. English. German. French. Czech Budget $70 million Box office $481.8 million Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 American set during the in. Directed by and written by, the film is notable for its graphic portrayal of war, and for the intensity of its opening 27 minutes, which includes a depiction of the assault during the.

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It follows John H. Miller and a squad (, and ) as they search for a, James Francis Ryan , who is the of four servicemen. The film received widespread critical acclaim, winning several awards for film, cast, and crew, as well as earning significant returns at the box office. The film grossed US$481.8 million worldwide, making it the second-highest-grossing film of the year. The film was nominated for 11; Spielberg's direction won his second, with four more awards going to the film. Saving Private Ryan was released on in May 1999, earning another $44 million from sales. In 2014, the film was selected for preservation in the by the, being deemed 'culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.'

Contents. Plot On the morning of June 6, 1944, American soldiers land on as part of the.

They suffer heavy losses in assaulting German positions defended by artillery and machine guns. Captain John H. Miller of the assembles a group to penetrate the German defenses, leading to a breakout from the beach.

Elsewhere on the beach, a dead soldier is face down in the bloody surf; his pack is stenciled Ryan, S. In, at the, General learns that three of the four brothers of the Ryan family were and that the fourth son, James, is in Normandy. After reading 's aloud for his staff, he orders that James Ryan be found and. Three days after, Miller receives orders to find Ryan and bring him back from the front. He assembles six men from his company— Mike Horvath, Privates First Class Richard Reiben and Adrian Caparzo, Privates Stanley Mellish and Danny Jackson, Irwin Wade—plus Timothy Upham, a and interpreter borrowed from another unit. They move out to Neuville, where they meet a squad from the, where Caparzo is killed by a German sniper.

They locate a Private James Ryan, but quickly learn he is not their man. They eventually encounter a friend of James Ryan, who tells them that he is defending an important bridge in the town of Ramelle. On the way to Ramelle, Miller decides to neutralize a German machine gun position, despite his men's misgivings; Wade is killed in the skirmish. Miller, at Upham's urging, declines to execute a surviving German (nicknamed 'Steamboat Willie') and sets him free on the condition that he surrender to the first Allied unit he encounters. Losing confidence in Miller's leadership, Reiben declares his intention to desert, prompting a confrontation with Horvath, which Miller defuses by disclosing his civilian background as a teacher, about which his men had set up a betting pool. Reiben reluctantly decides to stay. At Ramelle, Miller and the squad find a small group of paratroopers preparing to defend the bridge; one is Ryan.

Miller tells Ryan about his brothers and their orders to bring him home and that two men had been lost in finding him. He is distressed at the loss of his brothers, but asks Miller to tell his mother that he intends to stay 'with the only brothers he has left.' Miller decides to join his unit with the paratroopers in defense of the bridge against the imminent German attack. Miller forms ambush positions throughout the ruined town, preparing to attack arriving tanks with Molotov cocktails, detonation cords and ' made from socks filled with. Elements of the arrive with infantry and armor. Although they inflict heavy casualties on the Germans, most of the paratroopers, along with Jackson, Mellish, and Horvath are killed, while Upham avoids fighting.

Miller attempts to blow the bridge, but is shot and mortally wounded by Steamboat Willie, who has rejoined the Germans. Just before a reaches the bridge, an American flies overhead and destroys the tank, followed by American armored units which rout the remaining Germans. Witnessing Miller's shooting, Upham confronts Steamboat Willie and his group as they attempt to retreat. Steamboat Willie raises his hands in surrender, believing that Upham will accept because of their earlier encounter.

Instead, Upham kills him, but lets the other Germans flee. Reiben and Ryan are with Miller as he dies and says his last words, 'James.earn this. In the present day, the elderly Ryan and his family visit the and discover Miller's grave. Ryan expresses his appreciation for what Miller and the others did for him. He then asks his wife if he is a 'good man' worthy of their sacrifices, to which she tells him he is.

Ryan comes to attention and salutes Miller's grave. Miller, company commander, 2nd Ranger Battalion, U.S. Army. as Richard Reiben, a gunner. as Mike Horvath.

as Private First Class James Francis Ryan, a paratrooper. as James Francis Ryan, present day. as Private Daniel Jackson, a left-handed sniper. as Private Stanley 'Fish' Mellish, a rifleman. as Private First Class Adrian Caparzo, a rifleman. as Irwin 'Doc' Wade, a medic. as Timothy E.

