Sink the Bismarck! (1960)

Very disappointing...

the audience applauded

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The Bismarck with a jammed rudder circling back towards Valhalla. Classic stiff upper lip Brits versus arrogant soon to be drowned Prussians. The movie world seemed so much simpler back than...and smarter. Good movie to watch late at night with a few beers reminiscing about how todays rudderless movie world is heading toward its own Dumb & Dumber Valhalla.This classic movie was made in-between now long forgotten Cowboy movies. This war movie didn't go full cartoonish retard . Sink the Bismarck probably was the most historically correct out of the common WW2 blood feasts that had the evil Nazi Storm Troopers dropping like flies into the late 1970's until Quentin Tarantino resurrected that dumb genre.You almost feel sorry for the doomed Germans out-numbered, out-gunned and circling aimlessly in the North Atlantic . With no help over the horizon just waiting for the British Battleships to catch them in a circle of 12" shells.

A distinguished wide-screen film that honors those who served in a great British naval episode while showing generally how naval warfare was carried out in the early days of WWII.Effectively portraying the sheer power of one of the most monstrous weapons ever devised by the dark side of the human mind- the battleship Bismarck. Battleships had a hideous, graceful sort of massive beauty during their brief heyday at the peak of war technology but went the way of the dinosaur after WWII. Their vulnerabilities are demonstrated in this film, as are certain unfortunate (but not necessarily erroneous) tactical moves by the German Admiral and the Captain of the Bismarck.In case you don't know the story I won't spoil it but an event occurs around the middle of this film that has a sudden awesome shock value that can still cause your jaw to drop. It is perfectly set forth despite the low-tech film techniques available in 1960- the producers do a great job.A deadly serious film about deadly serious heavy subject matter, "Sink the Bismarck" has qualities that hold up and it is worth your viewing time.

This is an excellent picture dealing with infamous ship including spectacular battle sequences and prestigious main cast helped by a fleet of the best Brit character players . It's one of the last great Brit pictures about warfare naval action and being based on real incidents . British Navy sets out to locate and sink notorious German battleship during WWII in this most stirring account of the quest for the formidable Bismarck . This is the World War II story of the British Navy's effort to defeat Nazi Germany's most powerful warship . This is a splendid British film concerning historic deeds during WWII , the naval battle in the Atlantic Ocean between German battleship and British squadron of various ships , carriers and airplanes . This picture is based on fact , but there have been complaints that is most inaccurate . Magnificent performances from Kenneth More as the withdrawn officer director operations supported by a beautiful as well as interesting Dana Wynter . The main and secondary cast are stunningly incarnated by a magnificent plethora of English actors such as Michael Hordern , Maurice Denham , Michael Goodliffe , Jack Gwillim , Michael Ripper , Bernard Lee , David Hemmings , Ian Hendry , Laurence Naismith , Geoffrey Keen and Esmond Knight, who plays the captain of the HMS Prince of Wales, actually served as an officer on board her and was injured during the battle. Excellent scale models , though also utilized actual battle footage ; according to special effects cameraman L.B. Abbott, the miniatures were photographed with spherical , non-anamorphic lenses . This made it easier to force the perspective of the image to make the miniatures appear bigger and further apart. The producers knew that the use of miniatures and explosions would have to look very realistic to be successful , they hired Howard Lydecker, one of the legendary Lydecker brothers who were generally considered to be the best special effects team in the industry and they had spent decades perfecting their craft at Republic Pictures. The film contains an evocative and atmospheric cinematography in black and white by classic cinematographer Christopher Challis who also photographed 'The battle of the River Plata¨. The flick was stunningly directed by Lewis Gilbert . The motion picture will appeal to wartime genre buffs and British classic movie fans . Rating : Better than average .The film is based on true events , these are the followings : Bismarck and her sister ship Tirpitz were the largest battleships ever built by Germany, and two of the largest built by any European power.In the course of the warship's eight-month career under its sole commanding officer, Capt. Ernst Lindemann, Bismarck conducted only one offensive operation, in May 1941, codenamed Rheinübung. The ship, along with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, was to break into the Atlantic Ocean and raid Allied shipping from North America to Great Britain. The two ships were detected several times off Scandinavia, and British naval units were deployed to block their route. At the Battle of the Denmark Strait, Bismarck engaged and destroyed the battlecruiser HMS Hood, the pride of the Royal Navy, and forced the battleship HMS Prince of Wales to retreat; Bismarck was hit three times and suffered an oil leak from a ruptured tank. The destruction of Hood spurred a relentless pursuit by the Royal Navy involving dozens of warships. Two days later, while heading for the relative safety of occupied France, Bismarck was attacked by obsolescent Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal; one scored a hit that rendered the battleship's steering gear inoperable. In her final battle the following morning, Bismarck was neutralised by a sustained bombardment from a British fleet, was scuttled by her crew, and sank with heavy loss of life. Most experts agree that the battle damage would have caused her to sink eventually. The wreck was located in June 1989 by Robert Ballard, and has since been further surveyed by several other expeditions

Advances in aviation and air-to-surface weapons led to the death of lumbering, iron clad battleships. By the early 60s most of these ships were scrapped or decommissioned. As a result, Lewis Gilbert's "Sink the Bismarck!" is one of the last films to feature real, WW2 era British warships. It's also one of the better of many naval movies released in the late 50s and early 60s ("Damn the Defiant!", "The Caine Mutiny", "The Sand Pebbles", "The Bedford Incident" "Run Silent, Run Deep", "The Sea Chase", "The Enemy Below").Adopting a dry (it's a British production, you see), somewhat documentarian tone, the film is a cat and mouse techno-thriller in which the British Admirality, led by Chief of Naval Operations Captain Jonathan Shepard, attempts to intercept and sink the Bismarck, a deadly German battleship (the largest ship ever built by any European country) which has been decimating Allied convoys.Unlike most of these films, the action takes place largely in an underground war room where tactics and orders are cooked up and transmitted to the fleet. It's a chess game, our Chief of Naval Operations, who spends the film looming over maps and war boards, risking thousands of lives with each decision.Unsurprisingly, the film demonizes Admiral Lutjens, the man in command of the Bismarck. He's your typical Nazi villain, bent on destroying the world with his deadly toys. In real life, Lutjens despised both Nazi policies and Hitler, and was deeply pessimistic about both his mission and the capabilities of his super ship. The film is designed to appeal squarely to WW2 veterans and their wide eyed sons. It captures the skill of British naval gunners at the time; the Bismarck may have out-gunned and out-tonned her opponents, but British gunners were notorious for hitting their targets early, fast and precisely. Bismarck was one year old when she bit seabed.7.9/10 – Worth one viewing.