The Battle Of The River Plate (Digitally Remastered Edition) [1956] | ![The Battle Of The River Plate (Digitally Remastered Edition) [1956]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51uciW8WmTL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Directors: Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell
Actors: John Gregson, Anthony Quayle, Ian Hunter, Jack Gwillim, Bernard Lee
Studio: ITV DVD
Category: DVD
List Price: £12.99
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Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 5990
Format: Pal
Languages: English (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired), English (Original Language), German (Original Language)
Rating: Universal, suitable for all
Region: 2
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 114 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5037115041432
ASIN: B00008AWV8
Theatrical Release Date: November 1957
Release Date: March 17, 2003
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Something of a swan song for the legendary Michael Powell-Emeric Pressburger partnership, 1956's The Battle of the River Plate is their penultimate film together (the following year's Ill Met By Moonlight was the last). Shot in a semi-documentary style that stands apart from the "magical realism" of much of their previous work--Canterbury Tales, A Matter of Life and Death, The Red Shoes--the film tells the story of the pursuit of the German pocket battleship Graf Spee by three British cruisers off the River Plate in Uruguay during November 1939. Incorporating actual wartime footage adds to the authentic air, albeit one that sits uneasily with the obviously studio-bound look of the rest. Among the solid cast Peter Finch stands out as the beleaguered Captain Langsdorff of the Graf Spee, while John Gregson is his counterpart, the stalwart British hero type. Things get a bit odd when Christopher Lee pops up in the unlikely role of a Latin-American nightclub boss. It's an atypical Powell and Pressburger picture and not exactly their best, but still a fine World War II picture that documents an important incident in the opening salvos of the war. --Mark Walker
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 General Details, Synopsis & Cast Details September 19, 2008
G. Collins
VINTAGE BRITISH CLASSIC CINEMA COLLECTION
A POWELL AND PRESSBURGER PRODUCTION
BRITISH Vintage WAR FILM CLASSIC
DIGITALLY REMASTERED
THE RANK COLLECTION
THE TREMENDOUS STORY OF THE VICTORY OVER THE GRAF-SPEE
WRITTEN, PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY MICHAEL POWELL AND EMERIC PRESSBURGER
In the 1950s, World War II was not far enough behind to have a nostalgic viewpoint but enough time had elapsed for the war to be seen in a new perspective. In film terms, first there were thoughtful fictionalised films like "Twelve O'clock High", which explored the dramatic and psychological aspects of the war and its effects on the individual. Next, and on a far greater and more prolific scale, came the near documentary reconstructions of wartime campaigns and individual battles and reassessments of individual commanders.
Before "The Battle of The River Plate", Britain had made "The Dam Busters" and Hollywood had given a clean bill of health to Rommel in "The Desert Fox". Following hot on the heels of "The Battle of The River Plate" were other British war reconstructions like "Yangste Incident". "The Silent Enemy" and "Sink the Bismarck". With these it is small wonder the Powell/ Pressburger film got swallowed up in the shuffle.
Unfortunately for the film it also dealt with an event that was in the first days of the war - when British warships had a naval engagement off Montevideo, which was more of a standoff than a victory for either side. It was only Hitler's orders for the Graf Spee to be scuttled which turned it into a technical victory for the British.
When the film was made in 1956, Captain Langsdorff of the Graf Spec became its tragic hero - after the scuttling, wrapping himself in the German rather than Nazi flag and shooting himself. Like "49th Parallel", the earlier Powell/ Pressburger film which courted controversy over its portrayal of Germans, some quarters were far from enamoured with such sympathy for the former enemy.
The film had a rocky production history. Originally intended for one studio, re-routed to another, its budget reduced and a VistaVision ratio imposed at the last minute (in fact, it was one of the earliest British films to be made in the short-lived VistaVision process). It still remains, however, a meticulously researched film, which accurately portrays one of the major naval engagements of the war and should be read alongside Michael Powell's excellent book "The Last Voyage of the Graf Spee".
"As the director of the film I began to realise that I was enjoying a unique opportunity, one which had never occurred to me before and would seldom occur again - I knew all the principal actors of the drama personally, except Admiral Harwood and Captain Langsdorff, who were, both dead. I knew what had happened and why it had happened. In the course of my reconstruction of the battle I had, as it were, stood upon the Bridge of Harwood's Flagship, and upon the Bridge of the Exeter and of Achilles and in the Graf Spee herself. I had tried to imagine myself in Captain Langsdorff's place and in Captain Dove's. I knew the thoughts of the Ministers on the spot and I knew the spot."
Film fans can spot Patrick McNee as Lt Commander Medley,
Andrew Cruikshank as Captain Stubs and a young Christopher Lee as Manola.
