The Battle of the River Plate (film)

The Battle of the River Plate (a.k.a. Pursuit of the Graf Spee in the United States) is a 1956 British war film in Technicolor and VistaVision by the writer-director-producer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. The film stars John Gregson, Anthony Quayle, and Peter Finch. It was distributed worldwide by Rank Film Distributors Ltd.
The film's storyline concerns the Battle of the River Plate, an early World War II naval battle in 1939 between a Royal Navy force of three cruisers and the German pocket battleship .
Plot.
In the early months of the Second World War, Nazi Germany's "Kriegsmarine" sends out merchant raiders to attack Allied shipping. The Royal Navy responds with hunting groups whose mission is to stop them. The group that finds the heavily armed pocket battleship "Admiral Graf Spee" near South America is outgunned since "Admiral Graf Spee" is equipped with long-range guns, and the British heavy cruiser has much lighter guns, and the light cruisers and have guns. However, they go straight into the attack.
The British are led by Commodore Harwood (Anthony Quayle), with Captain Woodhouse (Ian Hunter) commanding flagship "Ajax", Captain Bell (John Gregson) "Exeter" and Captain Parry (Jack Gwillim) "Achilles". The British use their superior numbers to split her fire by attacking from different directions, but "Admiral Graf Spee", under Captain Hans Langsdorff (Peter Finch), inflicts much damage on her foes. "Exeter" is particularly hard hit and is forced to retire from the battle.
"Admiral Graf Spee" sustains some damage and takes refuge in the neutral port of Montevideo, Uruguay, for repairs. According to international law, the ship may remain in a neutral harbour only long enough to repair for seaworthiness, not to refit for battle. The British initially demand for the Uruguayan authorities to send "Admiral Graf Spee" out to sea within 24 hours, as the law dictates, but they change strategy and ask for an extension so that reinforcements can arrive for an impending second battle. In fact, they are too far away, but local media spread reports that more British warships have arrived, including battleships and aircraft carriers; in fact, only three cruisers ("Exeter" having been replaced by ) are waiting in station. Taken in by the ruse, Langsdorff takes his ship out with a skeleton crew aboard. As the onlookers watch from shore, she heads down the River Plate for the open sea, bursts into flames with a series of explosions and is scuttled. That is a relief to the Royal Navy fleet, which was expecting casualties, and it reports, 'Many a life has been saved today'. Now on board a merchant ship, Langsdorff is complimented for his humane decision by Captain Dove.
Production.
"The Battle of the River Plate" had its genesis in an invitation to Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger to attend a film festival in Argentina in 1954. They decided they could not afford to take the time from their schedules unless it was a working holiday, and used the trip to research the defeat of . They came across the "hook" for their story when one of the surviving British naval officers gave Pressburger a copy of Captain Patrick Dove's book "I Was A Prisoner on the Graf Spee", which became the basis of the human story of the film.
Principal photography began on 13 December 1955, the sixteenth anniversary of the battle. The HMS "Ajax" and River Plate Association reportedly sent a message to the producers: "Hope your shooting will be as successful as ours". Location shooting for the arrival and departure of "Admiral Graf Spee" took place at the port of Montevideo, using thousands of locals as extras. However, the scenes showing "Admiral Graf Spee" sailing from Montevideo were shot in the Grand Harbour at Valletta in Malta, and the launch taking McCall out to HMS "Ajax" was filmed in Gozo harbour on Malta's northern island.
Two songs written by composer Brian Easdale were used in the film, "Dolores' Song" and "Rio de la Plata". Both were acted by April Olrich as "Dolores", with singing voice dubbed by Muriel Smith.
Ships used.
Most of the action of the battle and prior to it takes place on real ships at sea. The producers had the advantage of having elements of the Mediterranean Fleet of the Royal Navy available for their use, and USS "Salem" to play the part of "Admiral Graf Spee", although she had a different number of main turrets. The producers did make use of a model of "Salem" (with details only on the side being shot) in a -deep tank at Pinewood Studios for scenes depicting hits during the battle, and also for the blowing-up of "Admiral Graf Spee", which was assembled from multiple takes from different angles.
In an early scene, it is claimed that "Admiral Graf Spee" is being disguised by the ship's carpenters – using features such as a false funnel – as an American cruiser, a trick typical of commerce raiders. The US Navy would not allow any Nazi insignia to be displayed on "Salem" so the wartime German flag being hoisted and flown was filmed on a British ship. This is also the explanation as to why the crew of "Admiral Graf Spee" are seen wearing US Navy pattern helmets rather than German "Coal Scuttles" – whilst the filmmakers wanted to achieve an accurate impression and use German helmets they were refused permission. This aspect is sometimes described as a "goof" on the part of the filmmakers, but was in fact a circumstance beyond their control. Mention is made of "Graf Spee"s sister ships, "Admiral Scheer" and "Deutschland". "Admiral Scheer" capsized after an air raid in 1945 and the remains of the wreck buried under a new harbour. "Deutschland" was renamed "Lutzow" in 1940 and sunk as a target in 1947.
