Sink the Bismarck

Director: Lewis Gilbert

Overview

"Lewis Gilbert's Sink The Bismarck comes to DVD in an edition that leaves the letterboxed laserdisc edition from the early 1990's, as well as all other home viewing versions, in the dust. The black-and-white CinemaScope movie has been transferred at with

Product Details

Release Date:	05/13/2008
UPC:	0024543072133
Original Release:	1960
Rating:	NR
Source:	20TH CENTURY FOX
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[B&W, Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono, Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:37:00
Sales rank:	12,568

Special Features

Closed Caption; [None specified]

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Kenneth More	Capt. Jonathan Shepard
Dana Wynter	Anne Davis
Laurence Naismith	First Sea Lord
Carl M?hner	Capt. Lindemann
Geoffrey Keen	A.C.N.S.
Karel Stepanek	Adm. Lutjens
Michael Hordern	Commander on King George
Maurice Denham	Cmdr. Richards
Michael Goodliffe	Capt. Banister
Esmond Knight	Captain, Prince of Wales
Jack Watling	Signals Officer
Jack Gwillam	Captain, King George
Mark Dignam	Captain, Ark Royal
Ernest Clark	Captain, Suffolk
John Horsley	Captain, Sheffield
Peter Burton	Captain, 1st Destroyer
John Stuart	Captain, Hood
Walter Hudd	Admiral, Hood
Sydney Tafler	Workman
Edward R. Murrow	Himself
Jack Gwillim	Captain - 'King George V'
Sean Barrett	Able Seaman Brown
Robert Rietty	Captain Lindemann
Michael Balfour	Able Seaman - Lookout on 'Suffolk'
Richard Beale	Petty Officer in Phone Montage
Edward Judd	Actor
Carl Mohner	Actor
Clifton Parker	Composer

Technical Credits

Edmund H. North

C.S. Forester

John Brabourne	Producer
Howard Lydecker	Special Effects
Bill Warrington	Special Effects
Edmund H. North	Screenwriter
C.S. Forester	Screenwriter
Skeets Kelly	Special Effects
Red Law	Sound Effects
Winston Ryder	Sound Effects
Danny Daniel	Sound Effects
Lord John Brabourne	Producer

Scene Index

Side #1 --
1. Germany's Largest Battleship
2. Main Titles
3. Fighting Alone
4. The New Director
5. Warship Sighting
6. An Interrupted Message
7. Locating the Bismarck
8. A Calculated Risk
9. A Chance for Glory
10. The Waiting
11. Unsinkable
12. No Feelings
13. Bismarck Sighted
14. Preparing for Battle
15. Battle With the Bismarck
16. They'll Never Stop Us
17. Sink the Bismarck
18. A Letter for Tom
19. Goodbye and Good Hunting
20. Air Strike
21. Lost Contact
22. Where's the Bismarck?
23. Two Offers
24. Bad News
25. The Wrong Ship
26. Our Last Chance
27. Closing In
28. Good News
29. The Main Event
30. Finished
31. The Pleasure of Your Company
32. End Titles

Menu

Side #1 --
Play
Language Selection
English Stereo
English Mono
Spanish Mono
French Mono
Subtitles
English
Spanish
None
Scene Selection
Special Features
Movietone News: Battle in Atlantic Between British and Bismarck
Theatrical Trailer
Spanish Theatrical Trailer
Fox War Classics
13 Rue Madeleine
The Blue Max
The Desert Fox
The Enemy Below
Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison

Editorial Reviews

In this 1960 World War II film, Captain Jonathan Shepherd plots strategy in a war room in London in a desperate attempt to guide the British Royal Navy to victory over Germany's mightiest battleship, the Bismarck. So important is the mission to keeping open vital supply routes that Churchill himself has given the order: "Sink the Bismarck!" The action in the underground war room, where Shepherd maneuvers model ships like chess pieces, is as taut as the action at sea as outgunned British ships close in on the fire-breathing Bismarck in May of 1941. It is the biggest, fastest, and most powerful warship in the world. But Shepherd is not only fighting the Nazis; he is also fighting demons within after his wife was lost in an air raid and his son was reported missing in action. Kenneth More portrays Shepherd as an aloof, quick-tempered strategist who struggles to keep his feelings in check while making risky decisions affecting the lives of thousands. His performance is outstanding. Ably portraying his sympathetic assistant is Dana Wynter, who understands his inner turmoil and helps him come to grips with it -- and the Bismarck. All the other cast members also perform well, except for Karl Stepanek. As Admiral Lutiens, he is too much the militant German Ubermensch -- a cardboard cutout who idolizes the Fuehrer and seeks only the glory of the Reich and himself. In spite of the limited film technology of 1960, the special effects are good -- in particular the scene showing the destruction of Britain's best battleship, H.M.S. Hood, and the final attack against the Bismarck. The film moves along nicely, never lingering too long in the war room or too long on the decks of the German and British ships. When communications are exchanged between the ships and the war room, suspense builds. Have the Nazis sunk another ship? Will the latest stratagem work?