Hello there. Hope you're feeling well.
Without in any being detrimental in any way to the men who served in that conflict I must be honest and say that I approached this not being a fan of second world war naval movies. They seemed to lack the glamour of the air battles and (literally) the wide landscape to work on of of the ground campaigns
Essentially in between the naval battle itself they are just dull.
This film tries to solve that problem by telling the true story of the hunt for the German pocket battleship the Graf Spee. The hunt was on because it was responsible for the sinking of a number of merchant ships destined for Britain carrying supplies of food. I knew vaguely of this before I watched this movie. Though as it transpired not well enough.
It starts by the producers thanking various navies for the making of this film. But interestingly it then moves to individuals including a Frau Ruth Langsdorff. I must admit to have wondered how and indeed why she would want to help the makers of a British film. Very quickly this mystery is explained. Her husband was the captain of the Graf Spee.
Peter Finch plays Herr Langsdorff and in a few scenes he just walks away with the film's acting honours. And I tell you why. Unlike the British characters he is not a German cliche. In the first main scene he is civilised, gives a drink and is polite to Bernard Lee, who plays the captain of the latest merchant ship to be sunk. Indeed let's pause there for a subliminal message. The Graf Spee destroys a merchant ship led by a guy with a working class accent. It'll only face a true battle with proper battleships led by public school voices.
And eventually the three ships to hunt the German vessel enter the screen powered by the posh voices of people like John Gregson, Patrick Macnee and Anthony Quayle (who is described as "the old man" for reasons I don't get).
When the posh boys discuss the plan of action for the first time it's in a manner which in another time they might have used in a golf club (including drinks in the end).
Also let's not forget that whilst it's small and powerful it's still a case of three against one. The film doesn't really make the case for the quality of the allied ships on offer. One of these vessels is from New Zealand (cue disparaging remarks by it's presumably British captain) but you would have had great difficulty spotting a kiwi accent in the scenes on that ship
So cue the moment when men are looking at binoculars and telescopes looking at the sea from the deck to spot the dastardly Deutsche. Historically accurate I've no idea but it was a dullsville watch for me.
Money has been spent on this film, except when it came to these scenes, it just looked like a bunch of actors in a studio and when the battle scene does occur it looks like a bunch of actors being chucked with containers of water in a studio.
Now I mentioned before that I wasn't completely knowledgeable of the Graf Spee and the final quarter of the movie after the main battle brought it into focus. I won't spoil things by explaining what occurs but again viewed purely as a cinematic experience it was an anti-climax. If this film was a man it would be apologising to it's lover.
I had started this movie wondering given the quality of the people working on it whether this would have changed my opinion on second world war naval movies. In the end it just heightened my dislike of them even more.
Until the next time.
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