The Battle of the River Plate is a British war film first released in 1956, directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.  The film stars John Gregson, Anthony Quayle, Peter Finch, Ian Hunter and Jack Gwillim.  It has also been released under the title: Graf Spee.  Our overall rating for this film is: very good.


November 1939.  When his freighter, The Africa Shell, is sunk by the German pocket battleship Graf Spee, Captain Dove finds himself a prisoner of Captain Langsdorff.   Despite the humiliation of his situation, Dove is impressed by Langsdorff’s courtesy and professionalism, and shows him the respect due to a fellow naval officer, albeit one on the opposing side.   When  the Graf Spee sinks another British ship, Dove is joined by several dozen other prisoners, who are equally well-treated by the German captain and his crew.  Meanwhile, three British warships, under the command of Commodore Harwood, have assembled in the South Atlantic, ready to engage the Graff Spee as it heads for South America....

The penultimate collaboration of the legendary director-screenwriting team Michael Powell and Emeric Pressurger would prove to be their most commercially successful, although today the film is far from regarded as their best work.  The story of the Graf Spee so fascinated Powell that in 1956 he would publish a novel The Last Voyage of the Graf Spee recounting its eventful last few weeks of service.

The Battle of the River Plate is most memorable for its dramatic, stunningly realised action sequences, which were achieved with the cooperation of the Royal Navy and the US Navy.  These make effective use of VistaVision – a short-lived rival to CinemaScope – to evoke a sense of scale and awesome military might as British and German warships lock horns in a grisly fight to the death.

The film also stands apart from many war films of its time in its sympathetic, non-stereotypical treatment of German officers, continuing a trend which can be seen in all of Powell’s war films, even those with an obvious propaganda agenda.  In contrast to many war time stories, this one is less about the heroism of the Allies and more about the honour and integrity of a German officer.

Far from being an idealistic fanatic and a sadist, which is how Germans are often portrayed in war films, Captain Langsdorff is the epitome of the professional naval officer, executing his duty with efficiency without sacrificing his humanity.  This is not a film about the glory and sacrifice of battle, but rather one about one man’s determination to prevent the savagery of war from eroding the noble precepts by which he lives.

© James Travers 2008

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