Search - Battle of the River Plate

Battle of the River Plate

Actor(s): John Gregson, Anthony Quayle, Peter Finch, Ian Hunter, Jack Gwillim
Director(s): Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
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Details

Content Advisory: Suitable for Children
Movie Release: 1956
Format: DVD
SwapaDVD Credits: 1
Number of Discs: 1
Studio: Carlton Ent.
Members Wishing: 0
Genres: War, War Drama

Synopsis

Widely regarded as one of the best and most intelligent British war dramas of the 1950s, The Battle of River Plate is the story of Britain's first significant naval victory in WW2. John Gregson heads the cast as Captain Bell, skipper of the Exeter, one of several vessels engaged in pursuit of the "indestructable" Geman battleship Graf Spee. Taking refuge in the neutral harbor of Montevideo, the Graf Spee is covertly protected by the Uruguayan government. Eventually, however, German captain Langsdorff (Peter Finch) is faced with a difficult decision: either stand his ground and fight a losing battle against the Exeter and its sister ships, or scuttle the Graf Spee and save the lives of his crew. Battle of the River Plate was released in the US as Pursuit of the Graf Spee. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast

John Gregson - Capt. F.S. Bell, "Exeter"
Anthony Quayle - Commodore Harwood
Peter Finch - Capt. Hans Langsdorff, "Admiral Graf Spee"
Ian Hunter - Capt. Woodhouse, "Ajax"
Jack Gwillim - Capt. Parry, "Achilles"
Bernard Lee - Capt. Patrick Dove, "Africa Shell"

Editorial Review

In the United States, only The Criterion Collection has seemed very interested in putting out the movies of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger on DVD, but in England it's a different story -- several DVD labels are busy issuing the work of the writer/producer/director duo, known corporately as The Archers. The Battle of the River Plate (or, as it is known in America, Pursuit of the Graf Spee), has arrived from England on this Region 2 disc from Carlton Classics (playable on DVD machines in Europe and the Middle East, all-region players, and on properly set-up American computers). The movie was the last big-scale production to come from the filmmaking duo of Powell and Pressburger, and employed numerous ships and extras recreating the most celebrated British naval action of the early part of the war. The movie looks decent if unexceptional, at least in the early scenes; the source is in a good state of repair, with lots of detail in the mildly letterboxed image. The latter looks to be about 1.7:1, as an educated guess -- the film was shot in Vistavision, which is wholly adjustable from full-screen to around 2.1:1; the letterboxing does keep the entirety of each ship onscreen without any sections chopped off. The color varies somewhat from scene to scene and shot to shot in the early part of the movie, with some gradations in tone and richness, but nothing jarring. The scenes in the prisoners' quarters on the Graf Spee do have a lot more depth to the color than the adjacent scenes in the captain's quarters; generally, however, as the movie progresses, it looks better, as far as the color is concerned. From 36 minutes in and after, the image achieves a kind of near-perfection in depth and tone, starting with the first night action, and the detail is excellent throughout (and at 69 and again at 110 minutes in) -- this is, for a time, almost a demonstration-quality disc. The audio is mastered at a somewhat low volume level, but when you pump it up, out pours the purest representation yet heard of Brian Easdale's score, which, at different points, resembles his music from The Red Shoes ballet and, at other points, takes on some of the characteristics of Ralph Vaughan Williams' or Benjamin Britten's work. At times, especially in the naval combat sequences, the movie almost seems like a symphony accompanied by images, and recalls Powell's goal of making a movie made entirely of images and music, with no dialogue. The 114-minute movie has been given a paltry eight chapters, which are well-named and located but don't really delineate the movie as well as a larger chapter menu would. The only significant bonus feature is an array of onscreen bios of director Powell and three of the cast members. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide