The Battle of the River Plate

The South Atlantic, 1939. The German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee is sinking merchant ships and nobody can find her. Three British cruisers pick up the trail and attack together, since none of them is enough alone. Damaged, the Graf Spee puts into Montevideo. Uruguay is neutral and grants only a few days for repairs. What follows is diplomacy and bluff. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger direct. Peter Finch plays Langsdorff, the Graf Spee's commander, and Anthony Quayle plays the British commander Harwood. The striking thing is that it was shot with real ships. The Royal Navy supported the production and HMS Achilles, which had fought in the action, played herself. The sea sequences use no miniatures; they were shot at sea with actual vessels. Within Powell and Pressburger's work the film is an exception. The pair are usually associated with stylised, colour saturated and fantastic productions; here there is a war narrative made with something close to documentary care. The portrayal of Langsdorff is notable too. The German commander is treated with respect; his conduct toward prisoners and the decision he takes at the end are at the centre, which was unusual for a British production eleven years after the war. It was chosen as that year's Royal Command Performance in Britain. Who it is for: viewers who like naval war films and productions built on real events. Who it is not for: the pace is slow, the characters are thin, and the second half consists entirely of diplomatic conversation.