Upham, a and. as Captain Fred Hamill, a. as Hill, a paratrooper. as Walter Anderson, battalion commander, 2nd Rangers.

as,. as DeWindt, pilot of a crashed glider. as I.W. Bryce, an officer at the. as Private James Frederick Ryan ('Minnesota Ryan'). as Paratrooper Mandelsohn, a soldier whose hearing was damaged by a grenade.

as Corporal Henderson, ranking paratrooper at Ramelle. as James Francis Ryan's wife, present day. as Jean, a French survivor.

as Doyle, a soldier of the 2nd Ranger Battalion. as 'Steamboat Willie', a German soldier. as a War Department Colonel Production Development In 1994, wrote the script for the film. Rodat's script was submitted to producer, who liked it and in turn passed it along to Spielberg to direct. The film is loosely based on the World War II life stories of the. A shooting date was set for June 27, 1997. Pre-production In casting the film Spielberg sought to create a cast that 'looked' the part, stating in an interview, 'You know, the people in World War II actually looked different than people look today', adding to this end that he cast partly based on wanting the cast 'to match the faces I saw on the newsreels.'

Before filming began, several of the film's stars, including, and, endured ten days of ' training led by veteran and Warriors, Inc., a California-based company that specializes in training actors for realistic military portrayals. Was intentionally not brought into the camp, to make the rest of the group feel resentment towards the character. Spielberg had stated that his main intention in forcing the actors to go through the boot camp was not to learn the proper techniques but rather 'because I wanted them to respect what it was like to be a soldier.' The film's second scene is a 20+ minute sequence recounting the landing on the beaches of Normandy.

Spielberg chose to include this particularly violent sequence in order 'to bring the audience onto the stage with me' specifically noting that he did not want the 'audience to be spectators' but rather he wanted to 'demand them to be participants with those kids who had never seen combat before in real life, and get to the top of together.' Spielberg had already demonstrated his interest in World War II themes with the films, and the. Spielberg later co-produced the World War II themed television and its counterpart with Tom Hanks. When asked about this by American Cinematographer, Spielberg said, 'I think that World War II is the most significant event of the last 100 years; the fate of the and even was linked to the outcome. Beyond that, I've just always been interested in World War II. My earliest films, which I made when I was about 14 years old, were combat pictures that were set both on the ground and in the air. For years now, I've been looking for the right World War II story to shoot, and when Robert Rodat wrote Saving Private Ryan, I found it.'

The opening and closing scenes of the film are set in the. Spielberg wanted an almost exact replica of the Omaha Beach landscape for the movie, including similar sand and a bluff similar to the one where German forces were stationed and a near match was found in Ireland.The scenes were shot in Ballinesker Beach, Curracloe Strand, Ballinesker, just east of, Ireland.

Hanks recalled to Roger Ebert that although he realized it was a movie, the experience still hit him hard, stating, 'The first day of shooting the D-Day sequences, I was in the back of the landing craft, and that ramp went down and I saw the first 1-2-3-4 rows of guys just getting blown to bits. In my head, of course, I knew it was special effects, but I still wasn't prepared for how tactile it was.' Filming began June 27, 1997, and lasted for two months.

Some shooting was done in, for the in and. Other scenes were filmed in England, such as a former factory in, and.

Production was due to also take place in, but government restrictions disallowed this. Portrayal of history Saving Private Ryan has received critical acclaim for its realistic portrayal of World War II combat. In particular, the sequence depicting the was named the 'best battle scene of all time' by magazine and was ranked number one on 's list of the '50 Greatest Movie Moments'. The scene cost US$12 million and involved up to 1,500 extras, some of whom were members of the Irish. Members of local reenactment groups such as the were cast as extras to play German soldiers. In addition, twenty to thirty actual were used to portray American soldiers maimed during the landing.

Spielberg did not the sequence, as he wanted spontaneous reactions and for 'the action to inspire me as to where to put the camera'. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved September 5, 2008. Grow, Kory (December 17, 2014). Rolling Stone. Gordinier, Jeff (July 24, 1998). Retrieved September 5, 2008.

^ Ebert, Roger (July 19, 1998). Retrieved 3 September 2016. Behind the Scenes. Retrieved September 5, 2008. American Cinematographer Online Magazine. Retrieved September 5, 2008.

Saving Private Ryan Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved September 5, 2008. Saving Private Ryan Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved September 5, 2008. The Irish Film & Television Network. Retrieved September 5, 2008. Ebert, Roger.

Retrieved 3 September 2016. Wexford People. June 6, 2007. Retrieved September 5, 2008. August 3, 1998. Retrieved September 5, 2008.

