Rent The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands (1927)
3.5 of 5 from 59 ratings
1h 42min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
This dramatic reconstruction of two decisive naval battles from the Great War is one of the finest films of the British silent era. The Battle of Coronel, off the coast of Chile, was a triumph for German Admiral von Spee and the first defeat of the British navy for a hundred years. The retaliatory strike was instigated six weeks later by Admiral Fisher, who sent two large battlecruisers, HMS Invincible and HMS Inflexible, to the South Atlantic to restore British supremacy. Filmed on real battleships supplied by the Admiralty, this monumental production, like Eisenstein's 'Battleship Potemkin' (1925), glories in the power and beauty of the machine. Scrupulously fair in its treatment of the enemy, this stirring film has been restored by the BFI National Archive and is presented with a newly commissioned score composed by Simon Dobson and performed by the Band of Her Majesty's Royal Marines. - Actors:
- Roger Maxwell, Craighall Sherry, Hans von Slock
- Directors:
- Walter Summers
- Producers:
- A.E. Bundy, H. Bruce Woolfe
- Writers:
- Frank Bowden, John Buchan, Merritt Crawford, Harry Engholm
- Studio:
- BFI Video
- Genres:
- Documentary
- Collections:
- Cinema and the First World War, Drama Films & TV
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 19/01/2015
- Run Time:
- 106 minutes
- Languages:
- English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English LPCM Stereo, Silent
- Subtitles:
- None
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Full Screen 1.33:1 / 4:3
- Colour:
- B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Scoring 'The Battles of Coronel' and 'Falkland Islands' (2014,12 mins): a consideration of Simon Dobson's new musical accompaniment
- 'The Battles of Coronel' and 'Falkland Islands' Restoration Demonstration (2014, 6 mins): some of the problems faced by the BFI restoration team
- BFI London Film Festival Archive Gala Introduction (2014,3 mins)
- 'Sea Dreams' (Lancelot Speed, 1914,6 mins): animation mocking the German Navy
- 'Naval Review' (Will Barker, 1914,5 mins): King George V reviews the British fleet at Spithead in July 1914
- 'Our Naval Losses' (1914,1 min): moving eulogy to the British ships sunk in the early months of the war
- 'England Expects' (1914,1 min): scenes of Trafalgar Day at Nelson's Column
