Battle Hell

Sailing lawfully in a Chinese river? I guess the PLAN battle ships can sail lawfully in the Thames as well? The heroic escape was to hide in the shadow of a passenger ship can the cowardship caused heavy civilian casualty. What a disgrace!

This film is excellent having a first class cast. On her peaceful and lawful occasssion she was fired upon without warning by the Chinese Communist Forces. The ship took much damage and ran aground on the mud. Several attampts were made to tow her off by other British Warships but they were unsuccessful. Then a daring attempt to run for the open sea down river was made providing she could get off the mud. I will not tell any more otherwise it would spoil this outstanding well made film.

The best British filmmakers are capable of making a masterpiece that ranks with their best graphic painters of previous centuries in terms of their perfection of the art. Everything about this film is superb; story, directing, acting, cinematography etc. It's also a real 'cliff hanger' because, until the very end, it's not at all clear how they could get out of that mess. Watch and be 'mesmerized' my fellow film lovers.

Such a film surely deserves a DVD release, especially as the real AMETHYST took a starring role in the film. As several contributors have mentioned the fact that this action has now been largely forgotten, there's even more reason for such a release. I can clearly remember hearing the news of the AMETHYST's predicament and then her heroic breakout, though I was only age 8 at the time. The late 1940s were pretty grim, with a couple of appalling winters, food rationing and fuel shortages - we needed a boost to our morale, and Lt.Cdr Kerans certainly gave us that. I don't think any contributor has mentioned the very important role played by Able Seacat Simon aboard the ship - I'm sure he contributed greatly to the crew's morale. "The Gift Horse", based on the epic raid on the St. Nazaire dockyard, is another naval film which is surely overdue for DVD release.

A splendid rendition of a true story. Richard Todd essentially does Guy Gibson at sea, arriving after the battle to save the ship. The battle sequences are exciting, and you really feel under fire as you watch the perplexed crew cope with the unexpected attack. Unfortunately the film was not shot anywhere near location, and it's pretty clear that we are seeing somewhere in England, not the far east! The naval action and later escape is thrilling, almost as good as "Battle of The River Plate" which remains the finest naval warfare film. We see the British humour of the time, best displayed by William Hartnell, who just about steals the show from Todd.

Strong drama about the 1949 incident involving HMS Amethyst. Quite real looking for a 1957 film, even the acting isn't as stilted as most films from that era. The battle sceanes are excellently done using real ships. Well worth watching for some history about an incident which seems to have been forgotten about.

The British frigate Amethyst is on a lawful run up the Yangtze River to provide supplies to the British embassy at Nanking. Communist Chinese forces are victorious in the region and are marching on the city. As the ship travels upriver, Communist artillery batteries unexpectedly open fire. The frigate desperately fights back, but runs ashore after sustaining casualties and damage. The situation settles into a diplomatic affair with the local Communist commander demanding all sorts of unreasonable concessions in order to allow the stricken vessel to leave. For me, this dramatization of the real life incident involving HMS Amethyst on the Yangtze River counts as among the best in the genre. Action sequences are realistic, especially for the time period. Especially remarkable is that the actual ship was used for part of the filming. The performances range from good to excellent. Highly recommended.