner and one of the dam busters…..He related several incidents to me, one in particular of seeing the aircraft behind his destroyed in the blast form the bomb his crew had dropped….being in the tail gave him a perspective of things not normally considered…….Readers Digest published a two volume book called “Canadians at War” and in it there is a photo of Harvey standing with the crew by their Lancaster……………John….(ps. While living in Sault ste.Marie(Ontario), I Had a German friend (Kurt Mueller) who told me a story of being chased by a Grizzly bear while doing work for the Dept. of Fisheries up the coast of B.C…..10 years later Harvey(in Chilliwack) told me the same story….There were three men there, one was injured and the other two were Kurt and Harvey…..The bear attacked when they stumbled on its deer kill and they escaped by jumping into the river , but not before one of them was “swatted” severely…….What a coincidence,eh?…But, that’s what happens when you take the time to talk to people!!….These three guys just happened to be working together that one time in that one place…..It always amazes me…Oh, Harvey was an explosives expert by trade….Kurt was a biologist….John
Turns out the passing sergeant who salutes right at the end was my Grandfather,sadly passed away a few years now.