Sink the Bismarck!

This article is about the 1960 film. For other things of the same name, see Sink the Bismarck (disambiguation).

Sink the Bismarck!
UK quad crown theatrical release poster
by Tom Chantrell
Directed byLewis Gilbert
Screenplay byEdmund H. North
Based onThe Last Nine Days of the Bismarck
1958 novel
by C. S. Forester
Produced byJohn Brabourne
Starring
CinematographyChristopher Challis
Edited byPeter R. Hunt
Music byClifton Parker
Distributed by20th Century-Fox
Release date
  • 11 February 1960 (1960-02-11)
Running time
97 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1,330,000[1]
Box office$3,000,000 (US/Canada rentals)[2][3]

Sink the Bismarck! is a 1960 black-and-white CinemaScope British war film based on the 1959 book The Last Nine Days of the Bismarck by C. S. Forester. It stars Kenneth More and Dana Wynter and was directed by Lewis Gilbert.[4] To date, it is the only film made that deals directly with the operations, chase and sinking of the battleship Bismarck by the Royal Navy during the Second World War.[5] Although war films were common in the 1960s, Sink the Bismarck! was seen as something of an anomaly, with much of its time devoted to the "unsung back-room planners as much as on the combatants themselves".[6] Its historical accuracy, in particular, met with much praise despite a number of inconsistencies.[7]

Sink the Bismarck! was the inspiration for Johnny Horton's highly popular 1960 song, "Sink the Bismarck",[8] credited by Variety with boosting the film's American gross alone by an estimated half a million dollars.[9]

The film had its Royal World Premiere in the presence of the Duke of Edinburgh at the Odeon Leicester Square on 11 February 1960.

  1. ^ Solomon 1989, p. 252.
  2. ^ "Rental Potentials of 1960". Variety. Vol. 221, no. 6. 4 January 1961. p. 47. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
  3. ^ Solomon 1989, p. 228.
  4. ^ Weiler, A.H. (12 February 1960). "Movie Review – Sink the Bismarck – Of Men and Ships". The New York Times.
  5. ^ Rico, José M. (2011). "Sink the Bismarck!". KBismarck.com. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference rt was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference variety was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Polmar and Cavas 2009, p. 251.
  9. ^ "'Sales Come-On Ought Never to Mislabel Content' - Hathaway". Variety. 26 October 1960. p. 13.