The Battle of the River Plate

The title says it all, plot-wise. The pursuit and battle scenes are well-handled, though perhaps a little too slow moving. The scrupulous attention to accuracy is notable, Graf Spee obviously being an American heavy cruiser notwithstanding. Unfortunately, once it moves ashore, the film falls flat. The diplomatic scenes are well done, but Murton's loud reporter and Lee and Olrich's stereotypical beach bar owners make those scenes very hard to tolerate. The blurb in the opening credits "a cast of 100 Speaking Parts we would like to name but can only thank" comes across as more than slightly obnoxious, not least when you are trying to figure out those names.

Note on credits: Where the actors are playing real historical persons, I have attempted to name them where possible. I believe this ties in with the Archers' desire for historical accuracy. The various ships are named in the opening credits, but I have placed them at the very end, after the actors, for clarity's sake.

Several cast members of the Archers' previous production, Oh. . .Rosalinda!! can be seen leaving Manolo's bar. Perhaps a cast party? Some scenes appear to have been trimmed down or removed completely from the final print, as some names on cast lists could not be found in the final film.The original release is listed as 119 minutes, video releases run 114 minutes.

Though the credits lists Achilles as HMNZS, ships of the NZ Division used the HMS prefix until October 1941 when the division was renamed the Royal New Zealand Navy.