Sink the Bismarck! (1960)

So much average

Sadly Over-hyped

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Advances in aviation and air-to-surface weapons led to the death of lumbering, iron clad battleships. By the early 60s most of these ships were scrapped or decommissioned. As a result, Lewis Gilbert's "Sink the Bismarck!" is one of the last films to feature real, WW2 era British warships. It's also one of the better of many naval movies released in the late 50s and early 60s ("Damn the Defiant!", "The Caine Mutiny", "The Sand Pebbles", "The Bedford Incident" "Run Silent, Run Deep", "The Sea Chase", "The Enemy Below").Adopting a dry (it's a British production, you see), somewhat documentarian tone, the film is a cat and mouse techno-thriller in which the British Admirality, led by Chief of Naval Operations Captain Jonathan Shepard, attempts to intercept and sink the Bismarck, a deadly German battleship (the largest ship ever built by any European country) which has been decimating Allied convoys.Unlike most of these films, the action takes place largely in an underground war room where tactics and orders are cooked up and transmitted to the fleet. It's a chess game, our Chief of Naval Operations, who spends the film looming over maps and war boards, risking thousands of lives with each decision.Unsurprisingly, the film demonizes Admiral Lutjens, the man in command of the Bismarck. He's your typical Nazi villain, bent on destroying the world with his deadly toys. In real life, Lutjens despised both Nazi policies and Hitler, and was deeply pessimistic about both his mission and the capabilities of his super ship. The film is designed to appeal squarely to WW2 veterans and their wide eyed sons. It captures the skill of British naval gunners at the time; the Bismarck may have out-gunned and out-tonned her opponents, but British gunners were notorious for hitting their targets early, fast and precisely. Bismarck was one year old when she bit seabed.7.9/10 – Worth one viewing.

Yes, my children, there was a time when movies knew nothing of CGI, and very difficult scenes of violence and destruction were given over to names like Buddy Gillespie, Wally Veevers, and Warren Newcombe, Howard and Teddy Lydecker. These men looked deep inside their childhoods, and started using miniatures, filmed at slow motion camera speeds to proportionately smooth out the movement of model ships, water, model airplanes, collapsing and exploding buildings, even crash model cars.The most difficult miniature work was with water and the look of the water in relation to a miniature ship.It was found that the larger the model ship, the more realistic the water looked, and in Columbia's "Sink the Bismarck", the ships were anywhere from 40-60 feet in length. The water body was an indoor pool over 300 ft. in diameter, surrounded by wind machines and under the floor of the tank, large hydraulic pistons created waves.Can you imagine what fun that was? Blowing up and sinking these huge models.....it was a dream of mine for years.Today, a scruffy kid sits in front of a computer and creates sea battles and catastrophes that are astoundingly realistic. He uses 1's and 0's.....nothing of the physical world.Still, the destruction of the Bismarck, and the capstone piece, the massive explosion of the H.M.S. Hood amaze and awe anyone who watches this film today.This is a WWII film for the ages, and a centerpiece of a very fun special-effects era.

Sink the Bismark! (1960)A smart, steady as she goes WWII film in stately, wide screen black and white. There is little to flaw in it, and equally little to lift it above its quiet perfection. I don't mean it's a perfect movie, but that it manages perfectly to hold its tone, from the war rooms to the sea battles, from the English side to the German, with intelligence and historical accuracy. The terror the large, high tech battleship caused is legendary among those who lived through it. It was a symbol of German military and engineering prowess. When it knocked out (sank) Britain's largest and best ship early in the war, it looked invincible. And the prime minister made a point of saying, in a key early moment, that they had to do whatever it took to sink it. And so risks were taken and more lives lost and until, eventually, it was sunk.Not to give away the end, but this is history, and war is serious. As a sign of how the movie remains sombre through it all, there was no cheering and really not even a smile among the British when they saw the Bismarck finally go underwater. Which is admirable, the stiff upper lip thing, but it's also a little unbelievable. Indeed, the German boat leaders are constantly shown to be arrogant and cocky, worried more about letters from Hitler than the fact they are leaking oil. I suppose it might be true to some extent, that the British were all good chaps and determined to win and the Germans were all ruthless and tireless and determined also to win.Such is war.But this is maybe the largest tilt the film makes in the wrong direction. It is filmed with great control, and it mixes a little existing footage with the new shooting really seamlessly. The acting is first rate, with no heroes in the Hollywood sense, just a large cast of focused talent. As for accuracy, it seems that scholars find it quite good in the large picture but riddled with little errors, including the portrayal of the German captain as a cocky Hitler worshiper. There is some question about whether the Germans scuttled the ship themselves or if it was sunk, and there was apparently no Norwegian spy involved. Some of the errors have to do with the use of updated ships for the filming, but most of this is too fast to worry about. There is the hinted at turning away after the sinking, without picking up Germans in the water, and apparently the rescue effort was minimal, so a hundred Germans died in the water. Great detail is found at the Wiki entry for the movie (as well as the entry for the ship). Another page to pursue is at www.kbismarck.com.The main character, Captain Shepard, and his son on a navy ship, are fictional. The wreck was discovered in 1989 by the same team that discovered the Titanic, and James Cameron made a documentary on the ship (and its wreckage) in 2002.

A remarkable movie with Mr.K.More at his very best as the Director of Operations in a bunker under the Admiralty engaged in a hunt for the "Bismarck" when she breaks for the Atlantic intending to wreak havoc on Allied convoys. Cool - headed rather than cold,he is the man who must make the hard decisions - the important ones. With the lives of many thousands of sailors in his hands he directs the escorting ships away from the convoys and redeploys them in a desperate search for the German battleship. His calculated risk pays off and,cornered by the Royal Navy,the "Bismarck" is ruthlessly blown to pieces,graphically portrayed on the screen. Nobody in the bunker whoops or throws their hat in the air,Mr More merely slips the model of the "Bismarck" into a pocket and goes back into his office.Job done. Brilliantly photographed in black and white(for wasn't the war fought in black and white for my generation?)"Sink the Bismarck" is the best type of understated British war movie. Mr More's apparent cold - bloodedness covers a tragic past,but there's a war to be won,time enough to grieve afterwards. Mis Dana Wynter strikes a slightly false note as a bereaved Wren officer who tries to bring out More's humanity,but otherwise the casting is perfect. "Remember The Hood" was a byword of the time,but we should also remember the "Bismarck" and her brave,doomed crew.