Spikeopath Sink the Bismarck! Is directed by Lewis Gilbert and adapted to screenplay by Edmund North from the book written by C.S. Forester. It stars Kenneth More, Dana Wynter, Carl Möhner, Laurence Naismith, Geoffrey Keen, Karel Stepanek, Michael Hordern and Maurice Denham. Music is by Clifton Parker and CinemaScope photography by Christopher Challis. World War II, the North Atlantic, the British Navy desperately tries to sink Germany's prime battleship. The scourge of the seas, The Bismarck. Cracker-jack war movie that brings brains and brawn to the party. Instrumentally the pic is concerned with the officers back at headquarters (Moore outstanding), how they try to device a plan to capture and sink The Bismarck. The second guessing of its movements, the attempts to keep a lid on the emotional pains as news filters through about losses in battle, men missing in action, with some personal issues bubbling away to further compound the hot-bed of stress. This all makes for a riveting and intelligent backdrop to the scenes out at sea. It's fascinating that as Winston Churchill was demanding that he didn't care how they did it, that they simply must destroy The Bismark, Hitler was sending out birthday greetings and pleasantries to his Naval commanders. The battle scenes are spanking, a mixture of real footage, great model work and superb effects, while the great Christopher Challis photographs it all in screen filling clarity. Stiff upper lips at the ready for a truly great WWII movie. 8/10

dimplet The behemoth Bismark epitomizes the folly of German thinking during WWII. Build the biggest battleship with guns that could shoot farther than the enemy's and Germany could knock them out before they could touch the Bismark. Sounds great, in theory, but the idea was one war too late. It would have worked in WWI, but by WWII there were aircraft capable of knocking out ships. The biplanes and flying boats used against Bismark are antediluvian compared to the aircraft carrier planes used later in the war, and yet the Bismark couldn't knock them out of the sky. What's wrong with this picture, readers? Modern civilian viewers know, so why couldn't the German military anticipate this? Answer: Conceit. But it was not without reason: The Bismark had the advantage of Krupp steel for its plating and enormous guns. The movie uses Admiral Günther Lütjens to voice this conceit, when actually he was the one urging caution, recommending that Bismark stay in port until she could be accompanied by three other ships. In hindsight we can see that even the world's largest battleship needs to be accompanied by an aircraft carrier for defense. So Sink the Bismark! is interesting from a historical perspective as the end of the dominance of battleships. The story is told largely from the perspective of Capt. Shepard (whom we learn after the credits never existed, and "in no way" depicts Capt. R.A.B. Edwards, the actual director of operations). As such, it follows the model of Command Decision and 12 O'Clock High in showing that caring people had to learn to shut off feelings and thoughts about the men who would inevitably die. The key here is that it was thought imperative to sink Bismark before she attacked convoys, and that she might be invincible in the open sea (sort of a German Titanic). I'm not sure this point was driven home fully, perhaps because viewers at the time knew this, though Churchill's phone call did underscore the point. This urgency is what drives the film, but I don't think the movie explains the danger adequately. It assumes the viewers at the time knew the background of the Bismark. I remember the old Johnny Horton 45 rpm single, whose lyrics set up the drama better than the movie. (Why didn't they insert it at the beginning of the movie?)As a modern viewer, I am annoyed by the cartoonish characterization of Admiral Lütjens. It makes him look conceited, impulsive, heartless. He is a rabid Nazi who addresses the crew as fellow Nazis, when, in fact, the military were forbidden by law from joining political parties, including the Nazi Party. This propagandistic error could be forgiven in movies made during the war, but 15 years after it was a cheap shot.The real Admiral Lütjens was quite different, according to Wikipedia: "While in command of personnel department (of the German Navy) he did nothing to enforce the Nuremberg Laws on race in the Kriegsmarine. In November 1938, Lütjens was one of only three flag officers, including Dönitz, who protested in writing to Erich Raeder, Commander-in-Chief of the navy, against the anti- Jewish Kristallnacht pogroms."Lütjens wasn't a conscientious objector like Captain von Trapp, but he certainly deserves to be treated with more than the usual respect. Protesting Nazi policies from within the navy takes at least as much courage as leaving the country to avoid military service. The movie has one of the British officers state that their big advantage is the conceit and foolishness of the German military leaders, such as Lütjens. Actually, their big advantage was the conceit and foolishness of Adolf Hitler. I am not a naval historian, but it seems the invincibility of the Bismark was over-rated. The Bismark's sister ship, the Tirpitz, spent a significant part of the war at anchor under camouflage in Norway before being sunk in 1944. Apparently, the Germans realized that the enemy knew their Achilles had a vulnerability in the heel: the rudder. And then there's the matter of the "sinking." In the movie, the Brits keep launching torpedoes until she goes down. In the end, the Germans scuttled her, a view backed up by modern underwater examination of the wreck. The movie portrays the British rescuing survivors. History says the ship left before picking up all survivors, claiming a U boat maybe might have been sighted. Another nit to pick is that the decision by Lütjens to return to France for repairs was never explained, instead showing him wanting to tough it out with leaking fuel. If the Bismark needed repairs, Brest was the place to go, so the decision by Kenneth More character was not such a gamble. Plus, we know now that he had access to Enigma code messages. So, combining the facts that the central character, Captain Shepard, was fictional, Admiral Lütjens might as well have been fictional given the inaccuracies, the invincibility and superiority of the Bismark was not fully explained, the invincible Bismark had an Achille's heal at the rudder, and the Brits didn't sink Bismark so much as disable her, that doesn't leave a lot of meat on the bones of this story. From my perspective, the best part of the story is seeing Edward R. Murrow re-enact his role as CBS war correspondent from London. It is sad is that this story is hurt largely by British bias. Perhaps it could be improved by a remake. (James "This is Not a Disaster Flick" Cameron, are you listening? "Bismark -- The Hottest Love Story Ever Told!!!")However, what remains is the Bismark as a monument to Nazi Germany's foolhardy confidence, much as Colonial Britain was convinced of the unsinkability of its Titanic, and its empire.

