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  Directed by
  Starring
  Specs
  • Widescreen 2.35:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
  • Dual Layer ( )
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital Stereo
  • French: Dolby Digital Stereo
  • Italian: Dolby Digital Stereo
  Subtitles
    English, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, English - Hearing Impaired
  Extras
  • Theatrical trailer - 2.35:1

Sink the Bismarck

20th Century Fox/20th Century Fox Home Entertainment . R4 . B&W . 93 mins . G . PAL

  Feature
Contract

In 1941, Germany let loose the biggest warship that had ever been built, the formidable Bismarck. Knowing the kind of damage it could inflict, England started in on destroying it with everything they had. On its first engagement, Bismarck sank the H.M.S. Hood, the largest warship of the British fleet with a single round that exploded in the ammunition hold, destroying the boat before it even had a chance to sink. Fresh from this early victory, Bismarck set course for the open sea, losing the British radar and seemingly headed for a destructive tour of the shipping lanes. What follows next is the story of how they tracked it and inevitably... well, I won’t give it away. Needless to say the title of the film is a bit of a gimme.

Starring Kenneth More and the gorgeous Dana Wynter, this 1960 film runs for 93 minutes and slowly builds the tension until the final explosive minutes. Unfortunately shot in black and white, it still nevertheless retains the sense of tension evident at that stage of the war and attempts to put a human face on the drama with Kenneth More’s character Shepherd losing his son at sea during the film. It’s the hard veneer of Shepherd that gives him the ability to send ships and men to their deaths for the greater good, but it has cost him the use of his emotions. However, this is shattered when his son Tommy goes missing at sea during a raid he sent them on and his guilt and anguish well up to help him make the right decisions when the time comes.

Dana Wynter is sensational, as ever, in the role of Anne Davis, Shepherd’s assistant, lending her character humanity and humility as required. In the war room, it’s a bit of a boy’s club, but she brings to the film a warmth that it so needs, regardless of Shepherd’s emotional strain. This is a classic war film that tells a mostly factual historical account of the events of the time and is well told and not overly drawn out as some older war films can be.

  Video
Contract

Well, the cinema aspect of 2.35:1 with 16:9 enhancement certainly lets us see the film as it originally was intended, however, with a lot of the film shot in an underground bunker set, it’s kinda wasted really. The rest of the film is basically stock war film footage (you can tell by the extra artefacts all over it) or model ships doing battle. There aren’t any sweeping wide vistas or even large scale shots of the sea, so its aspect seems a little wasteful. That being said, it still looks pretty darn good. There are only a limited series of artefacts that don’t impede the film’s progress and only occasional small instances of aliasing. The layer change is a bit clunky, however, situated at 47:42. It's right in midscene and causes an extra bit of audio pause, but otherwise the video is alright. No shimmer or jittering is evident and the video in this film is yet another mostly quality transfer from Fox Studios.

  Audio
Contract

As to sound, this too is fine. The dialogue is all well spoken and clear (particularly Dana Wynter’s voice) and easily understood, even with some attempted German accents from folks aboard the fateful Bismarck. Sound effects are all clear enough, though there are naturally some serious stock effects of explosions and gunfire, but these all tend to meld into the film alright.

Musically speaking the soundtrack is okay as well, though the tunes do come across a little tinny for the most part. This kinda helps set the scene a little I think, being that all those old films tend to have tinny radio reports or music in them anyway. Real life radio reporter Ed Murrow plays himself in the film, delivering the lines he delivered during wartime for the benefit of the cameras this time around. A nice touch and he delivers his rhetoric with the correct levels of emotional content.

  Extras
Contract

The extras are delivered in the form of a single trailer for the film that runs for two minutes 55 and has been enhanced from its theatre aspect of 2.35:1. It is rather scratched up and dinged a bit, but is still serviceable. Unfortunately, there is the crappiest and dumbest song ever running over the top of it in which Johnny Horton (who sang that other dubious lyric North to Alaska) is singing lines like: ‘We’ve gotta sink the Bismarck’ and it truly blows. Having the trailer earned an extra point, but having the song in it lost them that point.

  Overall  
Contract

This is another in the cannon of Fox Studios’ war films coming out around this time (see reviews for The Desert Fox and D-Day: The Sixth of June) and sits well among them. Colour would have been nice here, particularly being made in 1960, but we must make do with good old black and white. The story is an interesting one, especially in that it is mostly factual, and makes for a fairly entertaining piece for old war film buffs. A little slow in parts, it takes a while to warm up and some of the special effects are a little sluggish, but allover not a bad film.


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      And I quote...
    "Whilst an interesting historical account, the black and white will no doubt put many folks off..."
    - Jules Faber
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Nintaus DVD-N9901
    • TV:
          Sony 51cm
    • Receiver:
          Diamond
    • Speakers:
          Diamond
    • Surrounds:
          No Name
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard Optical
    • Video Cables:
          Standard Component RCA
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