Britannia Film Archives. Retrieved September 5, 2008. 'Saving Private Ryan'.

November 2, 1999. March 24, 2001. Retrieved September 5, 2008. Matlock Mercury. August 6, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2008.

June 7, 2006. Retrieved September 5, 2008. Retrieved January 17, 2010. Retrieved September 8, 2011. Sproe.com (April 11, 2009). Retrieved September 8, 2011. Second Battle Group.

Retrieved September 5, 2008. Second Battle Group. Retrieved September 5, 2008. Last update: March 9, 2010. On June 12, 1944, three days after the fictional Ryan mission was to begin, Carentan was finally captured after heavy fighting, and US forces operating out of the two beaches finally linked up. See Messenger, Charles, The Chronological Atlas of World War Two (New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1989), 182., (New York: Popular Library, 1959), 286-8.

Out of 23,000 men landed at Utah, only 197 were casualties on the first day, compared to 55,000 men landed at Omaha with 4,649 casualties. See Messenger, 181. Archived from on December 8, 2010.

Retrieved September 5, 2008. D-Day: Etats des Lieux. Retrieved September 5, 2008. Sunshine, Linda (July 24, 1998). Saving Private Ryan, The Men, The Mission, The Movie: A Steven Spielberg Movie. Newmarket Press.

Saving Private Ryan Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved September 8, 2008. Desowitz, Bill (May 20, 2001). 'Cover Story; It's the Invasion of the WWII Movies'. Los Angeles Times.

Nix (May 25, 2002). Beyond Hollywood. Retrieved September 5, 2008. Tom Chick (December 8, 2008). Archived from on December 11, 2008. Retrieved December 11, 2008.

Box Office Mojo. Retrieved July 13, 2016. Rotten Tomatoes. July 24, 1998.

Retrieved December 15, 2015. Retrieved December 15, 2015. (July 24, 1998). Archived from on September 29, 2007. Retrieved September 5, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2008. March 19, 1999.

Retrieved September 5, 2008. Saving Private Ryan Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved September 5, 2008. Reynolds, Matthew. Archived from on January 6, 2007. Retrieved September 6, 2008.

January 27, 1999. Retrieved September 5, 2008. Retrieved September 6, 2008. Retrieved March 15, 2017. (August 18, 2009). Retrieved September 8, 2011.

Basinger, Jeanine (October 1998). Perspectives, the Newsmagazine of the American Historical Association.

Halton, Beau (August 15, 1998). The Florida Times-Union. Jacksonville, Florida.

Retrieved June 12, 2011. McCrary, Lacy (August 6, 1998). Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Retrieved July 30, 2016. David D'Arcy (May 25, 2010).

The National. Retrieved May 11, 2012. Retrieved February 1, 2013. Meeke, Kieran. Retrieved April 24, 2011.

Fussell Paul. Retrieved December 21, 2015.

Retrieved September 5, 2008. Young, Josh (April 9, 1999). Entertainment Weekly. Archived from on February 10, 2015. Retrieved May 21, 2015. Susman, Gary (February 20, 2013).

Retrieved May 21, 2015. Hyman, Nick (February 22, 2011). Retrieved May 21, 2015.

Retrieved October 23, 2010. Retrieved September 5, 2010. Retrieved September 5, 2010. Retrieved October 23, 2010.

Oldenburg, Ann (November 11, 2004). Retrieved September 5, 2008.

Martin, Ed (November 17, 2004). Archived from on March 26, 2008. Retrieved April 17, 2010.

Sussman, Gary (November 11, 2004). Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved June 7, 2009. Wood, Andrea (November 12, 2004).

Retrieved December 15, 2015. Scott, Mike (September 5, 2008). Retrieved December 15, 2015. Axmaker, Sean. Turner Classic Movies.

Retrieved December 15, 2015. Graser, Marc (July 29, 1999).

Retrieved September 6, 2008. September 13, 1999. Archived from on July 24, 2008.

Retrieved September 6, 2008. January 8, 2000.

Archived from on August 10, 2007. Retrieved September 6, 2008. Kelley III, Bill (July 22, 1999). ' 'Private Ryan' Is A No-Show On DVD Format'. May 26, 2004.

Retrieved September 6, 2008. February 8, 2010. Retrieved February 10, 2010.

Lawler, Richard (May 14, 2010). Retrieved February 1, 2013. Further reading. Kershaw, Alex (May 11, 2004). The Bedford Boys: One American Town's Ultimate D-day Sacrifice. Da Capo Press.

