Review of Sink the Bismarck! (1960) by Timothy J — 10 Mar 2013

Directed by Lewis Gilbert, (Carve Her Name with Pride (1958), Alfie (1966) and You Only Live Twice (1967)), this is a true life war film about the mission to destroy a battleship. It's a different kind of war film though, where it divides it's time between the action at sea and the decisions going on in the war rooms, and the planning that went on to ensure we won the war.

It's a good film with some good set pieces and some good performances. In 1939, on the eve of World War 2, onn of Nazi Germany's largest and most powerful battleship, the Bismarck, which is said to impenetrable by guns, bombs or torpedos, was launched.

By 1941, British Convoy ships are being attacked in the North Sea by U-boats, then they discover the Bismarck heading towards the North Atlantic. In London, the Admiralty's chief of operations, Captain Jonathan Shepard (Kenneth More) has to devise a plan to destroy the Bismarck, and stop any more ships getting hurt.

But, after the Bismarck destroys the HMS Hood south of Iceland, it'll require a lot of firepower to destroy this ship. It's a film which shows the unsung heroes of the war, those in London who gave the commands, and planned ahead and predicted the movements of the Nazi's, Gilbert does well with the film and the battles at sea come out really well on film.