It was remarkable that two of the original ships, HMNZS "Achilles" and HMS "Cumberland" were available for filming fifteen years after the events depicted. "Cumberland" was a disarmed trial ship without her 8-inch gun turrets at this time and was refitted with lattice masts, but she is very recognisable as the last of the three-funnelled heavy cruisers to remain in service. (In the final scenes, "Jamaica" represented "Cumberland" as one of the British trio waiting off Montevideo). This use of real warships was in line with an Admiralty policy of co-operation with film-makers, which saw the corvettes HMS "Coreopsis" and reactivated in 1952 for the film version of "The Cruel Sea"; the cruiser and the minelayer used in the 1953 film "Sailor of the King", and the destroyer and frigate used in the 1955 film "".
"Achilles" had been sold to the newly formed Indian Navy in 1948, becoming INS "Delhi". The flagship HMS "Ajax" was actually her sister ship, and would have looked identical to "Achilles", while the original HMS "Exeter" was a two-funnelled half-sister of "Cumberland". HMS "Sheffield" and HMS "Jamaica", which played "Ajax" and "Exeter", had higher superstructures and more guns, which were mounted in triple turrets. Though different from the ships they represented, both these light cruisers had played a major part in the wartime campaign against the large German surface raiders which began at the Battle of the River Plate, including in 1941, in 1942, in 1943, and in 1944.
Historical details.
The use of real ships allows the film to pay particular attention to detail even though "Admiral Graf Spee" was portrayed by the American heavy cruiser USS "Salem" which is visually distinct from the German Pocket Battleship. This includes the warning bells ringing before each salvo, the scorching on the gun barrels after the battle, and the accurate depiction of naval procedures. The film depicts "Admiral Graf Spee" and "Altmark" using the complex procedure of alongside refuelling; actually the Germans used the slower but safer method of astern refuelling, but the alongside method is much more dramatic for film purposes, and by 1955 was standard procedure for the British ships involved (see list above). Similarly, although the scene when Harwood meets with his captains on board "Ajax" is fictional, it was created for the movie in order to explain the tactical situation to the audience. The battle is seen from the perspective of the British ships, and that of the prisoners captured from nine merchantmen and held in "Admiral Graf Spee".
The film devotes nearly twenty minutes to the battle, which actually lasted a little more than an hour before becoming a chase into Montevideo. The initial minutes from the spotting of "Admiral Graf Spee" at 0614, to her opening fire at 0618, and the British ships returning fire from 0620 are depicted in real time. In reality German gunfire did not "straddle" "Exeter" until 0623, after three salvoes, and her main armament fire was not "split" between the British ships until 0630, although these events are shown happening immediately. "Exeter"s bridge and forward turrets were knocked out at 0630, but at this point the film begins to telescope the sequence of events.
Commodore Harwood is shown wearing the shoulder tabs and sleeve rings of a rear admiral from the start, although he was only promoted to this rank after the battle. This is historically correct, as 'Commodores of the first class' wore those insignia at the time. "Exeter"s chaplain is also correctly depicted wearing a civilian dark suit and clerical collar; it was not until later in the war that naval chaplains adopted military uniform as a security measure.
"The Battle of the River Plate" only hints at one aspect of the story: the death of Captain Hans Langsdorff after he scuttled his ship. In the film Langsdorff is shown as subdued and depressed afterwards. In reality he was taken ashore to the Naval Hotel in Buenos Aires, where he wrote letters to his family and superiors. He then lay atop "Admiral Graf Spee"s battle ensign and shot himself, forestalling allegations that he had avoided further battle action through cowardice; another motivation was his desire, as "Admiral Graf Spee"s captain, to symbolically go down with his ship. He was talked out of this by his officers, who convinced him that his leadership was still needed in seeking amnesty for his crew. Once their fate was decided, Langsdorff took his own life. 
Hans Langsdorff was buried in the German section of the La Chacarita Cemetery in Buenos Aires, Argentina and was honoured by both sides in the battle for his honourable conduct.
Prior to the destruction of the "Graf Spee", the German crew were seen rowing away from the ship whereas in reality they were taken off by an Argentinan tugboat. Also not shown is the use of certain captured merchant vessels as prizes, sailed by crews from "Graf Spee" to carry captured sailors, which were later sunk. In addition a Norwegian merchant ship reported the Graf Spee heading for South America before being spotted by lookouts but this is omitted. Furthermore the British Government secretly arranged for French and British merchant ships to leave Montevideo harbour every 24 hours to delay "Graf Spee"'s departure. Also omitted is "Graf Spee" attempting to force a merchant ship to stop while she herself was being pursued by the British cruisers.
Release and reception.
When "The Battle of the River Plate" was completed and screened for executives at the Rank Organisation, it was received so well that it was decided to hold the release of the film for a year, so that it could be chosen as part of the next year's Royal Film Performance (in 1956), since 1955's film had already been selected. The royal premiere was held at the Odeon Leicester Square on 29 October 1956 in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret.
Box office.
The film performed very well at the box office, being the fourth most popular film in Britain in 1957, after "High Society", "Doctor at Large" and "The Admirable Crichton".
Honours.
"The Battle of the River Plate" was nominated for three BAFTA Awards in 1957, for "Best British Film", "Best British Screenplay" and "Best Film From Any Source".
Book.
In 1956 Powell published "Graf Spee" with Hodder and Stoughton, a.k.a. "Death in the Atlantic" (Rinehart, US), retelling the story of the film in more detail. In 1976, a second edition was released by White Lion Publishers with the amended title, "The Last Voyage of the Graf Spee".