MovieChat Forums > The Battle of the River Plate Discussion > Battle of the River Plate on Ch4 now in ...

Battle of the River Plate on Ch4 now in HD!

posted 16 years ago by michaelmuk
5 replies | jump to latest

Wow, missed the start but just noticed this classic WWII film is showing on Ch4HD right now in glorious HD and it looks superb!

Real shame I missed the start and that it is broken up with ads etc., but well worth watching still for the fantastic quality. The shots of the ships are incredibly well detailed and the film stock has stood up well after all of these years.

Watching it again it seems strange that some arrangement couldn't be reached with the US Navy to at least paint out the 139 number of the US ship used as this make it far less believable that the ship is the Graf Spee. That and the buckets of water that are thrown up in the air behind the Royal Navy ships when a shell from the Graf Spee lands 10 feet behind them!

Perhaps we are spoiled these days with the effects filmakers have at their disposal.

Anyway, I hope some of you managed to catch this film in HD and fingers crossed this means further showings of this quality are due.

[–] Steve Crook 16 years ago

Sorry to disillusion you, but the film wasn't in HD. It was shown on an HD channel, but from the regular sources. It looks even better if you see it projected in 35mm VistaVision

As for the US Navy, they wouldn't let the film-makers put the American sailors in German naval uniforms either. Nor would they let the film-makers paint a big swastika on the fore-deck. The rotters.

The excuse is that the Graf Spee disguised herself as other ships. Langsdorff explains this to Capt. Dove as he shows him around. So maybe the Graf Spee had disguised herself as an Des Moines-class American heavy cruiser - like the USS Salem

But how many war films have real battleships firing their guns like that? The real thing is better than any CGI - even if the close-ups of them on the bridge was obviously in the studio.

Steve

[–] michaelmuk 16 years ago

Hi Steve, thanks for the reply but have to disagree on the point of HD. I have had Sky HD for over 2-years now and have watched many HD broadcasts of both old and new material. Doing a direct comparisson between the film showing on Ch4 to the one on Ch4HD you could see a world of difference and more than you would expect from higher frame rates etc., on offer from a HD channel. The shots of the ships were very clear and detailed.

In addition, in the UK, at least, some of the HD channels mirror the output of their non-HD channel. When this happens the information for the film/show indicates whether it is in HD or not. On this occasion the HD flag was there.

I am convinced Channel 4 showed the film in HD. If this was any other source then I would be amazed!

Thanks for the extra information too, cheers Mike

[–] sdavmor 16 years ago

I have to say that I'm envious of you! It's years since I saw this film...on a B&W tele as a boy in the UK. 40 years ago perhaps. I would love to see it here in the states on TMS or AMC, using the R2 DVD for source. And maybe there might even finally be a US NTSC release of that R2 DVD. Though I won't be holding my breath waiting for that to happen...

[–] michaelmuk 16 years ago

Hey, hold on with the R2 DVD - looks like there is an HD master out there so you might well get to see it again in HD! Is there no DVD source of this film? Wish now I managed to get the whole thing recorded (I have about 90% of it on my Sky HD box)!

[–] Steve Crook 16 years ago

Try and see it in the original VistaVision widescreen format. That's how it was meant to be seen and is better than any HD display on a TV

The only DVD releases so far (that I'm aware of) are the UK release [http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00004S8IT/papas-21] and the German release [http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0002RRSCO/papas01-21]. They are both PAL format and coded for region 2. But many DVD players can deal with that, even American ones.

Steve