gordonl56 SINK THE BISMARCK – 1960 Another well made war film from that great 1950 to 1966 era, when more than a few excellent war time films were knocked out. This one tells the tale of the German battleship, Bismarck. Bismarck was the first battleship built by Germany since the First World War. Because of several ocean raids made earlier in the war by GRAF SPEE, SCHARHORST and GNEISENAU. The British were worried that Bismarck could wreak havoc of the Atlantic convoys.When Bismarck and the cruiser Prinz Eugen, made their break to reach the Atlantic, the Royal Navy sent every ship they could to hunt them down. First honours went to the German Navy, when they sank the star of the R.N. the Hood, and heavily damaged the Prince of Wales.Later on, Bismarck's luck ran out when a lucky hit with a torpedo dropped by a Swordfish aircraft, damaged her steering gear. Unable to escape the rest of the ships in pursuit, she went to the bottom under a hail of shells and torpedoes. Prinz Eugen escaped and made it to German held France.The film itself is told from the British headquarters managing the pursuit. Kenneth More plays the officer in charge. He is supported by a slew of British character actors like, Geoffery Keen, Laurence Naismith, Michael Horden and Maurice Denham. Pretty Dana Wynter supplies the female content.Shot is black and white, the film features some excellent model work, and top notch battle scenes. The director, Lewis Gilbert keeps this one moving at a steady pace with nary a slow moment on screen.Even 50 plus years after being made, this one stands up very well and is worth a look.

jon-788-143011 A couple of the comments on here are probably well meaning but show a lack of detailed knowledge.mikestollov comments: The Bizmark chose it's battles very well, avoiding conflict with Royal Navy warships that could do it actual damage. She was a commerce raider, praying on defenceless merchant ships, less powerful warships & fleeing from anything that could do her harm. The fact that she came up against warships that could actually do damage to her was down to the doggedness of the Royal Navy. At first she did prevail, but once more due to the opposition she was given. HMS Hood was definitely NOT a good choice for this conflict, she was NOT a Battleship, she was an old, thinly armoured Battle Cruiser & well below the standard of Bizmark, her guns were inaccurate & her armour wasn't up to the threat she was faced with." Well, firstly, Bismarck never caught any merchant ship, defenceless or otherwise.Secondly HMS Hood wasn't a new ship like Bismarck, she was over 20 yrs old, however due to the Washington Naval Treaty, the RN only had four newer battleships than Hood - KGV, PoW, Rodney and Nelson. The last two of these were much slower than Bismarck, because the design sacrificed speed for armour. Meanwhile, bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York says: "Unfortunately some lessons were not learned by the British command and the Prince of Wales and the Repulse were sunk several months later by the Japanese with aerial bombardment when they reported for duty at the British base in Singapore. The British did in fact experiment with carriers as the Ark Royal's contribution in that action and others signifies. I'm willing to bet Mr. Churchill wished he had a few more carriers like the Americans and Japanese did." Well, Force Z's carrier ran aground off Sri Lanka, that's why they was no air cover. Although doctrine at the time didn't accept that a battleship was unable to survive in the open sea without air cover. The sharpest needle, though, was Japan's Yamamoto. He spotted the effectiveness of the raid from HMS Illustrious on Taranto in Nov 1940, and used rather more planes in Dec 41 at Pearl Harbor.Within the film itself the reference to Scharnhorst and Gniesenau reflects RN real concerns, but it implies that they are capital ships of a similar capability to the RN, if not to Bismarck. Scharnhorst and Gniesenau were lightly armed, with only 11" guns, on the two occasions they engaged RN capital ships, together in 1940 during the invasion of Norway, and Scharnhorst alone in 1943, they were ineffective: HMS Renown engaged both ships in 1940: in 1943 the KGV-class Duke of York sank the Scharnhorst off North Cape. There were other instances when S&G deliberately avoided engagement with old RN ships, including HMS Ramilies and HMS Malaya (both these ships had fought at Jutland in 1916!).