The Battle of the River Plate (1956)
Directed by Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger

Film Review

The last but one film that Michael Powell and Emeric Pressurger directed together would prove to be their most commercially successful, although today the film is somewhat less well regarded than their best work (A Matter of Life and Death, The Red Shoes).  The story of the Graf Spee so fascinated Powell that in 1956 he would publish a novel The Last Voyage of the Graf Spee recounting its eventful last few weeks of service.

The Battle of the River Plate is most memorable for its dramatic, stunningly realised action sequences, which were achieved with the cooperation of the Royal Navy and the US Navy.  These make effective use of VistaVision - a short-lived rival to CinemaScope - to evoke a sense of scale and awesome military might as British and German warships lock horns in a grisly fight to the death.

The film also stands apart from many war films of its time in its sympathetic, non-stereotypical treatment of German officers, continuing a trend which can be seen in all of Powell's war films, even those with an obvious propaganda agenda - evidenced by The Spy in Black (1939) and Contraband (1940).  In contrast to many war time stories, this one is less about the heroism of the Allies and more about the honour and integrity of a German officer.

Far from being an idealistic fanatic and a sadist, which is how Germans are all too often portrayed in war films, Captain Langsdorff (a superb Peter Finch) is the epitome of the professional naval officer, executing his duty with efficiency without sacrificing his humanity.  This is not a film about the glory and sacrifice of battle, but rather one about one man's determination to prevent the savagery of war from eroding the noble precepts by which he lives. After this Michael Powell and Emeric Pressurger would share the directing credit on just one more film, Ill Met by Moonlight (1957), although Pressurger would script some of Powell's subsequent films, including They're a Weird Mob (1966) and The Boy Who Turned Yellow (1972).

Film Synopsis

November 1939.  When his freighter, The Africa Shell, is sunk by the German pocket battleship Graf Spee, Captain Dove finds himself a prisoner of Captain Langsdorff.   Despite the humiliation of his situation, Dove is impressed by Langsdorff's courtesy and professionalism, and shows him the respect due to a fellow naval officer, albeit one on the opposing side.   When  the Graf Spee sinks another British ship, Dove is joined by several dozen other prisoners, who are equally well-treated by the German captain and his crew.  Meanwhile, three British warships, under the command of Commodore Harwood, have assembled in the South Atlantic, ready to engage the Graff Spee as it heads for South America....