Sink the Bismarck! (1960) - a gripping wartime British naval drama

Donald P. Borchers
Donald P. Borchers
1,146,895
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Published 2024-01-16
In February 1939, Nazi Germany's most powerful battleship, Bismarck, is launched, beginning a new era of German sea power. In May 1941, British naval intelligence discovers Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen are about to sail into the North Atlantic to attack Allied convoys. From an underground war room in London, Captain Jonathan Shepard (Kenneth More) coordinates the hunt for the dreaded Bismarck. The two German warships encounter HMS Hood and HMS Prince of Wales in the Denmark Strait, and the four warships engage in a deadly gun duel. The battle results in the annihilation and violent disintegration of the Hood, shocking combatants on both sides. Prince of Wales is alone and is fired on by the two German ships. She manages to inflict damage on Bismarck's bow, but Bismarck returns fire, destroying the Prince of Wales' bridge. Prince of Wales emits a smoke screen behind which to retreat. Bismarck and Prinz Eugen also retreat, but they are shadowed by the cruisers HMS Suffolk and HMS Norfolk using radar. Later, Prinz Eugen breaks away and heads towards the port of Brest, in occupied France, while Bismarck turns and fires at the British cruisers to provide cover as she escapes. The attack forces the cruisers to retreat. An air assault from the carrier HMS Victorious damages Bismarck's fuel tanks, but the vessel is otherwise largely undamaged.

Back at London's operations headquarters, Captain Shepard gambles that Admiral Gunther Lütjens (Karel Štěpánek), the Fleet Commander aboard Bismarck, has ordered a return to friendly waters where U-boats and air cover will make it impossible to attack. He plans to intercept and attack the German vessel before she reaches safety. Shepard commits a disproportionately large force to the search, and his wager pays off when Bismarck is located steaming toward the French coast. British forces have a narrow time window in which to destroy or slow their prey before German support and their own diminishing fuel supplies will preclude further attacks. Swordfish torpedo planes from HMS Ark Royal have two chances. The first fails when the pilots misidentify HMS Sheffield as Bismarck, but thankfully their new magnetic torpedo detonators are faulty, with most exploding as soon as they hit the sea. Returning to the carrier and changing to conventional contact exploders, their second attack, this time on the Bismarck, is successful. One torpedo causes only minor damage; but a catastrophic second hit near the stern jams the German battleship's rudder.

Unable to repair the rudder, Bismarck steams in circles. During the night two British destroyers attack the crippled battleship with torpedoes. One hits, but Bismarck returns fire, sinking the destroyer HMS Solent. The main force of British ships, including battleships HMS Rodney and HMS King George V, find Bismarck the next day and rain shells upon her. Lütjens insists that German forces will arrive to save them, but he is killed when a shell strikes Bismarck's bridge. The remaining bridge officers are killed and the crew abandon their sinking ship. On board King George V, Admiral John Tovey (Michael Hordern) orders the newly joined cruiser HMS Dorsetshire to finish Bismarck off. The cruiser fires torpedoes at the German battleship, causing the vessel to sink faster than her crew can escape. The captain of King George V, Wilfrid Patterson (Jack Gwillim), lowers his head as Bismarck disappears beneath the waves. Admiral Tovey orders Dorsetshire to pick up survivors, finally saying tersely: "Well, gentlemen, let's go home."

A 1960 black-and-white CinemaScope British war film directed by Lewis Gilbert, produced by John Brabourne, screenplay by Edmund H. North, based on C. S. Forester's book "The Last Nine Days of the Bismarck" (1959), cinematography by Christopher Challis, starring Kenneth More, Dana Wynter, Laurence Naismith, and Geoffrey Keen.

This was shot in black and white in order to intercut it with newsreel footage. The use of Edward R. Murrow reprising his wartime broadcasts from London also lends an air of authenticity and near-documentary feel.

