20th Century-Fox Dynamo (February 1960)

“SINK THE BISMARCK! A SPELL-BINDING DRAMA OF TRUE ADVENTURE One night, early in 1958, Spyros P. Skouras, ad- dressing a dinner in London, said his company wanted to make a motion picture about the part the British Royal Navy played during World War II. He declared then that, in his personal belief, the greatest war sea story had never been filmed: the Bismarck action. The idea and subsequent problems he placed in the capable hands of producer John Bradbourne, who succeeded in inducing C. S. Fores- ter to write a book, “Sink The Bismarck!”, which won a world-wide readership. The novel subse- quently was adapted into a screenplay by Edmund H. North. Early in January of last year Bradbourne flew to Hollywood to discuss production details with Buddy Adler. Returning to England, the former obtained the unlimited co-operation of the British Navy. Lieut. Commander Peter Peake, R. N. (Ret.) was named technical adviser. Meantime, he signed Lewis Gilbert to direct and Kenneth More and Dana Wyn- ter to co-star in a cast that includes Carl Mohner, Laurence Naismith, Karel Stepanek, Maurice Den- ham, Michael Goodliffe, Michael Hordern, Esmond Knight, Mark Dignam, Jack Gwilliam, Geoffrey Keen, Jack Watling and television-radio commen- tator and newscaster Edward R. Murrow. In mid-Autumn of last year Bradbourne had com- pleted his commission. “Sink The Bismarck!” tells the story behind a promise made by Winston Churchhill to the British nation at a critical time in its history. The promise: England could expect nothing but “blood and sweat, and toil, and tears.” That is the historic background canvas of this motion picture based on fact, a background that embraces oceans, and great battles fought on those oceans in the dark days of Hitler’s war; a back- ground that embraces people stripped of all their pretences, formalities and trivialities, of people with nerves strung out to breaking point, geared to achieve one goal. The story of “Sink The Bismarck!” is one of steel and men’s nerves tempered like steel, of blackness and despair, of adoration and the agony love can bring, of hate and fanaticism, of faith and courage and hope, steadfast and shining, in the face of great disaster. It is like no other motion picture produced to date, for the story is the spectacle of a gigantic game of chess played by remote control with the Atlantic ocean as the chess board, little destroyers as the pawns and huge warships like the Victorious, Repulse, Rodney, King George V, Hood and Shef- field as the other chess. Sink The Bismarck!”paints history and re-creates the past to make it live again in an awe-inspiring drama of men’s courage and strength, and weak- ness. It depicts the menace of the Nazi Bismarck, the weeks the British Navy spent in shadowing her. the engagements in which she sank the Hood, the naval air strikes against her and the torpedoes that crippled her, her battles with the George V and Rodney, and, finally, her plunge to her grave. Many who took part in the engagements, that eventually led to the sinking of the Bismarck, appear in the production. Among them is Esmond Knight who plays himself. He is seen on the bridge of the shattered Prince Of Wales after the Bismarck had blasted away the bridge, killing 27 out of 30 men on it. Knight was blinded in that engagement, but has now partially regained the sight of one eye. The scene is re-created in the picture exactly as it hap- pened 19 years ago. Among the many brave men, and women, who played a part in the actual Bismarck action, were six Americans: Ensign Rinehart, now a captain in the U. S. Navy; Lieut. Commander Stanhope C. Ring, of Tunkhannock, Pa., now a rear admiral in the U. S. Navy; Lieut. Commander J. H. Wellings of Washington, D. C., now a rear admiral in the U. S. Navy; Lieut. Commander August D. Clark, now a retired U. S. Navy captain; Lieut. Comman- der Moorhouse, .and Ensign J. J. Maechtlen. In fact, an American naval officer, flying a Cata- lina, played a major role in tracking down and thus causing the destruction of the mightiest warship the world has known, the Nazi battleship Bismarck. Continued on page 20 19