The Battle of the River Plate (1957)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I really really like this film. Peter Finch is outstanding as Captain Langsdorf of the German Battleship Admiral Graf Spee. I love the swashbuckling entrance that he makes with Captain Dove (He is the captain of a merchant ship that was sunk by the Admiral Graf Spee). There are so many stand out actors in this film, Christopher Lee, Anthony Quale and John Gregson. The Directors Emeric Pressburger and Michael Powell both work together really well, the cinematography is just amazing, their choice of shots outstanding. Every single character in this film is just outstanding. I think the shots of real ships, that took place during the real battles just makes it for me. I feel like I am on the boat watching action real time! Well worth watching, not to be missed.

If I could give it no stars, I would. A waste of two hours of viewing. The ships didn't look much like actual participants. Even Achilles didn't remind me of Achilles! Wrong number of guns and turrets on all other participants. And the Graf Spee wasn't anything like the Graf Spee. Had two turrets, here three and clearly not German. What was wrong with models? Film drags. Battle ridiculous. Only saw the British side the entire scene except for the captured British seamen on board Graf Spee--and that's still just the British side of the story. After the sorry battle there's still forty minutes of virtually nothing. You won't learn anything of the poor German captain's fate from this movie either.

I saw this film as a little boy when it came out in the 50's and thought it was great. I still think it is a good film by war film standards, but certainly not as strong as something like "The Cruel Sea" which is a more harder hitting adult film.The film sticks pretty much to the actual historical events and doesn't wander off the straight and narrow, which many war films sometimes do! The cast is like a who's who of all the well known British actors of the time, and they are all very competent and all work hard to keep their upper lips very stiff and correct.It is good to see that the Germans are dealt with sympathetically and not portrayed as 'villains', as sometimes happens if the film had been made purely in Hollywood.It is also good to see that real ships are used in the general shots, instead of models in a bath tub, and some of the camera shots of the battle are excellent.One very minor gripe is that in some of the shots of the "Graf Spee" the US Navy extras playing the 'German' sailors are still wearing US Navy uniforms! Oh dear! Ah well, it does not detract from what is overall a good film.

After reading the many enthusiastic comments about this rather obscure Michael Powell film, and as an enthusiast of WWII films, I was eager to see this rarely screened film. What a disappointment! Yes, there is some real acting talent at work here. Yes, there are some relatively brief excellent sea shots...some appear to be stock. Yes, it looks like Powell made a sincere attempt at historical accuracy.But ach, what a dull two hours. Most of the scenes are very stagy; groups of British naval officers mouthing stiff, silly dialog while standing mostly motionless in the frame. Bloodless sea battles; the dead and injured barely even get their tropical whites dirty, let alone soiled with blood! (There's one scene showing a direct hit on a ships bridge and most of the officers didn't even lose their caps!).The story lines also just never become engaging. The captured crew on the German ship have an entirely different, and rather distracting, story from the film's central point.If you approach this film as if you're watching a play embellished with film you'll not be as disappointed as I was. Silly me; I was expecting something like "Sink the Bismark" but this film completely failed to engage me and I suspect I'm not an atypical viewer. Usually there's a reason why a film has become forgotten and obscure. In the case of this one it was a gesture of humanity.