Sink the Bismarck

UPC: 024543072133

Studio: 20th Century Fox

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:[Suitable for Children]

Summary: The Bismarck was the fabled German battleship of World War II. This film traces the "life" of the Bismarck from its launching (courtesy of newsreel footage) through its many battles and narrow escapes, concluding with its far-from-inevitable sinking in the Spring of 1941. Since one couldn't expect a ship to carry a 97-minute movie, the story concentrates on the human element, specifically a British intelligence captain (Kenneth More), who has lost his family in the London blitz and thus has a personal reason for seeing the Bismarck blasted from the sea. The captain's tireless efforts are abetted by the love and support of a female naval officer Dana Wynter. The climactic sinking is deftly assembled from stock footage and newly shot scenes of expertly delineated scale models. As a bonus, Sink the Bismarck yielded a hit song, which many children of the 1960s can still recite from memory. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: War

Awards: Best Director – Directors Guild of America

Features: cc[None specified]

Sink the Bismarck

Format: DVD

Release Date: 05/20/2003

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cinemascope

Audio: DD1 Dolby Digital Mono, DD2 Dolby Digital Stereo

Runtime: 97 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French,Spanish

Subtitles: English,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Germany's Largest Battleship
2. Main Titles
3. Fighting Alone
4. The New Director
5. Warship Sighting
6. An Interrupted Message
7. Locating the Bismarck
8. A Calculated Risk
9. A Chance for Glory
10. The Waiting
11. Unsinkable
12. No Feelings
13. Bismarck Sighted
14. Preparing for Battle
15. Battle With the Bismarck
16. They'll Never Stop Us
17. Sink the Bismarck
18. A Letter for Tom
19. Goodbye and Good Hunting
20. Air Strike
21. Lost Contact
22. Where's the Bismarck?
23. Two Offers
24. Bad News
25. The Wrong Ship
26. Our Last Chance
27. Closing In
28. Good News
29. The Main Event
30. Finished
31. The Pleasure of Your Company
32. End Titles

Mike Cummings

In this 1960 World War II film, Captain Jonathan Shepherd plots strategy in a war room in London in a desperate attempt to guide the British Royal Navy to victory over Germany's mightiest battleship, the Bismarck. So important is the mission to keeping open vital supply routes that Churchill himself has given the order: "Sink the Bismarck!" The action in the underground war room, where Shepherd maneuvers model ships like chess pieces, is as taut as the action at sea as outgunned British ships close in on the fire-breathing Bismarck in May of 1941. It is the biggest, fastest, and most powerful warship in the world. But Shepherd is not only fighting the Nazis; he is also fighting demons within after his wife was lost in an air raid and his son was reported missing in action. Kenneth More portrays Shepherd as an aloof, quick-tempered strategist who struggles to keep his feelings in check while making risky decisions affecting the lives of thousands. His performance is outstanding. Ably portraying his sympathetic assistant is Dana Wynter, who understands his inner turmoil and helps him come to grips with it -- and the Bismarck. All the other cast members also perform well, except for Karl Stepanek. As Admiral Lutiens, he is too much the militant German Ubermensch -- a cardboard cutout who idolizes the Fuehrer and seeks only the glory of the Reich and himself. In spite of the limited film technology of 1960, the special effects are good -- in particular the scene showing the destruction of Britain's best battleship, H.M.S. Hood, and the final attack against the Bismarck. The film moves along nicely, never lingering too long in the war room or too long on the decks of the German and British ships. When communications are exchanged between the ships and the war room, suspense builds. Have the Nazis sunk another ship? Will the latest stratagem work? ~ Mike Cummings, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Michael Goodliffe  Actor 
Ernest Clark  Actor 
Esmond Knight  Actor 
Jack Watling  Actor 
Sean Barrett  Actor 
Walter Hudd  Actor 
John Stuart  Actor 
Edward Judd  Actor 
Mark Dignam  Actor 
Jack Gwillim  Actor 
Edward R. Murrow  Actor 
Peter Burton  Actor 
Sydney Tafler  Actor 
John Horsley  Actor 
Lord John Brabourne  Producer 
Lewis Gilbert  Director 
Edmund H. North  Screenwriter 
Clifton Parker  Composer (Music Score) 
Kenneth More  Actor 
Dana Wynter  Actor 
Carl Möhner  Actor 
Laurence Naismith  Actor 
Geoffrey Keen  Actor 
Karel Stepanek  Actor 
Maurice Denham  Actor 
Michael Hordern  Actor 

Country: UK,USA