Battle Of The Atlantic - From Success To Failure 1939/45 DVD

Advantages: ***
Disadvantages: ***

...Don't let the title put you off right away. This is not a film totally about football, it's a murder mystery that has a football theme and backdrop, in this case Arsenal's world-famous (and soon to be vacated) Highbury Stadium Arsenal were not only the most successful British football team of the 1930s, they also had a couple of other claims to fame from that decade; in 1933 they had an Underground station named after them, and in 1939 they found their players and ground used as a centrepiece in this film, a classic black & white whodunit directed by Ealing veteran Thorold Dickinson, taking the chair for his first feature film, adapted from the book of the same name by Leonard Gribble. The story is based around a charity match played at Highbury between Arsenal as themselves, and mighty amateur side The Trojans. Several... Read review

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Advantages: -
Disadvantages: -

...Released in 1956, this film tells the true story of the battle which was the Royal Navy's first victory of World War II. In December 1939 three cruisers, Exeter, Ajax and Achilles, under the command of Commodore Henry Harwood, were sent to intercept the German pocket battleship Graf Spee which had been sinking Allied merchant shipping in the South Atlantic. After a fierce gunfight off the coast of Uruguay, the Graf Spee retired to the nearby port of Montevideo for repairs. As Uruguay was officially a neutral country much diplomatic manouvering took place, first to hold the Graf Spee in harbour, then Allied propaganda broadcast that a powerful force was waiting for her should she come out to fight (in fact there were no other Royal Navy ships avaliable). Fooled by the British messages, Graf Spee sailed out along... Read review

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Advantages: An ambitious epic with charismatic central performance from Colin Farrell
Disadvantages: Some scenes are badly written

...the successes of other filmmakers. No, but I would rather see filmmakers trying hard to do something ambitious, challenging and interesting, something that causes you to investigate history or assess your own viewpoint on something. Put more crudely, I would rather see a filmmaker miss an ambitious target than watch "Cheaper by the Dozen 2" or any teen horror movie of the last five years. If you like epics or war movies, you should definitely watch this. For others, the movie is fascinating for both its successes and failures and features a charismatic performance from Colin Farrell well worth the price of admission. >>> DVD Technical The picture and sound quality of the feature is exceptional. This is a strong detailed artefact free presentation that renders the lush visuals of the movie with breathtaking clarity. The sound is equally impressive... Read review

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