The Battle of the River Plate (film)

Last updated

The Battle of the River Plate
(Pursuit of the Graf Spee)
Battle River Plate poster.jpg
US release Theatrical release poster
Directed by Michael Powell
Emeric Pressburger
Written byMichael Powell
Emeric Pressburger
Produced byMichael Powell
Emeric Pressburger
Starring John Gregson
Anthony Quayle
Peter Finch
Narrated by David Farrar
Cinematography Christopher Challis
Edited by Reginald Mills
Music by Brian Easdale
Distributed by Rank Film Distributors Ltd.
Release date
  • 29 October 1956 (1956-10-29)(Royal Film Performance)
Running time
119 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£275,348 [1] [2]
Box office$750,000 (US) [3]

The Battle of the River Plate (a.k.a. Pursuit of the Graf Spee in the United States) is a 1956 British war film in Technicolor and VistaVision by the writer-director-producer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. The film stars John Gregson, Anthony Quayle, Bernard Lee and Peter Finch. It was distributed worldwide by Rank Film Distributors Ltd.

Contents

The film's storyline concerns the Battle of the River Plate, an early World War II naval engagement in 1939 between a Royal Navy force of three cruisers and the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee.

Plot

In the early months of the Second World War, Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine sends out merchant raiders to attack Allied shipping. The British Royal Navy responds with hunting groups whose mission is to stop these attacks. In time, the German battleship Admiral Graf Spee is discovered in the Atlantic, just off South America, by a trio of British cruisers. With its speed and destructive firepower, Graf Spee is a formidable menace. Nevertheless, the British go straight into attack, closing swiftly to minimise the Graf Spee's substantial advantage in gun range. The British use their superior numbers to split her fire by attacking from different directions. But Graf Spee, under Captain Hans Langsdorff (Peter Finch), inflicts much damage on her foes. One of them, HMS Exeter, is particularly hard hit and is forced to retire to the Falklands for repair.

For her own part, the Graf Spee sustains some damage and takes refuge in the neutral port of Montevideo, Uruguay, for repairs. According to international law, the ship may remain in a neutral harbour only long enough to repair for seaworthiness, not to refit for battle; any overstay will lead to the ship and its crew being interned for the duration of the war. The British initially demand the Uruguayan authorities send Graf Spee out to sea within 24 hours, but once they recognise that reinforcements can arrive for an impending second battle they change strategy and lobby for an extension for the Germans. In reality the most powerful British ships are still extremely distant, but local media spreads false reports that more Royal Navy warships have arrived, including battleships and aircraft carriers; in fact, only three cruisers (Exeter having been replaced by HMS Cumberland) lie in wait.

Taken in by the ruse, Langsdorff takes his ship out with a skeleton crew aboard. As the onlookers watch from shore, she heads down the River Plate for the open sea and then bursts into flames from a series of explosions. It is obvious that Langsdorf has ordered that his ship be scuttled. This is a relief to the Royal Navy fleet, which reports, "Many a life has been saved today". At story's end, Langsdorff is personally complimented by the British for his humane decision.

Cast

At sea

Ashore

Cast notes

Production

The Battle of the River Plate had its genesis in an invitation to Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger to attend a film festival in Argentina in 1954. They decided they could not afford to take the time from their schedules unless it was a working holiday, and used the trip to research the defeat of Admiral Graf Spee. They came across the "hook" for their story when one of the surviving British naval officers gave Pressburger a copy of Captain Patrick Dove's book I Was Graf Spee's Prisoner, published in 1940., [9] which became the basis of the human story of the film. [10]

Principal photography began on 13 December 1955, the 16th anniversary of the battle. The HMS Ajax and River Plate Association reportedly sent a message to the producers: "Hope your shooting will be as successful as ours". Location shooting for the arrival and departure of Admiral Graf Spee took place at the port of Montevideo, using thousands of locals as extras. [10] However, the scenes showing Admiral Graf Spee sailing from Montevideo were shot in the Grand Harbour at Valletta in Malta, and the launch taking McCall out to HMS Ajax was filmed in Mġarr harbour on Gozo, Malta's northern island.[ citation needed ]