In the US, the film was called "Pursuit of the Graf Spee"
"Magnificent and memorable film" NEWS OF THE WORLD - "Masterly" THE TIMES
SPECIAL DVD FEATURES
English Hard of Hearing Subtitles ~ Cast Biographies
CAST & CREW INCLUDES
John Gregson as Capt. Bell, H.M.S. Exeter - Anthony Quayle as Cdre. Harwood, H.M.S. Ajax - Ian Hunter as Capt. Woodhouse, H.M.S. Ajax -
Jack Gwillim as Capt. Parry, H.M.N.Z.S. Achilles - Bernard Lee as Capt. Dove, MS Africa Shell - Lionel Murton as Mike Fowler, Montevideo - Patrick Macnee as Lt. Cmdr. Medley, H.M.S. Ajax - Anthony Bushell as Millington Drake, British Minister, Uruguay - Edward Atienza as Pop -
Peter Illing as Dr. Guani, Uruguayan Foreign Minister - April Olrich as Dolores - Michael Goodliffe as Capt. McCall, RN, British Naval Attache, Buenos Aires - John Chandos as Dr. Langmann, German Minister, Uruguay - Christopher Lee as Manolo - Douglas Wilmer as M. Desmoulins, French Minister, Uruguay - William Squire as Ray Martin, Montevideo - Roger Delgado as Capt. Varela, Uruguayan Navy - Andrew Cruickshank as Capt. Stubbs, Doric Star - Maria Mercedes as Madame X - John Le Mesurier as Rev. George Groves, Padre, HMS Exeter - John Schlesinger as Prisoner on Graf Spee - Peter Finch as Capt. Langsdorff, Admiral Graff Spee -
And a veritable roll-call of fifties British and Commonwealth stage, screen and television faces - ~ et al . . . ~
Written Produced and Directed by Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger.
Also the book by Michael Powell `The Last Voyage of the Graf Spee'.
Director of Photography Christopher Challis - Music Direction by Brian Easdale.
Additional notes for The Battle of the River Plate (1956)
Ships used in the film: HMS Sheffield as HMS Ajax, INS Delhi (formerly HMNZS Achilles) as HMNZS Achilles, HMS Cumberland as HMS Cumberland, Heavy Cruiser USS Salem as the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee. HMS Jamaica played the played the part of HMS Exeter.
HMS Battleaxe was also used as a camera ship (off Malta).
The U.S. Navy would not allow any Nazi insignia to be displayed on the U.S.S. Salem. Footage of the wartime German flag and other insignia was filmed on British ships.
HMS Birmingham was used as a camera ship.
The Midshipmen's quarters were empty because Captain Langsdorff had promoted all of his Midshipmen to Ensigns in order to make room for his prisoners.
Location filming started on 13 December 1955, the 16th anniversary of the battle. The River Plate Association in Auckland sent a good-luck message to the crew. "Congratulations on choice of day. Hope your shooting will be as successful as ours!"
 VistaVision Movie In A 4:3 Letterbox July 11, 2008
Ian Mitchell (Seaford, East Sussex United Kingdom)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I like the movie but what ruins it for me is the presentation.
Film was shot in VistaVision like classics such as "The Searchers" with John Wayne.
Then ITV Video ruin it but making the DVD in a 4:3 Letterbox presentation.
So yes it is in widescreen but to fill up your 16:9 TV you need to apply a manual zoom mode.
This sort of issue with DVD dates back to early releases nearly 10 years ago.
Why remaster a film (if it has been, no mention of that on disc or box) and master it to disc in this way?
Poor show ITV.
ONE OF THE GREAT NAVY STORIES................. June 11, 2008
L. Hay (Scotland)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Set at the beginning of WWII, the Admiral Graf Spee, a German battleship, and menace to Merchant shipping, is pursued by three British cruisers to Montevideo.
This is a true story, superbly enacted by a host of famous faces, and is one of the great stories from the war. Uraguay being a neutral power, the Graf Spee had to be lured back to the open sea, where she was scuttled by her Captain, Langsdorf.
The only black mark I would give the film, was that it did not tell of Langsdorf's suicide. Otherwise this was a tale of the time before the years of of drudgery and the horror of the U-boats had set in, when Naval officers were gentlemen.
An excellent film.
