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''The Battle of the River Plate'' is a 1956 Technicolor British war film in VistaVision by writer-director-producer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, starring John Gregson, Anthony Quayle and Peter Finch. In the United States the film was retitled ''Pursuit of the Graf Spee''. The film is about the Battle of the River Plate,〔"River Plate" is an English translation of the Spanish "Rio de la Plata" or Silver River; See Río de la Plata#Etymology〕 a real naval battle of 1939 between a Royal Navy force of three cruisers and the German pocket battleship ''Admiral Graf Spee''. ==Plot== In the early months of the Second World War, Nazi Germany's ''Kriegsmarine'' sends out merchant raiders to attack Allied shipping. The Royal Navy responds with hunting groups whose mission is to stop them. The group that finds the heavily armed pocket battleship ''Admiral Graf Spee'' near South America is outgunned: ''Graf Spee'' is equipped with long-range 11-inch guns, while the British heavy cruiser has much lighter 8-inch guns, and the light cruisers and have 6-inch guns. Despite this, they go straight to the attack. The British are led by Commodore Harwood (Anthony Quayle), with Captain Woodhouse (Ian Hunter) commanding flagship ''Ajax'', Captain Bell (John Gregson) ''Exeter'' and Captain Parry (Jack Gwillim) ''Achilles''. The British use their superior numbers to "split her fire" by attacking from different directions, but ''Graf Spee'', under Captain Hans Langsdorff (Peter Finch), inflicts much damage on her foes; ''Exeter'' is particularly hard hit and is forced to retire. However, ''Graf Spee'' sustains damage herself, and takes refuge in the neutral port of Montevideo, Uruguay for repairs. According to international law, the ship may remain at neutral harbour only long enough to make repairs for seaworthiness, not to refit her for battle. With reinforcements too far away, the British spread disinformation that an overwhelming force is lying in wait, hoping to buy time: while they are initially demanding that the Uruguayan authorities send the ''Admiral Graf Spee'' out to sea within 24 hours, as the law of the seas dictates, they suddenly lose interest and appear to tolerate the ship staying anchored for as long as she wants. This is a bluff intended to make the Germans believe that British warships are on the way, when none are. Taken in by the lies, Langsdorff takes his ship out with a skeleton crew and scuttles her. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Battle of the River Plate (film)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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