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Product Description
Trevor Howard and Richard Attenborough star in this famous story of a Royal Navy destroyer and her officers and crew during the early years of the Second World War. Placed in command of a poorly serviced ex-US Navy warship, Lt. Commander Fraser struggles to overcome mechanical problems and a new and inexperienced crew as HMS Ballantrae is rushed into service on Atlantic convoy escort duties.
Product Description
United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Mono ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Black & White, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: In 1940, the United States gave great Britain three aging battleships, one of which was given the affectionate appellation, 'The Gift Horse.' That venerable ship more than proved her worth during a subsequent sea battle. Also known as GLORY AT SEA. ...Gift Horse ( Glory at Sea )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
108 of 109 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
"Gift Horse", a movie from the early 1950s loosely based on the exploits of HMS Campbeltown, is, quite simply, the most accurate, true-to-reality portrayal of the Royal Navy in the Second World War. It ranks far above any other film in the genre. Here's why:
"Gift Horse" is authentic and free from anachronisms. There are no post-war ships appearing in a wartime setting, no German battleships portrayed by American cruisers, no Colony class cruisers representing Leanders, no Vanguard portraying KGV, no post-war aircraft carriers in the background. Interiors are just as authentic - no studio sets acting as palatial-scale flats or mess-decks. The at-sea footage is superlative and true to life. My impression is that the Royal Navy must have lent the film-makers a Town Class destroyer and let them play with it.
Life aboard is portrayed with equal accuracy. This is no band of cheerful cockneys who are all friends and all potentially heroic - there are tensions, fights, conflicts, domestic setbacks and all of the atmosphere to be expected in a crew of 100 of whom most are conscripts from Civvy Street and only a handful have ever been to sea before. Uniforms, routines, drills, language, slang, nicknames - everything is accurate and nothing is played in a heroic or nostalgic glow.
Things go wrong, as they so often did - we see collisions, fouled propellers, scrapes, frequent engine break-downs, errors of navigation and other setbacks.
Well before the mid-point of the film, the viewer is completely immersed in what it was really like for a crew of (predominantly) civilians, led by previously-retired or reservist officers, to fight a worn-out ship in the Battle of the Atlantic.
The St Nazaire raid, though an epic story, forms only a small proportion of the film - war, the film tells us, was far more a matter of boredom and endurance than of heroism and action. The use of a model of the ship to ram a model dockyard looks a bit dated - special effects were in their infancy at this time - but does not materially detract from the quality of the movie.
The cast are marvellous, the filming superb, the atmosphere authentic - this is a beautifully crafted portrayal of the war at sea.
Forget the others - "Gift Horse" IS the Royal Navy in World War Two.
"Gift Horse" is authentic and free from anachronisms. There are no post-war ships appearing in a wartime setting, no German battleships portrayed by American cruisers, no Colony class cruisers representing Leanders, no Vanguard portraying KGV, no post-war aircraft carriers in the background. Interiors are just as authentic - no studio sets acting as palatial-scale flats or mess-decks. The at-sea footage is superlative and true to life. My impression is that the Royal Navy must have lent the film-makers a Town Class destroyer and let them play with it.
Life aboard is portrayed with equal accuracy. This is no band of cheerful cockneys who are all friends and all potentially heroic - there are tensions, fights, conflicts, domestic setbacks and all of the atmosphere to be expected in a crew of 100 of whom most are conscripts from Civvy Street and only a handful have ever been to sea before. Uniforms, routines, drills, language, slang, nicknames - everything is accurate and nothing is played in a heroic or nostalgic glow.
Things go wrong, as they so often did - we see collisions, fouled propellers, scrapes, frequent engine break-downs, errors of navigation and other setbacks.
Well before the mid-point of the film, the viewer is completely immersed in what it was really like for a crew of (predominantly) civilians, led by previously-retired or reservist officers, to fight a worn-out ship in the Battle of the Atlantic.
The St Nazaire raid, though an epic story, forms only a small proportion of the film - war, the film tells us, was far more a matter of boredom and endurance than of heroism and action. The use of a model of the ship to ram a model dockyard looks a bit dated - special effects were in their infancy at this time - but does not materially detract from the quality of the movie.
The cast are marvellous, the filming superb, the atmosphere authentic - this is a beautifully crafted portrayal of the war at sea.
Forget the others - "Gift Horse" IS the Royal Navy in World War Two.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
One of the classic post-war War films of the early and mid-50s. this movie surrounds two truths of WW2; that Britain acquired a great many ships from the US under a Lease-Lend agreement and that the St Nazarre Raid was intended to deny the use of its deep dry dock (the only one on the Atlantic coastline of Western Europe) to the Germans and its larger battleships.
Some of the ships were war ships either of WW1 or early 1920s vintages and merchant ships of similar age all of which had been 'mothballed' or laid up unused for some years. They were not necessarily in impeccable condition and a lot of work was needed by both parties to make the vessels sea-worthy and to ensure that their engines were usable and then, in some instances, modified to accommodate additional equipment. With the rate of losses Britain was suffering in the first two years of the war being beyond the capabilities of British shipyards to maintain, something needed to be done.
However, most of the movie surrounds the acquisition of the vessel, its commission into the Royal Navy and the training of its crew. Rather little covers the Raid itself. Several of the British seamen were killed, many injured and the vast majority interred for the duration. Although first thought to be a failure due to damage to the timers needed to safely explode the bow cargo of tons of high explosive, the explosion did occur but hours late and destroyed the dock gates and some of its structure. The wreck of the ship also blocked the dock until about 2 years after the war's end.
Well acted and with a solid cast including several familiar names and a reasonable if not completely accurate representation of events.
Some of the ships were war ships either of WW1 or early 1920s vintages and merchant ships of similar age all of which had been 'mothballed' or laid up unused for some years. They were not necessarily in impeccable condition and a lot of work was needed by both parties to make the vessels sea-worthy and to ensure that their engines were usable and then, in some instances, modified to accommodate additional equipment. With the rate of losses Britain was suffering in the first two years of the war being beyond the capabilities of British shipyards to maintain, something needed to be done.
However, most of the movie surrounds the acquisition of the vessel, its commission into the Royal Navy and the training of its crew. Rather little covers the Raid itself. Several of the British seamen were killed, many injured and the vast majority interred for the duration. Although first thought to be a failure due to damage to the timers needed to safely explode the bow cargo of tons of high explosive, the explosion did occur but hours late and destroyed the dock gates and some of its structure. The wreck of the ship also blocked the dock until about 2 years after the war's end.
Well acted and with a solid cast including several familiar names and a reasonable if not completely accurate representation of events.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Just watched the film again on TV; first time for a while. Yes,the special effects are dated but the acting and the 'feel' of Service life at the time are first class and a credit to those who served. Howard is exemplary as the Captain but so are the rest of the cast. Not a duff one amongst them.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
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Would like to give a review but have never ordered or received this product, who knows I may order it one day and give a review.....
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Synopsis, Random Reviews, Trivia & Cast Details
Rare World War II Naval Film
Based upon the true story of H.M.S. Campbelltown
and the renowned raid on the Dock Gates at St. Nazaire
GIFT HORSE
". . . Read more
Based upon the true story of H.M.S. Campbelltown
and the renowned raid on the Dock Gates at St. Nazaire
GIFT HORSE
". . . Read more
Published on 25 July 2008 by G. Collins
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