Two songs written by composer Brian Easdale were used in the film, "Dolores' Song" and "Rio de la Plata". Both were acted by April Olrich as "Dolores", with singing voice dubbed by Muriel Smith. [11]

Ships used

Most of the action of the battle and prior to it takes place on real ships at sea. The producers had the advantage of having elements of the Mediterranean Fleet of the Royal Navy available for their use, and USS Salem to play the part of Admiral Graf Spee, although she had a different number of main turrets. The producers did make use of a 23-foot (7.0 m) model of Salem (with details only on the side being shot) in a six-foot (1.8 m)-deep tank at Pinewood Studios for scenes depicting hits during the battle, and also for the blowing-up of Admiral Graf Spee, which was assembled from multiple takes from different angles. [10]

In an early scene, it is claimed that Admiral Graf Spee is being disguised by the ship's carpenters – using features such as a false funnel – as an American cruiser, a trick typical of commerce raiders. [12] [13] The US Navy would not allow any Nazi insignia to be displayed on Salem so the wartime German flag being hoisted and flown was filmed on a British ship. This is also the explanation as to why the crew of Admiral Graf Spee are seen wearing US Navy pattern helmets rather than German "Coal Scuttles" – whilst the filmmakers wanted to achieve an accurate impression and use German helmets they were refused permission. This aspect is sometimes described as a "goof" on the part of the filmmakers, but was in fact a circumstance beyond their control. Mention is made of Graf Spee's sister ships, Admiral Scheer and Deutschland. Admiral Scheer capsized after an air raid in 1945 and the remains of the wreck buried under a new harbor. Deutschland was renamed Lutzow in 1940 and sunk as a target in 1947.

Two of the original ships, HMNZS Achilles and HMS Cumberland were available for filming 15 years after the events depicted. Cumberland was a disarmed trial ship without her 8-inch gun turrets at this time and was refitted with lattice masts, but is recognizable as the last of the three-funneled heavy cruisers to remain in service. (In the final scenes, Jamaica represented Cumberland as one of the British trio waiting off Montevideo). This use of real warships was in line with an Admiralty policy of co-operation with film-makers, which saw the corvettes HMS Coreopsis and HMS Portchester Castle reactivated in 1952 for the film version of The Cruel Sea; the cruiser HMS Cleopatra and the minelayer HMS Manxman used in the 1953 film Sailor of the King, and the destroyer HMS Teazer and frigate Amethyst used in the 1955 film Yangtse Incident: The Story of H.M.S. Amethyst .

Achilles had been sold to the newly formed Indian Navy in 1948, becoming INS Delhi. The flagship HMS Ajax was her sister ship, and would have looked identical to Achilles, while the original HMS Exeter was a two-funnelled half-sister of Cumberland. HMS Sheffield and HMS Jamaica, which played Ajax and Exeter, had higher superstructures and more guns, which were mounted in triple turrets. Though different from the ships they represented, both these light cruisers had played a major part in the wartime campaign against the large German surface raiders which began at the Battle of the River Plate, including Bismarck in 1941, Admiral Hipper in 1942, Scharnhorst in 1943, and Tirpitz in 1944.

Historical details

The use of real ships allows the film to pay particular attention to detail even though Admiral Graf Spee was portrayed by the American heavy cruiser USS Salem, which mounted 3" smaller main guns, is considerably greater in tonnage, 100' longer, and quite visually distinct (in bow, shearline, and having two forward triple turrets instead of the single forward turret of the Deutschland-class cruisers) from the German Pocket Battleship. This emphasis on realism includes the warning bells ringing before each salvo, the scorching on the gun barrels after the battle, and the accurate depiction of naval procedures. The film depicts Admiral Graf Spee and Altmark using the complex procedure of alongside refueling; actually the Germans used the slower but safer method of astern refuelling, but the alongside method is much more dramatic for film purposes, and by 1955 was standard procedure for the British ships involved (see list above). Similarly, although the scene when Harwood meets with his captains on board Ajax is fictional, it was created for the movie in order to explain the tactical situation to the audience. The battle is seen from the perspective of the British ships, and that of the prisoners captured from nine merchantmen and held in Admiral Graf Spee.