Lefebvre, Laurent (September 2008). American d-Day. Lefebvre, Laurent (June 1, 2004).

American d-Day. External links Wikiquote has quotations related to:.

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The 'pocket battleship' (in armor and armament, somewhere between a battleship and a heavy cruiser) Graf Spee is abroad in the Atlantic, sinking British merchant shipping. She is tracked down by three British and New Zealand cruisers and after a fierce battle takes refuge in the harbor of Montevideo, Uruguay. In accordance with the Hague Convention, the Graf Spee's Captain Langsdorff is given barely enough time to make his ship seaworthy, without improving her fighting efficiency, before having to leave port. We aren't told exactly what her fighting efficiency is like but we learn she's taken more than fifty hits on the superstructure alone from the British 8-inch guns, and those are big guns. There are shenanigans going on at the embassies in Montevideo, in which the French and British try to force the Graf Spee to leave as soon as possible, while the Germans argue for more time. All of this is reported by an opportunistic American from a well-positioned outdoor cafe where the proprietor demands he keep ordering scotch if he's going to sit there and take up the customers' space.

Langsdorff is cleverly led by the British to assume that the three cruisers waiting for him outside the harbor have been joined by several other capital ships including an aircraft carrier. The rumor has been deliberately spread by British staff (over an unscrambled phone line in a hilarious scene) and everyone believes it, including Langsdorff. The German captain takes his ship out of the harbor at the appointed time but scuttles her after ordering the crew off. The British have won the Battle of the River Plate, partly through courage and partly through intelligent use of misinformation. Actually, considering that it's a 'war movie' it's pretty good natured. The British crack jokes in the midst of battle.

When a shell hits nearby and burns up some possessions, one sailor approaches another bearing a pair of charred boots on a tray and asks, 'You ordered the toast?' When sailors die, they do so almost nonchalantly, with time for a brave few words like, 'See to the others.' As far as that goes, the film gives you a fairly decent picture of what sea duty can be like: operating the rudder from the steering aft position, for instance.

(What a job!) The movie demonstrates the advantage of using real ships instead of models. The problem with model work has to do with texture. The splashes of exploding shells, for instance, send up drops of water as big as basketballs. But here there is some drop-dead gorgeous photography of ships making smoke and heeling around. Not even modern computer graphics could manage so effectively. The Germans are treated humanely too, this being 1956 and not 1946. The Germans have a number of British prisoners aboard the Graf Spee and they celebrate Christmas together, with the captors presenting the captives with Christmas decorations.

When a German officer announces to the prisoners that they will soon be released in Montevideo, he cheers along with the British. Among the funniest scenes are those involving the blowhard American reporter. 'The whole world is watching and waiting with suspense for the Battle of the Ages,' or something like that. 'Lays it on a bit thick, doesn't he?'

Asks one British listener. After a few days of this boreal oratory the reporter's voice is going and he begins to swill liquor, surrounded by a dozen glasses of scotch. 'Excuse me while I get a drink,' he hoarsely tells his listeners. Withall, though, there is a tragic figure here, and that is the wounded Captain Langsdorff who has fought the good fight and is now forced to sail his ship into what he believes is certain disaster. Finch does a good job with the role, as does the script.

There isn't a moment when he loses his dignity. And his courtliness seems inbred. The Brits say of him, 'He's a gentleman,' and, 'He's a good seaman.' A cheaper movie would have given Finch an unnecessary speech: 'A captain belongs to his ship, just as the ship belongs to the captain.

This is breaking my heart. I feel as if someone had just taken my Marzipan away.' It's a genuinely sad moment when we see the coffins of the German sailors killed in battle.

And although the movie ends with the victorious and quite beautiful white British cruisers sailing off into the sunset, the fact is that Langsdorff shot and killed himself shortly after these events. I often wonder why this film was re-named The Battle of the River Plate when the actual action took place 150 miles to the east in the South Atlantic. Nevertheless it is a great production brought all the closer to reality by the use of two of the original Allied cruisers which were still in commission at the time of filming.

