It’s all about the VistaVision in this Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger WWII seafaring epic, where real ships on a real sea (ravishing captured by cinematographer Christopher Challis in the strikingly sharp two frames per exposure VistaVision process) dwarf studio-shot battle scene artifice and some oddly ineffective dramaturgy. A shame and a surprise since, while the Powell/ Pressburger writing/directing/producing team are best known for fanciful things (RED SHOES; A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH; BLACK NARCISSUS), they also hit bull’s eyes in more straightforward fare, like the superb WWII drama THE SMALL BACK ROOM/’49. But this late project, on a 1939 WWII naval showdown between the Graf Spee (a Nazi ‘pocket’ battleship proving itself to be unnervingly accurate sinking U.K.-bound supply ships) and a trio of armed British cruisers hunting her down, keeps losing the dramatic thread what with four ships to juggle, officers & crew (x 4), plus scores of prisoners from sunken supply ships now being held in the Graf Spee hold. So the main character action of growing respect between supply Captain Bernard Lee and Graf Spee Captain Peter Finch never builds properly. And a third act, as damaged ships limp into the harbor of Montevideo, Uruguay post-battle (the city, again, dazzlingly caught by Challis) to work thru farcical Rules of Neutrality becomes so hopelessly befuddled Pressburger is forced to concoct an American radio broadcaster to help us keep score on what’s happening. Never as involving as it wants to be, the film is mostly worth a look for its impressive cast and those gobsmacking VistaVision vistas.
LINK: If you don’t mind the subtitles, here’s a LINK to an excellent HD stream: https://archive.org/details/TheBattleOfTheRiverPlate1956_201810
DOUBLE-BILL: Without the visual panache, SINK THE BISMARCK!/’60 gets a similar job done from subterranean distance, very nicely, too.
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