Nonureva Really Surprised!

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Tweekums When the frigate HMS Amethyst set off up the Yangtse river to resupply the British embassy in Nanking nobody on board thought they would end up national heroes after the People's Liberation Army shell the ship killing several crew members, driving it onto a sandbar and demanding an apology from the crew before they can make a dramatic escape through what is now unfriendly territory.As the film opens the Amethyst is steaming up river with little to worry about, they know there is a civil war in China but don't know just how close the PLA are to taking the capital. When they come under heavy fire from communist artillery they are damaged and driven onto a sand bar. It appears they will be rescued when the destroyer HMS Consort arrives, unfortunately even with its superior fire power Consort can't silence the Chinese guns and after taking casualties is forced to retreat. The wounded personnel are evacuated to the river bank still in Nationalist hands and taken overland to Shanghai. The wounded include the captain who dies of his wounds. Lieutenant-Commander Kerans is sent to take over the command. As the Communists make further advances they are totally cut off from friendly forces and have to try to negotiate their safe passage unfortunately the Chinese demand that the crew confess that they were the aggressors. Refusing to do this Kerans decides they will make a run for the sea on night. To do this they must run the gauntlet of Chinese batteries and avoid a boom that has been placed across part of the river.This film is an exciting retelling of those events with a solid cast portraying the ships crew, the only weakness in the cast is having Akim Tamiroff, a Russian playing a Chinese officer, he just didn't look or sound Chinese. The fact that it was filmed aboard the real HMS Amethyst added authenticity; when they come under fire it looks like a real ship is coming under fire not just a model.

JoeytheBrit This veddy British naval adventure is typical of the UK output of the fifties. When we weren't making quaint comedies about drunken Scots or lovable rogues we were supplying the world with copious demonstrations of celluloid stiff-upper-lippery. We were very good at it, and many of those films have rightly attained the status of classics. This one, based on a real incident, doesn't quit achieve that status but it does at times come close. It contains some terrific action sequences, and some stirring final moments thanks to a quite inspirational score, but unfortunately the hour in between runs aground just like the HMS Amethyst.The truth is that once the ship runs aground nothing much happens. The film tries to generate a measure of suspense regarding the fate of a couple of wounded seamen who are ferried to a hospital and wind up in the hands of a dastardly Chinese Colonel (unconvincingly portrayed by Akim Tamiroff) but doesn't really seem to have its heart in it.Most pleasure is to be gained from the performances of such assured old hands as Richard Todd as the gallant Lt Cmdr Kerans, who manages to negotiate the ship's flight to freedom, William Hartnell as the hard-faced but warm-hearted Leading Seaman, Donald Houston as the plucky Lieutenant with a fondness for Horse's Necks (Brandy and ginger ale, apparently), and Sam Kydd as the working class jack tar with a down-to-earth mentality. A young Ian Bannen plays one of the wounded hostages, and a young Bernard Cribbins shouts about fathoms a lot.Probably of more interest to those who were alive when the actual incident took place, this will pass as an adequate time-filler for the rest of us, but little more.

RGStovold Brtiain during the 1950's (when it had an thriving film industry) produced a plethora of fine war films, usually in black and white which gave a documentary feel about them and added to the realism and usually used only British actors (When made in colour and Cinemascope and usually with an imported US star they felt more contrived- The Bridge on the River Kwai excepted) Many have gone on to become classics like Ice Cold in Alex, The Dam Busters, The Cruel Sea and Reach For The Sky.Yangtze Incident, the true story of the attack on HMS Amethyst by the Communist forces in China in 1949 is also one of the better ones and a bit unjustly forgotten about. It reunited Richard Todd with his Dam Busters helmer Michael Anderson and was produced by Herbert Wilcox (husband of Anna Neagle) shortly before he went bankrupt. The upper lips of the cast has never been stiffer but the heroics are natural and never overdone and the action scenes are tremendously exciting and all the better for using real and actual ships (The Battle of the River Plate for this reason is such a disappointment because the ships used bore little or no resemblance to the actual ones (exept one the INS Delhi is the actual HMS Achillies), especially the American heavy cruiser portraying the part of the Graf Spee}The acting of the cast is uniformly (sic!) excellent with Richard Todd giving once again a low key but nevertheless authoritative performance( he Jack Hawkins and Kenneth More seem to have the monopoly on this type of role)All in all a good film the king they don't make any more and a pleasant and relaxing way to while a way a couple of hours on a cold wet miserable Sunday afternoon.

mark2-1 I recently got a copy of this film on VHS. I was expecting to be disappointed as I haven't seen this film in about 35-40 years! I often get a film I once enjoyed find it doesn't live up my memories. But, I was pleasantly surprised with this film.There are, of course, some period stereotypes, especially racial (Akim Tamiroff again plays the evil oriental....), but they are minor annoyances as the story unfolds.I had read that H.M.S. Amethyst had actually been used for the film and was so badly damaged during the filming due to underwater explosions that she was soon scrapped. I can now see why this might have happened. There are quite a few detonations in the water very close to the hull. While watching the film I felt it could just as well have been a good story from Hornblower, Aubrey etc. Take away the modern vessel and replace it with a wooden ship and you have a timeless (true) tale. Richard Todd (who served as a paratrooper on D-Day) plays with the authority he often gave to many similar roles (like the Dam Busters).It was fun to see that Bernard Cribbins and Ian Bannen were unlisted in the role list. They were novices, and were actually both quite good in this film. I highly recommend seeing this film!