The big problem was the choice of a warship to fill the role of the pocket battleship Graf Spee which had already been scuttled and that of her two sister ships which were also destroyed before the end of the war. The choice of the heavy cruiser USS Salem while not perfect was probably the best the producers could come up with despite it's extra tier of forward and rear main guns and the familiar U.S. Navy number 139 on it's bough. The storyline of the film is held together through the eyes of Captain Dove played by Bernard Lee who is taken aboard the Graf Spee after his merchant ship Africa Shell becomes one of her victims. Loosely held as a prisoner Dove is given an insight into the Graf Spee's tactics as a surface raider and that she is in fact masquerading as an American warship with false gun turrets and a bough number, solving the producers dilemma of explaining the different physical characteristics of each warship. The actual battle while well done does show a few inconsistencies in that the near miss salvos are more like large splashes and at times the Graf Spee looks motionless while being bombarded by allied shells.

This is more than made up by the fine acting of the combatants, with Anthony Quale giving a best of British tradition role as task force leader Commodore Henry Harwood along with John Gregson as Captain Bell of HMS Exeter and Jack Gwillim as Captain Parry of the New Zealand cruiser Achilles. Peter Finch is perfect in the role of the chivalrous and compassionate German commander of the Graf Spee Hans Langsdorff who in real life displayed these rare qualities and was immensely respected by those on both sides of the conflict. When the Graf Spee puts into Montevideo harbour in neutral Uruguay to effect repairs a great diplomatic battle ensues over her sanctuary and the story switches to a tense minute by minute dockside radio coverage by American reporter Mike Fowler played in true journalistic style by Lionel Murton. Meanwhile two of the three British Cruisers supported by a newly arrived warship Cumberland maintain a vigil out to sea while their embassy engages in it's own brand of propaganda to deceive the Germans into believing they are up against a vastly superior British naval force. Langsdorff falls for the ruse and after seeing his men to safety scuttles his mighty warship precisely at sunset a few miles out of Montevideo in the mouth of the River Plate. With the expectations that another and greater naval action was forthcoming this fateful decision gives the end of the film somewhat of an anti-climax but it was the factual truth and a necessary conclusion to maintain it's credibility.

To add a final footnote, there is presently underway a large salvage operation to raise as much of the Graf Spee as possible and eventually put it on display in a museum in Montevideo. Not withstanding the negative comments of some critics, this is another great Powell/Pressburger film. Perhaps what prevents it from getting its due is that it looks like another entry in the 'big WW II battle recreation' genre, but the structure, the performances, and the film's intent in general aren't really in the service of that genre. The climactic battle is fought in the middle of the film, and the last third unexpectedly takes place on the docks and in the cafes and embassies of Montevideo, with a festival air and comedy relief. Powell rightly feels that the core of the film is Bernard Lee's admiration of his captor; indeed, the final scene is the expression of that admiration. Yet the viewer isn't 'pointed' to that relationship. All the expository dialogue serves the battle scenes-where the Spee might be, how to attack it, the relationship between the British Commodore and his Captains-and later, the strategies of the Spee's leaving port.

Particularly in the latter part, there's a lot of discussion which doesn't relate to the film's denouement. And the collection of British prisoners on the Spee don't coalesce into an ensemble. In an odd way, their fate never seems integrated into the battle, nor does it particularly highlight the relationship between Lee and Finch. This unusual structure is in part due to the film apparently following actual events fairly closely, and actual events don't follow conventional dramatic structure. But, really, that absence of conventional structure, and the refusal to emphasize the Lee-Finch relationship or to make it a dominant theme, are the film's greatest strengths. What every leader needs to know about followers pdf file. Finally, note should be taken of the superb photography in VistaVision. This film is about the final days of the German pocket battleship (like a heavy cruiser), GRAF SPEE.

This ship did a lot of damage to British shipping during the early days of the war until she was ultimately hunted down by a small armada of smaller and very vulnerable naval vessels. I enjoyed this film very much because I am a history teacher and love realistic war films.

Unfortunately, while this film was big on realism, it also will probably seem a tad dull to the average person because it did stress realism and not huge name actors and unnecessary action. While there were many fine British actors in important roles (Anthony Quayle, Bernard Lee and Peter Finch, among others), to the average American audience they probably will seem more like sea men versus actors.

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This and the script really worked together to produce a film that seemed almost like a documentary in how it tried very hard to get the details right-and as a WWII buff, this impressed me very much. There are a few omissions or mistakes in the film, but they aren't all that important. First, of course the Spee had been sunk, so an American ship filled in-and this is certainly forgivable. Second, oddly, in the original version, the movie is called 'The Battle of the River Plate' but there was no River Plate. The word was 'Plata'-meaning Silver River when correctly translated into English. Finally, and I can understand why they didn't mention this, shortly after the German Captain scuttled his ship he committed suicide. However, I did appreciate how the film portrayed him as an ultimately decent and competent man-a nice requiem for a fallen enemy who was just doing his duty.

