Editing In Which We Serve (section)

===Pre-production roles===
Coward was determined to portray Captain Kinross in the film despite the studio's concern that his public "dressing gown and cigarette-holder" persona might make it difficult for audiences to accept him in the role of a tough navy man. Havelock-Allan supported him, although he later called his performance "always interesting, if not quite convincing." Coward also needed to convince the censors that the sinking of the ship was a crucial scene and not the threat to public morale they perceived it to be.<ref>[[#Hoare|Hoare]], pp. 325–26</ref>

Coward had experience directing plays, but he was a novice when it came to films, and he knew he needed to surround himself with professionals if the project was to succeed. He had seen and admired [[Ronald Neame]]'s work and he hired him as [[cinematography|cinematographer]] and chief [[lighting technician]].<ref name="Hoare, p. 323">[[#Hoare|Hoare]], p. 323</ref> The Italian film director [[Filippo Del Giudice]] was released from his internment as an enemy alien to work on the film at Coward's insistence. MI5 supplied [[Ann Elwell]] as his secretary. She was translating for him as he took on the role of art director and she also did some scriptwriting.<ref name="odnb">{{Cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-60758|title=Elwell [née Glass], Ann Catherine (1922–1996), intelligence officer and diplomat {{!}} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|year=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/60758|access-date=2019-03-04}}</ref> Coward could handle the direction of the actors but would be at a loss with the action scenes, so he asked [[David Lean]] to supervise the filming of those. ''In Which We Serve'' proved to be the first of several films on which the two would collaborate.<ref name="Hoare, p. 323"/>