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Battle Of The River Plate will never win anyone's Best Film award but is a hugely enjoyable waste of two hours. In real life Langsdorff, a broken man, shot himself days after his ship was scuttled. This is not depicted in the film.
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Something of a swan song for the legendary Michael Powell-Emeric Pressburger partnership, ... more
1956'sThe Battle of the River Plateis their penultimate film together (the following year'sIll Met By Moonlightwas the last). Shot in a semi-documentary style tha...
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Something of a swan song for the legendary Michael Powell-Emeric Pressburger partnership, ... more
1956'sThe Battle of the River Plateis their penultimate film together (the following year'sIll Met By Moonlightwas the last). Shot in a semi-documentary style tha...
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THE BATTLE OF THE RIVER PLATE tells of the pursuit of the German Battleship, the Graf ... more
Spee, one of the most gripping episodes of World War II.November 19639: crack pocket battleship, Admiral Graf Spee patrols the South Atlantic. Captained by Hans Langs...
The Battle Of The River Plate:The Battle Of The River Plate is a gripping drama set at ... more
sea. Ten days before the outbreak of World War II, a powerful German battleship sails around the South Atlantic destroying allied merchant ships. Finally, the allies learnof its location and a trap is set, pitching British intelligence against a powerful military opponent.In Which We Serve:In Which We Serve tells the story of the Royal Navy Destroyer HMS Torrin and those that serve in her. In the battleof Crete she is dive-bombed and goes down fighting. The survivors tell their own stories, at war and on the homefront, as they wait for rescue on their lifeboat.We Dive At Dawn:British submarine 'Sea Tiger' docks after a long voyage and the crew are given a week's leave. Each heads off for hischosen destination. However all their arrangements are then cancelled as they are recalled to their sub and instructed to find and destroy a Nazi battleship, the 'Brandenburg'. On their way, they pick up three German seamenwho tell them where the ship lies in the treacherous Baltic Sea. When they do not know if they were successful andmust return to port quickly to refuel, not knowing if the 'Brandenburg' is following them.
The Battle Of River Plate - Ten days before World War II Germany's crack battleship ... more
Admiral Graf Spee sails with orders to carry out action against Allied merchant shipping in the South Atlantic. Captained by Hans Langsdorff (Peter Finch) Graf Spee with her superior speed sinks ship after ship. Meanwhile the net is tightening round the German Killer. Outwitted by British Intelligence the Germans are convinced Graf Spee is trapped by a massive naval force. The captain evacuates his men and as a succession of explosions light the night Graf Spee becomes a burning inferno Langsdorff has scuttled the pride of the German fleet in the belief that he was facing impossible odds. The killer of the Atlantic would strike no more. In Which We Serve - The story of the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Torrin and those that serve in her. In the Battle of Crete she is dive-bombed while streaming at thirty knots and goes down fighting. We see through the memories of her survivors the ordeals achievements and gallantry of HMS Torrin from her commissioning until she sinks in her last battle. We Dive At Dawn - When all leave is cancelled for the crew of the British submarine Sea Tiger the men know they are in for an important mission. Their target: the German warship Brandenburg located in the Baltic and surrounded by mines and escorting destroyers. Picking up three German airmen who have been shot down they learn the exact position of the Brandenburg and head for it. Now they must face the mines the destroyers and perhaps the biggest threat of all - the Brandenburg's own deadly torpedoes!
