Review of Sink the Bismarck! (1960) by Grant S — 10 Jan 2011

The story of the sinking of the Bismarck is one that is quite remarkable and that is filed with luck as well as controversy (whether the ship sank from the damage or the Germans scuttled it). The film does not touch on whole lot on either of these aspect which hurts it a little bit. However, the use of the real footage and radio reports does help place it in a proper historical context though.

The film features Kenneth More as its star playing Captain Shepard. Shepard's leap from man who only wants to capture the Bismarck to caring father and potential date is a shaky one that really affects the depth of the film. The film's cast also features the typical ardent Nazi who is blinded by his faith in Adolf Hitler, the admiral. That type of character is unrealistic in the way it is portrayed.

As stated before, the use of real footage helps this film create the feel of the time. However, this film does other things like reusing the same frame to illustrate a point like, "Shoot". To the viewer, the scene is almost mind numbingly annoying. Overall, the story is told steady and throughly. There is nothing special about it. It is not very deep but it is effective in some aspects.