The Battle of the River Plate

“Pursuit of the Graf Spee”

Commodore Harwood (Anthony Quayle) commands a thin Royal Navy force in the South Atlantic in the early years of the Second World War, charged with keeping the convoy routes to Britain open. German warships such as the Admiral Graf Spee are out on the ocean hunting cargo ships to sink. Powell and Pressburger film it in Technicolor and VistaVision, with the plotting and signalling worked out in careful procedural detail.