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Powell and Pressburger'sThe Battle of the River Plateis an old-school British war film, ... more
which in telling the true story of a key naval engagement from early in WWII successfully balances factual accuracy with spectacle. The German Battleship Graf Spee posed a terrible menace to Allied merchant convey vessels in the South Atlantic, until it was hunted by three British cruisers to Montevideo. Lending the film authenticity is the use of British navy ships, including the HMS Cumberland recreating its own role in the battle. The action lacks the slickness of modern war adventures, but there is a sense of excitement, scale and above all sincerity, refreshing after seeing history shamelessly rewritten in such pictures asU-571(2000). Peter Finch is exceptionally good as the German Captain Langsdorff, who far from a stereotypical Nazi is given due credit as a brilliant commander. The rest of the large cast is fine, and while the drama-documentary style marks a break from Powell and Pressburger's more impressionistic films, this nevertheless makes for a lavishly shot companion to their earlier wartime classics,The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp(1943) andA Matter of Life and Death(1946). Fortunately, this is the full-length British cut running approximately 13 minutes longer than the abridged American version.--Gary S Dalkin
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The Battle Of River Plate - Ten days before World War II Germany's crack battleship ... more
Admiral Graf Spee sails with orders to carry out action against Allied merchant shipping in the South Atlantic. Captained by Hans Langsdorff (Peter Finch) Graf Spee with her superior speed sinks ship after ship. Meanwhile the net is tightening round the German Killer. Outwitted by British Intelligence the Germans are convinced Graf Spee is trapped by a massive naval force. The captain evacuates his men and as a succession of explosions light the night Graf Spee becomes a burning inferno Langsdorff has scuttled the pride of the German fleet in the belief that he was facing impossible odds. The killer of the Atlantic would strike no more. In Which We Serve - The story of the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Torrin and those that serve in her. In the Battle of Crete she is dive-bombed while streaming at thirty knots and goes down fighting. We see through the memories of her survivors the ordeals achievements and gallantry of HMS Torrin from her commissioning until she sinks in her last battle. We Dive At Dawn - When all leave is cancelled for the crew of the British submarine Sea Tiger the men know they are in for an important mission. Their target: the German warship Brandenburg located in the Baltic and surrounded by mines and escorting destroyers. Picking up three German airmen who have been shot down they learn the exact position of the Brandenburg and head for it. Now they must face the mines the destroyers and perhaps the biggest threat of all - the Brandenburg's own deadly torpedoes!
Postage & Packaging:£0.00 Availability:3-5 working days
Production Year: 1958 - War - Director: J. Lee Thompson - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring: John Mills, Sylvia Syms, Anthony Quayle, Harry Andrews, Diane Clare
Production Year: 1970 - War - Director: Brian G. Hutton - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring: Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, Carroll O'Connor, Donald Sutherland, Don Rickles, Gavin MacLeod
Production Year: 1961 - War - Director: J. Lee Thompson - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring: Bryan Forbes, Irene Papas, Richard Harris, Anthony Quayle, Stanley Baker, Anthony Quinn, David Niven, Gregory Peck
...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 ... ...
Battle Of The River Plate will never win anyone's Best Film award but is a hugely enjoyable waste of two hours. In real life Langsdorff, a broken man, shot himself days after his ship was scuttled. This is not depicted in the film.
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 the River Plate on the Uruguay / Argentina border and was scuttled by her captain, giving the Navy a morale-boosting victory.
The great Peter Finch plays the proud yet anxious Kapitan Langsdorff and is probably the star of the film overall. Graf Spee has British merchant seamen aboard rescued after she sank their ship, and between their captain, Dove (played by Bernard Lee) and himself, Langsdorff begins to realise though while they will never be friends, both are seamen doing their duty, seperated only by their flags. The story between these two makes up one of the central planks of the film, the other being the diplomatic chicanery taking place in the British and German embassies in Montevideo. The British ambassador broadcasts on an open line that powerful Royal Navy reinforcements are coming, whilst his staff can't believe what he is doing. They don't realise that it's all part of the plan.
Anthony Quayle gives a good performance as the stiff-upper-lip British commander Harwood. There's a great scene in the Exeter's wardroom where he asks one of the officers where the sun is.
"It's well over the yardarm sir!" is the reply. "Then let's break out the gin". This refers to the time being after midday, and gives some insight into the men that although they are sailing to battle, they keep the spirit of Francis Drake and the Royal Navy alive. Calm and unhurried, whilst at the same time determined.
This shows again with the film's end scene where the men on board the cruisers await the Graf Spee resuming the battle. They have only radio commentary of the events to guide them, no one knows what the fight will bring, and when news of the German ship blowing itself up comes they all cheer. Whilst steeled for the fight they are grateful of course that they will still be alive to see another day.
This is a rollocking good war film that thankfully does not revert to the gung-ho American ones about at the time (for instance Sands Of Iwo Jima and To Hell And Back) showing both British and German viewpoints. It's co-directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, who collaborated on several similar films notably 1949's Small Back Room and 1943's Colonel Blimp. Watch out for cameos from Christopher Lee, Patrick McNee and especially John Le Mesurier as ship's padre.
Battle Of The River Plate will never win anyone's Best Film award but is a hugely enjoyable waste of two hours. In real life Langsdorff, a broken man, shot himself days after his ship was scuttled. This is not depicted in the film.
Ten days before the start of WWII, Graf Spee, Germany's famed warship under the leadership of Hans Langsdorff (Peter Finch), attempts to halt Allied merchant shipping in the South Atlantic. After a defeated allied craft manages to radio its coordinates before sinking, British naval forces begin playing a cat-and-mouse game with the feared German warship, leading to Langsdorff and his crew hiding out in Montevideo.
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