The film devotes nearly 20 minutes to the battle, which actually lasted a little more than an hour before becoming a chase into Montevideo. The initial minutes from the spotting of Admiral Graf Spee at 0614, to her opening fire at 0618, and the British ships returning fire from 0620 are depicted in real time. In reality German gunfire did not "straddle" Exeter until 0623, after three salvoes, and her main armament fire was not "split" between the British ships until 0630, although these events are shown happening immediately. Exeter's bridge and forward turrets were knocked out at 0630, but at this point the film begins to telescope the sequence of events.[ citation needed ]

Commodore Harwood is shown wearing the sleeve rings of a rear admiral from the start, although he was only promoted to this rank after the battle. This is historically correct, as 'Commodores of the first class' wore those insignia at the time. Exeter's chaplain is also correctly depicted wearing a civilian dark suit and clerical collar; it was not until later in the war that naval chaplains adopted military uniform as a security measure.[ citation needed ]

The Battle of the River Plate only obliquely hints at one aspect of the story: the death of Captain Hans Langsdorff after he scuttled his ship. In the film Langsdorff is shown as subdued and depressed afterwards. In reality he was taken ashore to the Naval Hotel in Buenos Aires, where he wrote letters to his family and superiors. He then lay atop Admiral Graf Spee's battle ensign and shot himself, [14] forestalling allegations that he had avoided further battle action through cowardice; another motivation was his desire, as Admiral Graf Spee's captain, to symbolically go down with his ship. He was talked out of this by his officers, who convinced him that his leadership was still needed in seeking amnesty for his crew.[ citation needed ] Once their fate was decided, Langsdorff took his own life.

Langsdorff's funeral Graf Spee letzte Ruhe.jpg
Langsdorff's funeral

Captain Langsdorff was buried in the German section of the La Chacarita Cemetery in Buenos Aires, Argentina and was honoured by both sides in the battle for his honourable conduct.[ citation needed ] Prior to the destruction of the Graf Spee, the German crew were seen rowing away from the ship whereas in reality they were taken off by an Argentine tugboat. Also not shown is the use of certain captured merchant vessels as prizes, sailed by crews from Graf Spee to carry captured sailors, which were later sunk. In addition a Norwegian merchant ship reported the Graf Spee heading for South America before being spotted by lookouts but this is omitted. Furthermore the British Government secretly arranged for French and British merchant ships to leave Montevideo harbour every 24 hours to delay Graf Spee's departure. Also omitted is Graf Spee attempting to force a merchant ship to stop while she herself was being pursued by the British cruisers.

Release and reception

When The Battle of the River Plate was completed and screened for executives at the Rank Organisation, it was received so well that it was decided to hold the release of the film for a year, so that it could be chosen as part of the next year's Royal Film Performance (in 1956), since 1955's film had already been selected. The royal premiere was held at the Empire Theatre, Leicester Square (now Cineworld) on 29 October 1956 in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Margaret, Marilyn Monroe, and Victor Mature. [15] [16]

Box office

The film performed very well at the box office, being the fourth most popular film in Britain in 1957, after High Society , Doctor at Large and The Admirable Crichton . [10] [17] [18]

Critical opinion

At the time of The Battle of the River Plate's release, F. Maurice Speed writing in What's On In London described it as "Long, meticulous in its Naval detail, a little confusing sometimes to the landlubber like myself, [but] wonderfully photographed", adding that "some of the best scenes are the earlier quieter ones between Capt. Langsdorff (Graf Spee) and his prisoner Captain Dove (Bernard Lee). Finch, Lee, John Gregson (Capt. of the gallant "Exeter") and Anthony Quayle (of the "Ajax") all give performances above the average." [19]

Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic described The Battle of the River Plate as "almost unrelievedly dreadful". [20]

Honours

The Battle of the River Plate was nominated for three BAFTA Awards in 1957, for "Best British Film", "Best British Screenplay" and "Best Film From Any Source". [21]

Book

Graf Spee (Death in the Atlantic)
Author Michael Powell
LanguageEnglish
Genre Nonfiction
Publisher Hodder and Stoughton, [22] Rinehart (1956), White Lion Publishers (1976)
Publication date
October 1956 (UK), 1957 (US), 1976 (second edition)
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint
ISBN 0-7274-0256-0

In 1956 Powell published Graf Spee with Hodder and Stoughton, a.k.a. Death in the Atlantic (Rinehart, US), retelling the story of the film in more detail. In 1976, a second edition was released by White Lion Publishers with the amended title, The Last Voyage of the Graf Spee.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of the River Plate</span> First naval battle of the Second World War

The Battle of the River Plate was fought in the South Atlantic on 13 December 1939 as the first naval battle of the Second World War. The Kriegsmarine heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee, commanded by Captain Hans Langsdorff, engaged a Royal Navy squadron, commanded by Commodore Henry Harwood, comprising the light cruisers HMS Ajax, HMS Achilles and the heavy cruiser HMS Exeter.

HMNZS <i>Achilles</i> Leander-Class cruiser

HMNZS Achilles was a Leander-class light cruiser, the second of five in the class. She served in the Royal New Zealand Navy in the Second World War. She was launched in 1931 for the Royal Navy, loaned to New Zealand in 1936 and transferred to the new Royal New Zealand Navy in 1941. She became famous for her part in the Battle of the River Plate, alongside HMS Ajax and HMS Exeter and notable for being the first Royal Navy cruiser to have fire control radar, with the installation of the New Zealand-made SS1 fire-control radar in June 1940.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans Langsdorff</span> German naval officer (1894–1939)

Hans Wilhelm Langsdorff was a German naval officer, most famous for his command of the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee before and during the Battle of the River Plate off the coast of Uruguay in 1939. After the Panzerschiff was unable to escape a pursuing squadron of Royal Navy ships, Langsdorff scuttled his ship. Three days later he died by suicide in his hotel room in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

<i>York</i>-class cruiser Class of British heavy cruisers

The York class was the second and final class of heavy cruisers built for the Royal Navy under the terms of the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty. They were essentially a reduced version of the preceding County class, scaled down to enable more cruisers to be built from the limited defence budgets of the late 1920s.

HMS <i>Ajax</i> (22) WWII-era British Royal Navy light cruiser

HMS Ajax was a Leander-class light cruiser which served with the Royal Navy during World War II. She became famous for her part in the Battle of the River Plate, the Battle of Crete, the Battle of Malta and as a supply escort in the siege of Tobruk. This ship was the eighth in the Royal Navy to bear the name. In February 1942, she was adopted by the civil community of Halifax, West Yorkshire.

HMS <i>Exeter</i> (68) York-class cruiser of the Royal Navy

HMS Exeter was the second and last York-class heavy cruiser built for the Royal Navy during the late 1920s. Aside from a temporary deployment with the Mediterranean Fleet during the Abyssinia Crisis of 1935–1936, she spent the bulk of the 1930s assigned to the Atlantic Fleet or the North America and West Indies Station. When World War II began in September 1939, the cruiser was assigned to patrol South American waters against German commerce raiders. Exeter was one of three British cruisers that fought the German heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee, later that year in the Battle of the River Plate. She was severely damaged during the battle, and she was under repair for over a year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Harwood</span> Royal Navy admiral (1888–1950)

Admiral Sir Henry Harwood Harwood, was a Royal Navy officer who won fame in the Battle of the River Plate during the Second World War.

HMS <i>Cumberland</i> (57) County-class cruiser

HMS Cumberland was a County-class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy that saw action during the Second World War.