Producer John Brabourne was able to use his influence as son-in-law of Lord Mountbatten, then Chief of the Defence Staff, to obtain the full co-operation of the Admiralty. The last major Second World War fleet units were being retired, and soon-to-be-scrapped battleship HMS Vanguard provided footage of a capital ship's 15-inch gun turrets in action, and was used for scenes set on board HMS Hood, Prince of Wales, King George V, and Bismarck. The cruiser HMS Belfast, now preserved in London, depicted the cruisers involved in Bismarck's pursuit, including HMS Norfolk, Suffolk, Sheffield and Dorsetshire. A Dido-class cruiser in reserve was used as the set for Bismarck's destruction, and one of her tall raked funnels is glimpsed in the final scenes. Aircraft carrier HMS Victorious is briefly shown as herself, the same ship is also used to depict HMS Ark Royal sailing from Gibraltar.
All Comments (21)
  • @allandavis8201
    It doesn’t matter how many times I watch this film it never gets boring, superb cast and a story that needed to be told.
  • @robertgoss4842
    A superb motion picture. British historical filmmaking at its very finest. Do not miss this one.
  • @topgeardel
    This movie is a personal memory of mine. As a kid I wanted to see Sink the Bismarck so bad. My parents obviously got the message. They later took me to the drive in theater but I had no clue what we were seeing. Then the opening credits came on and I went crazy...lol.
  • @jbsmith966
    Hats off to the special effects crew that worked on this movie,,after all these years the special effects in this movie still hold up well.
  • @Steve-Cross
    Kenneth Moore, at his finest. A brilliant film. Thank you. 👍🏻
  • @Tom-ys5ik
    I remember seeing this movie at a theater with my parents. My Father was a WW2 Navy veteran who participated in the relief convoys to Great Britain, so this movie hit home, his greatest fear was being torpedoed by a German U boat He said if you survived the blast and were sunk you wouldn't live long in the Frigid Water of the North Atlantic. I love this Movie !
  • @TraderRobin
    Can you believe I have fallen in love with Dana Wynter all over again?? Too bad she died in 2011 at 79! She was truly wonderful! 🥰
  • @peterreston6478
    One of the very best British WW II movies. They sure don't make them like they used to.
  • @Coolbardie
    This is my favourite WW2 movie. As a kid, I used to watch it with my Dad. Considering this was made long before CGI, I think the special effects are pretty good. Here's a piece of trivia. Esmond Knight, who played the Captain of the Prince of Wales, actually served aboard the Prince of Wales in this battle. He was seriously wounded and became blind, though he later regained sight in his right eye. ❤
  • @ednammansfield8553
    I have watched this film many times and it is one of my favourite war films. One of the best Britain war films made.
  • @d53101
    I saw Sink the Bismarck in 1963 when I was 10 years ago. It sparked an interest in me about the Second World War that remains to this day. And Sink the Bismarck was one of the first movies on DVD that I purchased.
  • @user-jv9uv7nz3i
    We had Italian spaghetti with extra beef for supper, with the fixings, American Root beer soda, and German chocolate cake with English heath bar ice cream, and watched this movie, and Normandy movie, I was 11 yrs old, watching it with my grandma at her house, she would tell the stories of life back then, so grandmas house was a visit daily, I miss her tremendously, she always fixed the best food, every weekend me and sis would eat dinner at grandmas, the love of her grand kids was everything to her and us,...🇺🇸🌎🙂
  • @UlsterAndy
    My best friend at school in the 60s grand dad was a young seaman on the Hood said that the day before the ship sailed to meet the Bismark had to leave the ship to go ashore with bad tooth ache. I bet that he was never so glad to have a tooth ache. I went to his flat a lot of times in Plymouth he always had photos of the Hood and crew up on his walls along with a model of the ship. I wish that I knew more about him and his times in the Hood but as a kid you don't appreciate the situation at the time and when I did it was too late as he had died.
  • @gordoncree2899
    This movie was one of those I watched with my dad on a Sunday afternoon.
  • @marmaly
    The damsels in the war room are quite enchanting.
  • @mydogsmylifecircusdogtrainer
    these kind of spacial effects are much more credible and realistic than the AI generated effects of today. Great film
  • @torarildhenriksen371
    After the sinking of the Bismarck Prince of wales had only 7 months left. She was sunk by the japanese in december the same year.