if you would like to see how talk and diplomatic maneuvering in the hand of two masterful filmmaker can turn what could have be a routine action movie into something special and try powell and pressburger the battle of the river plate . it late 1939 and wwii have start . the german pocket battleship graf spee be wreak havoc with british shipping . three british cruiser lead by commodore henry harwood ( john quayle ) be in pursuit . harwood make an educated guess that captain han langsdorff ( peter finch ) will head toward south america for one last series of kill before return home . he right and and the first part of the movie be a brutal sea battle between the graf spee and which have 11 inch gun and hit hard and far and faster than anything the british have and and hms exeter and hmnzs achilles and hms ajax . they be determine to kill the graf spee and even though they only have 6 inch and 8 inch gun . the result . exeter be badly damage and must try to make it to the falklands . achilles and ajax be damage and too and but so be the graf spee . langsdorff disengages and head for neutral montevideo and trail by achilles and ajax . and now we get to the heart of the movie . under the law of the sea and langsdorff have two day to make the graf spee seaworthy before he must return to sea . he be low on ammunition . if he leave the harbor with gun blaze he just might be able to take out ajax and achilles . after first work to insure langsdorff be give no more time to affect repair and the british realize that there be a chance that at least one british ship and a heavy cruiser and could arrive in time for battle . that would change the odds dramatically against langsdorff . so now the british cleverly set false rumor that british warship be just beyond the horizon and ready for battle . they have place langsdorff in a crucial dilemma . if and he think and he leave harbor now he face a strengthened british force and will probably loose . if he wait for further repair the situation would not improve . he could make a dash for buenos aire and not far away . although argentina be neutral it be friendly to germany . but the channel be narrow and shallow . if the graf spee go aground it will be a sit target for the reinforced british . langsdorff have no stomach for the fiery and pointless death of his sailor . all this be play out in meeting and telephone conversation and message and all swirl around the diplomat of three country and britain and germany and uruguay . langsdorff have little time to decide . thanks to the british setting up false rumor and his choice all seem poor . but perhaps and in langsdorff mind and an immediate attempt at escape might be the least unattractive . he realize there be a further choice and which be unexpected . powell and pressburger have give u a clever film without clichés . no tearful wife and no anxious or two timing sweetheart and no sailor use a low class comedy relief and no noble sacrifice to save others and no slimy nazi . powell use the device of captured british captain hold on the graf spee a a way to give u matter of fact interplay between the british and the german . one captured captain be use a a mean for langsdorff to explain to him ( and powell and pressburger to explain to u ) what the graf spee do and how strong it be and how it be supply and the kind of man langsdorff be . powell and pressburger use the discussion between harwood and his fighting captain to help u understand harwood strategy and the battle tactic he employ . the battle itself and film in the mediterranean use ship from the navy of britain and other country and include a heavy cruiser from the u. s. to stand in for the graf spee and be dramatically and efficiently film . almost no model be use except at the explosive conclusion . but it be the inaction half of this action movie which be so cleverly work out . powell and pressburger manage to keep u highly involve with the diplomatic to and froing . the fact that the people of montevideo be fascinate with this giant german pocket battleship in their harbor be play to the hilt . the fate of the graf spee at the conclusion of the movie be watch from the harbor wall by thousand and all the while an american broadcaster be give to radio listener a description of what be occur . it quite an effective scene . and it actually happen . the battle of the river plate and if make by anyone other than powell and pressburger and might well be see a a quirky classic of it genre . but the great film of these two be in the past . they would make one more movie the next year and a film powell call nothing more than a programmer and and they would then go and still friend and their separate way . the partnership that give u the life and death of colonel blimp and a matter of life and death and the red shoe and i know where i be go and a canterbury tale and black narcissus be over . be leave with these great and wonderful film . if the battle of the river plate be not one of them and it still be an effective and professional and clever movie and and so typical of the way these two men avoid conventionality .