Not Powell and Emeric's greatest work, but still a cut above many '50s war movies.

The battle sequences, in which the lightweight British cruisers close in on the Graf Spee and force the enemy to take shelter in Montevideo harbor, are powerful, exciting and technically impressive.

Give the British filmmakers a good, rousing subject from their own naval history and they're almost certain to come up with a picture that proudly bespeaks the courage and audacity of a hero breed.

This account of the first of the war's major naval actions is straightforward, serious and made with a scrupulous concern to be fair to both sides.