<i>Deutschland</i>-class cruiser 1929 cruiser class of the German Navy

The Deutschland class was a series of three Panzerschiffe, a form of heavily armed cruiser, built by the Reichsmarine officially in accordance with restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. The ships of the class, Deutschland, Admiral Scheer, and Admiral Graf Spee, were all stated to displace 10,000 long tons (10,160 t) in accordance with the Treaty, though they actually displaced 10,600 to 12,340 long tons at standard displacement. The design for the ships incorporated several radical innovations, including the first major use of welding in a warship and all-diesel propulsion. Due to their heavy armament of six 28 cm (11 in) guns and lighter weight, the British began referring to the vessels as "pocket battleships". The Deutschland-class ships were initially classified as Panzerschiffe, but the Kriegsmarine reclassified them as heavy cruisers in February 1940.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Force K</span> British Royal Navy task forces during the Second World War

Force K was the name given to three British Royal Navy groups of ships during the Second World War. The first Force K operated from West Africa in 1939, to intercept commerce raiders. The second Force K was formed in October 1941 at Malta, to operate against convoys sailing from Italy to Libya. Axis air attacks on Malta led to Force K being reduced and on 8 April 1942, the last ship of the force was withdrawn. After a convoy was run to Malta in Operation Stoneage Force K was re-established against Axis convoys.

Frederick Secker Bell of the Royal Navy was the commander of HMS Exeter during the Battle of the River Plate in December 1939.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Club Hotel de la Ventana</span> Former hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Club Hotel de la Ventana was a large, luxurious hotel resort, built by the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway and opened in 1911 near Villa Ventana, 17 km from the town of Sierra de La Ventana, in the southeast of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

SS <i>Ussukuma</i> German passenger ship

Ussukuma was a German passenger ship named after a location in the central highlands of German East Africa . On 6 December 1939, only a few months into the Second World War, she was scuttled off the coast of Argentina. In January 2008 her wreck was identified by the Argentine Navy in 70 metres (230 ft) of water, 62 miles (100 km) off Necochea.

German cruiser <i>Admiral Graf Spee</i> German Deutschland-class cruiser of World War II

Admiral Graf Spee was a Deutschland-class "Panzerschiff", nicknamed a "pocket battleship" by the British, which served with the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II. The vessel was named after World War I Admiral Maximilian von Spee, commander of the East Asia Squadron who fought the battles of Coronel and the Falkland Islands, where he was killed in action. She was laid down at the Reichsmarinewerft shipyard in Wilhelmshaven in October 1932 and completed by January 1936. The ship was nominally under the 10,000 long tons (10,160 t) limitation on warship size imposed by the Treaty of Versailles, though with a full load displacement of 16,020 long tons (16,280 t), she significantly exceeded it. Armed with six 28 cm (11 in) guns in two triple gun turrets, Admiral Graf Spee and her sisters were designed to outgun any cruiser fast enough to catch them. Their top speed of 28 knots left only a few capital ships in the Anglo-French navies fast enough and powerful enough to sink them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uruguay during World War II</span>

Uruguay remained neutral for most of World War II. The policy of President Alfredo Baldomir, leading the Colorado Party, was to support the Allied cause, but from a neutral base. Great Britain retained considerable influence with the Baldomir regime, largely through the efforts of Sir Eugen Millington-Drake, who was the British Minister in Montevideo from 1934 to 1941. In January 1942, Baldomir terminated diplomatic relations with the Axis powers. He resigned in 1943 and his neutrality policy was continued by his successor Juan José de Amézaga, also of the Colorado Party. In February 1945, having signed the Declaration by United Nations, Amézaga declared war on Germany and Japan.

The following events occurred in December 1939:

SS Doric Star was a British cargo liner operated by the Blue Star Line from 1922 to 1939, when she was intercepted and sunk by the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee off the coast of South West Africa, becoming the seventh victim of the commerce raiding sortie of Graf Spee.

