Stars: John Gregson, Anthony Quayle, Peter Finch, Bernard Lee, Ian Hunter, Kenneth More

Director: Michael Powell

Summary: Documentary-style account of the trapping, in 1939, of the German battleship 'Graf Spee' in the South Atlantic by three British cruisers.

Ten days before the start of WWII, Graf Spee, Germany's famed warship under the leadership of Hans Langsdorff (Peter Finch), attempts to halt Allied merchant shipping in the South Atlantic. After a defeated allied craft manages to radio its coordinates before sinking, British naval forces begin playing a cat-and-mouse game with the feared German warship, leading to Langsdorff and his crew hiding out in Montevideo.

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Something of a swan song for the legendary Michael Powell-Emeric Pressburger partnership, 1956's The Battle of the River Plateis their penultimate film together (the following year's Ill Met By Moonlightwas 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

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Year:	1956
Release Date:	March 17, 2003
Runtime:	114 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	37115 04143
Keywords:	River, War, Battle, Plate
Genre:	War