While it is a cut above most stiff-upper-lip British 50s war pictures, this account of the scuttling off Montevideo of the German warship Graf Spee in the early days of WWII hardly represents the finest hour for Michael Powell and Emeric Pressberger, although its certainly a useful gap-filling item if youve been collecting their works as they come out on video.
Peter Finch is the decent enemy, disgusted by the Nazis, while John Gregson and Anthony Quayle are the Brits who recognise Finchs old school values but still want to sink him. Conoisseurs of British character playing will spot Bernard Lee, Patrick MacNee, Christopher Lee (speaking Spanish), Roger Delgado, Douglas Wilmer, Michael Goodliffe and Andrew Cruiskshank. However, despite all the tight-lipped heroism, it is notable that most of the film consists of footage of large grey battleships just sitting there, and that the only woman in the cast is just barely visible in a dockfront bar.