MS Africa Shell, was a British coastal oil tanker operated by the Shell Company of East Africa Ltd. The ship's life was short, lasting only a matter of months from her introduction into service in 1939, until she was intercepted and sunk by the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee in the Mozambique Channel, off the coast of Portuguese East Africa, becoming the sixth victim of Graf Spee's commerce raiding sortie.

Patrick G.G. (Paddy) Dove (1896–1957) was a British merchant navy officer who served as commanding officer of the MV Africa Shell when she was intercepted and sunk by the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee in the Mozambique Channel, off the coast of Portuguese East Africa, becoming the sixth victim of Graf Spee's commerce raiding sortie.

SS Tairoa was a British cargo liner and refrigerated freight ship, operated by the Shaw, Savill & Albion Line from 1920 to 1939, until she was intercepted and sunk by the German pocket battleship, Admiral Graf Spee, off South West Africa, becoming the penultimate victim of Graf Spee's commerce raiding sortie.

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p 359 - the movie went slightly over budget
  2. ↑ Macdonald, Kevin (1994). Emeric Pressburger: The Life and Death of a Screenwriter. Faber and Faber. p.  357. ISBN   978-0-571-16853-8.
  3. ↑ "Rank-Yank Keeps Expanding". Variety. 16 July 1959. p. 13.
  4. ↑ "Blue Star's S.S. Doric Star". BlueStarLine.org. Archived from the original on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
  5. ↑ "SS Roxby". Mercantile Marine Forum. February 2009. Archived from the original on 4 April 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
  6. ↑ van der Vat, Dan (3 September 1999). "Obituary: Captain Ralph Medley". The Guardian . Retrieved 17 October 2011– via The Powell & Pressburger Pages.
  7. ↑ Trueman, C. N. "The Graf Spee in Montevideo". History Learning Site. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
  8. ↑ John Schlesinger (I) at IMDb
  9. ↑ Dove, Patrick (1940). "I was Graf Spee's Prisoner, by Captain Patrick Dove".
  10. 1 2 3 4 Miller, Frank. "Pursuit of the Graf Spee (1957)". Turner Classic Movies . Archived from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  11. ↑ "Pursuit of the Graf Spee (1956) Soundtracks". IMDb. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  12. ↑ Asmussen, John. "Admiral Graf Spee in Disguise". Deutschland-class.dk. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  13. ↑ "Admiral Graf Spee". Maritimequest.com. 6 July 2008. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  14. ↑ Adam, Thomas (2005). "Admiral Graf Spee". Germany and the Americas. ABC-CLIO. p. 45. ISBN   978-1-85109-628-2 . Retrieved 13 June 2009.
  15. ↑ "Her Majesty: a new book of photographs celebrating the life of Queen Elizabeth II". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  16. ↑ "What happened when Queen Elizabeth met Hollywood royal Marilyn Monroe?". South China Morning Post. 21 September 2022. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  17. ↑ Anderson, Lindsay; Dent, David (8 January 1958). "Time For New Ideas". The Times. London. p. 9.
  18. ↑ The Battle of the River Plate at IMDb
  19. ↑ "Contemporary Review (What's On In London) - The Battle of the River Plate (1956)". powell-pressburger.org. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
  20. ↑ "Arms and the Man". The New Republic. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  21. ↑ "Pursuit of the Graf Spee (1956) Awards". IMDb. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  22. ↑ "Graf Spee". Goodreads.com. Retrieved 5 April 2018.

Bibliography

  • Christie, Ian. Arrows of Desire: the films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. London: Faber & Faber, 1994. ISBN   0-571-16271-1. 163pp (illus. filmog. bibliog. index).
  • Pope, Dudley. The Battle of the River Plate. London: William Kimber, 1956. 259pp (illus).
  • Powell, Michael. A Life in Movies: An Autobiography. London: Heinemann, 1986. ISBN   0-434-59945-X.
  • Powell, Michael. Million Dollar Movie. London: Heinemann, 1992. ISBN   0-434-59947-6.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.