It’s Weekend Movie time again and as is often the case, my choice of offering is a British World War II movie called ‘Sink The Bismarck’. It’s a cracking tale of heroism, loss, fear, ingenuity and in some cases luck, both good and bad.

There’s a brilliant cast in this 1960 movie of some of period’s best actors and actresses including Kenneth More, Dana Wynter, Michael Hordern and Maurice Denhan along with Karl Mohner as the Kapitän Ernst Lindemann of the Bismarck.

Having looked back at the history of the period it is obvious that some licence has been taken with the historical record, in particular with how Lindemann was portrayed. Some sources say that he wasn’t the screamingly enthusiastic Nazi as the film showed him as, but was instead much more moderate and a professional sailor who felt that he had to be loyal to his state and to his service. However I doubt that the audience in 1960, about fifteen years after the war ended, a war that saw Britain completely pummelled by the Germans, would have been in any mood to be receptive to a more nuanced portrayal of Lindemann. Being somewhat beastly to the Germans in films and books because of the bestial way that they had behaved just a relatively short time before the film was made, was very much in fashion and for good reason.

Despite that small matter of the portrayal of Lindemann, this is indeed an excellent movie and one that I consistently enjoy rewatching every now and again.