Diplomatic maneuvering and naval gunpowder make a fine Powell and Pressburger movie March 2, 2008
C. O. DeRiemer (San Antonio, Texas, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you'd like to see how talk and diplomatic maneuvering in the hands of two masterful filmmakers can turn what could have been a routine action movie into something special, try Powell and Pressburger's The Battle of the River Plate. It's late 1939 and WWII has started. The German pocket battleship Graf Spee is wreaking havoc with British shipping. Three British cruisers led by Commodore Henry Harwood (Anthony Quayle) are in pursuit. Harwood makes an educated guess that Captain Hans Langsdorff (Peter Finch) will head toward South America for one last series of kills before returning home. He's right, and the first part of the movie is a brutal sea battle between the Graf Spee, which has 11-inch guns and hits harder, farther and faster than anything the British have, and HMS Exeter, HMNZS Achilles and HMS Ajax. They are determined to kill the Graf Spee, even though they only have 6-inch and 8-inch guns. The result? Exeter is badly damaged and must try to make it to the Falklands. Achilles and Ajax are damaged, too, but so is the Graf Spee. Langsdorff disengages and heads for neutral Montevideo, trailed by Achilles and Ajax.
And now we get to the heart of the movie. Under the laws of the sea, Langsdorff has two days to make the Graf Spee seaworthy before he must return to sea. He is low on ammunition. If he leaves the harbor with guns blazing he just might be able to take out Ajax and Achilles. After first working to insure Langsdorff is given no more time to affect repairs, the British realize that there is a chance that at least one British ship, a heavy cruiser, could arrive in time for battle. That would change the odds dramatically against Langsdorff. So now the British cleverly set false rumors that British warships are just beyond the horizon and ready for battle. They've placed Langsdorff in a crucial dilemma. If, he thinks, he leaves harbor now he faces a strengthened British force and will probably loose. If he waits for further repairs the situation won't improve. He could make a dash for Buenos Aires, not far away. Although Argentina is neutral it is friendly to Germany. But the channel is narrow and shallow. If the Graf Spee goes aground it will be a sitting target for the reinforced British. Langsdorff has no stomach for the fiery and pointless death of his sailors. All this is played out in meetings, telephone conversations and messages, all swirling around the diplomats of three countries, Britain, Germany and Uruguay. Langsdorff has little time to decide. Thanks to the British setting up false rumors, his choices all seem poor. But perhaps, in Langsdorff's mind, an immediate attempt at escape might be the least unattractive. He realizes there is a further choice, which is unexpected.
Powell and Pressburger have given us a clever film without cliches. No tearful wives, no anxious or two-timing sweethearts, no sailors used as lower-class comedy relief, no noble sacrifices to save others and no slimy Nazis. Powell uses the device of captured British captains held on the Graf Spee as a way to give us matter-of-fact interplay between the British and the Germans. One captured captain is used as a means for Langsdorff to explain to him (and Powell and Pressburger to explain to us) what the Graf Spee does, how strong it is, how it is supplied and the kind of man Langsdorff is. Powell and Pressburger use the discussions between Harwood and his fighting captains to help us understand Harwood's strategy and the battle tactics he's employing. The battle itself, filmed in the Mediterranean using ships from the navies of Britain and other countries, including a heavy cruiser from the U.S. to stand in for the Graf Spee, is dramatically and efficiently filmed. Almost no models were used except at the explosive conclusion.
But it is the "inaction" half of this action movie which is so cleverly worked out. Powell and Pressburger manage to keep us highly involved with the diplomatic to-and-froing. The fact that the people of Montevideo were fascinated with this giant German pocket battleship in their harbor is played to the hilt. The fate of the Graf Spee at the conclusion of the movie is watched from the harbor walls by thousands, all the while an American broadcaster is giving to radio listeners a description of what is occurring. It's quite an effective scene...and it actually happened.
The Battle of the River Plate, if made by anyone other than Powell and Pressburger, might well be seen as a quirky classic of its genre. But the great films of these two were in the past. They would make one more movie the next year, a film Powell called nothing more than a programmer, and they would then go, still friends, their separate ways. The partnership that gave us The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, A Matter of Life and Death, The Red Shoes, I Know Where I'm Going, A Canterbury Tale and Black Narcissus was over. We're left with these great and wonderful films. If The Battle of the River Plate is not one of them, it still is an effective, professional and clever movie, and so typical of the way these two men avoided conventionality.
Battle of the River Plate November 24, 2007
Hugh McPhilemy (Scotland)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The problem facing films like Battle of the River Plate is that, prior to advent of digital technology, the choice for action scenes,was either to use models (not very lifelike) or substitute suitable ships to depict those that actually took part. This movie takes the latter course and their choice for the Admiral Graf Spee,was the American Heavy Cruiser Salem. Granted it would be a difficult task to find a reasonable substitute but how the producers decided that a German Pocket Battleship,with one funnel & one triple turret bow & stern could be accurately portrayed by a two funnel,three turreted ship seems a bit strange.Likewise the British ships are not accurate and in one strange scene the cruiser "Cumberland" arrives off the River Plate to replace the damaged Exeter. The movie does not make it clear, how Cumberland was expected to do any fighting, as it was minus all it's gun turrets. If you're not too bothered about historical accuracy & simply treat treat this as a "War Movie" then it's quite enjoyable.
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