Overall, not a film for the casual viewer but certainly one for history and naval buffs out there. I love this movie. Peter Finch stars as Capt. Langsdorf of the German 'pocket' battleship Admiral Graf Spee. He is perfect; from the almost swashbuckly entrance and dialogue with Capt. Dove, a merchant captain whose ship they've just sunk, to the trance-like confusion at the end of the film. There are so many great actors in this film its almost like 'the Longest Day,' except these guys act.

Christopher Lee as Manolo, the jealous bar owner; Anthony Quayle as Commodore Harwood; Anthony Newly as a sailor with about three lines that he still manages to over-act; and John Gregson, who plays Capt. Bell of the British cruiser Exeter. Well known, and often quirky co-directors and writers, Emeric Pressburger and Michael Powell bring together spectacular shots of many of the actual ships involved in the battle with an almost ensemble-like feeling in the cast. From the British Ambassador with the no-nonsense, sharped-tongued secretary to the goofy-gaucho interpreter for the reporter, Mike Fowler, these powerfully presented characters intensify the real drama of this battle. It wasn't just a sea battle, it was political, involving sailors, spies, and bad cafe singing.

The Events around the Battle of the River Plate have always been somewhat special next to the sinking of the Bismarck for me, as Germany does not have such a rich history of sea battles as England does. Two things stand out: First the very positive display of the Captain of the Graf Spee, Langsdorff, treating his prisoners positively and trying to kill ships but not humans and even saving his crew from heroic death in Battle by sinking the ship by himself and refusing to go into battle. And his tragic end by suicide. Second, the laconic display of the British Officers and Men in Battle.

This is where my title quote is coming from, as a message issued by the Captain of the shut-down and burning Exeter trying to escape to safety after the Battle and heavy hits. Otherwise it seems to be a rather careful display of events, although the scenes in Montevideo are sometimes play out like a prelude to a Carry On Farce. Greatest weakness is, that we totally loose sight of the German views and events on board Graf Spee once the battle has started.

Totally 6 of 10. The film might have worked had it been conceived as a kind of chess match - between the British Commodore and Capt. Langsdorff, and incorporating the diplomatic shuffling. But the German point of view was dropped as soon as the first shell was fired. We got scenes aboard Graf Spee only in the prisoners' hold.

We needed a parallel scene from Langsdorff's perspective to the one Quayle held with his commanders. The final decision - to scuttle - came out of the blue. Hitler's role was not mentioned. Langsdorff's concern for his crew was only implied in the funeral scene. Check me if I'm wrong, but the actual funerals occurred on land, did they not?

Langsdorff's suicide was not included - shocking to someone who knows the history. His motive was complicated, but included, apparently, his wish to silence anyone who would claim that he was a coward for not re-engaging the British flotilla.

The film did dramatize the really rudimentary communications available in 1939 - bugles, shouted commands, signal flags, binoculars. Had Langsdorff had an observation aircraft, as the British are shown to have had, things might have been very different. At the beginning of World War 2 the German navy positioned the pocket battleship Graf Spee, ready and waiting to prey on allied shipping, which it did with deadly efficiency.

Following a major sea battle with a British task force the Graf Spee was forced to seek refuge in a south American port to make repairs. The cameras of the world's press focused on Montevideo as the German ship struggled to regain its fighting ability while the Royal Navy converged to attack when it was, inevitably, forced to leave. A brilliant espionage operation convinced Captain Hans Langsdorff that 1/2 the British navy was waiting for him, so he scuttled the ship in the harbor and subsequently shot himself. Those are the facts and they're wonderfully re-created in this riveting film.

Powell and Pressburger paid meticulous attention to detail and it shows throughout. I really admired their honesty in showing the battle and what happened later as objectively as it could be, whilst still (always) remaining good entertainment. Peter Finch gave a fantastic, intense performance as the doomed Captain. The real Langsdorff was a man of the highest intelligence and integrity, a tragic example of a fine man who found himself forced to serve an evil regime, and Finch truly conveyed the battle Langsdorff must have been fighting within himself; conscience versus duty.

In the end his conscience won. Captain Langsdorff took his own life in a hotel room, lying on an old 'imperial' German navy flag, a calculated insult to Hitler. I'm glad the Graf Spee was destroyed but sad that Langsdorff was one of SO many victims of this terrible war.

The Battle Of The River Plate is an excellent portrayal of this true-life drama. Well worth seeing.