Sink the Bismarck! *** (1960, Kenneth More, Dana Wynter, Karel Stepanek, Carl Mohner, Laurence Naismith, Geoffrey Keen, Michael Hordern, Maurice Denham) – Classic Movie Review 6749

Esteemed British master craftsman Lewis Gilbert made his name as a director in the Fifties and Sixties with a series of hit films, often based on true stories from the Second World War, such as Reach for the Sky (1956), the story of air ace Douglas Bader, Carve Her Name with Pride (1958), the story of SOE agent Violette Szabo, and Sink the Bismarck! (1960).

Gilbert’s 1960 war movie Sink the Bismarck! is based on a book by C S Forester and stars an ideally cast Kenneth More as new British Navy operations boss Captain Jonathan Shephard, who plots the sinking of Nazi Germany’s most powerful battleship the Bismarck in 1941, with a little help from his warm-hearted secretary Anne Davis (Dana Wynter).

Gilbert’s valiant attempt at documentary-style realism is somewhat scuppered by the weight of the abundance of clichés and stereotypes in the screenplay — poker-faced officers, cheery cockneys, sneering Germans — and the too-obvious, dated special effects, with use of actual archive battle footage.

However, there is plenty of Boy’s Own-style heroic action at sea, the admirable More gives it class and the support actor crew are shipshape, giving the expected stalwart performances of the era.

Also in the cast are Karel Stepanek, Carl Mohner [Carl Möhner], Laurence Naismith, Geoffrey Keen, Michael Hordern, Maurice Denham, Michael Goodliffe, Esmond Knight, Jack Watling, Jack Gwillim, Mark Dignam, Ernest Clark, John Horsley, Sydney Tafler, John Stuart and Ed Morrow.

Tafler was the brother-in-law of Gilbert, who also cast him in Reach for the Sky (1956), Alfie (1966) and The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).

Sink the Bismarck! is directed by Lewis Gilbert, runs 97 minutes, is released by 20th Century Fox, is written by Edmund H North (screen story and screenplay), based on a book by C S Forester, is shot in black and white and widescreen by Christopher Challis, is produced by John Brabourne, and scored by Muir Mathieson and Clifton Parker.

Lewis Gilbert (1920–2018).

RIP Lewis Gilbert (1920–2018), among the best of the best.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6749

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