Customer Reviews

James Cameron's Expedition - Bismarck

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Being a history buff and interested in sunken ships, I had missed the television showing of this film on the Discovery Channel due to other commitments. So I ordered the DVD and anxiously awaited its release to that format. Rewatching it recently, I have to say it is mildly disappointing. The underwater footage is excellent, but there isn't enough of it. The history of the ship and sinking is decent, but not extensive. The recreations are well made, but at times out of place. The interviews with survivors pretty moving and helpful, but don't add as much as pure narration could have. Some of the questions about the sinking and final fate of the ship are brought up ambiguously and, apparently resolved, yet not convincingly and in an anti-climatic fashion. Overall, I didn't get the amount of pure footage of the sunken ship that I expected. The bonus materials on the second disc are essentially worthless. The main complaint? More underwater footage was needed to make this worthwhile.

I do not know which program was being watched by the reviewers who say there is no information or substance in this documentary. This is by far the best documentary on the Bismarck and the Battle of the Denmark Strait ever filmed. Not only do you see the most awesome footage ever shot of this legendary ship but they bring back undeniable proof that answers the biggest question about this epic event in maritime history. They prove conclusively that the German crew's claim that they scuttled the ship was absolutely true. The ROV entered the area of the hull where the Dorsetshire's torpedoes hit and showed that they did not even scorch the paint on the inner armour belt much less penetrate it. Cameron also does not gloss over the fact that the British continued to mercilessly pound the ship and butcher helpless men for more than an hour after the Bismarck had lost the ability to return fire. It is easy to understand why the decision was made to scuttle the ship.

I originally saw this documentary on The Discovery Channel and thought it was pretty interesting. The first disc consists of the program itself and starts/ends with a meeting of survivors of the battle from both sides.
Some of the German survivors actually went on Cameron's expedition to the wreck site, they gave advice on best robot camera entry points & so on. I thought the reenactment scenes looked very good (see disc 2 for a behind the scenes segment on that)as did some of the computer animated segments. Perhaps the most interesting point made was the contention that evidence indicated that the Bismarck's crew scuttled the ship, as they claimed, and most of the British Naval gunfire was ineffectual at best.
Disc 2 was actually more interesting to me with it's many segments of computer animation illustrating various parts of the battle & the sinking of the Bismarck. There's a section of multiangle video views of the ship, that's a joke because while there are some interestinng wreck pictures I could not get the claimed multi angle function to work

If you ever truly wanted to know what happened on that tragic day that the awe inspiring Bismarck sank beneath the waves of the Atlantic ... this documentary is for you!

A titan amongst ships, technologically leaps ahead of her time, she was still a graceful lady ... just armed to the teeth! Allied naval experts during the war classified her as being the best floating gun platform worldwide. The British reacted accordingly: "Sink the Bismarck at all cost!"

Excellent computer animations give insight into how people of the day must have seen the ship: from her maiden voyage, her passing through the Nord-Ostseekanal to her final days in the Atlantic.

However, this documentary also proves that the British covered up the truth for decades, claiming a victory that was not theirs.

This review was written with the deepest honor to the fallen on both sides: the Bismarck and the HMS Hood.

James Cameron, for lack of a better phrase, was on top of the world after Titanic came out. The biggest cinematic gamble at the time, it went on to score 11 Oscars and get a domestic profit of 600 million, the highest ever. Then he kind of dropped off the map, well sort of. Since then he made 3 deep sea dive documentaries and a short-lived tv show. After his Titanic documentary Ghosts of the Abyss, he made Expedition: Bismarck which chronicles the sinking of a german war ship during WWII.

During World War II, the German forces had a ship called the Bismarck, which was a very formidable battleship. After it sank a British clip, they got a bit angry and decided an all-out assault on the ship. A lucky shot nailed the propeller, crippling it and sending it in circles, allowing British fleets to sink it. This film centers around recreating the sinking and allowing James Cameron and other divepeople to explore the wreck.

One of the things that's always interesting with re-creating mysteries is when they have little demonstration videos to show just what happened in a kind of CSI-like fashion. So when they talk about shells rupturing hulls and the ship sliding you're kind of "huh?" but the CG videos allow you to see it in clear detail, without the water's murkiness.

One thing that's thankfully kept to a minimum, which later film Aliens of the Deep suffered from is when people go "wow that's great, wow that's awesome!". There's a couple of scenes like it here but it's not as intrusive so it's more basic and to the point. Granted a jellyfish with a translucent scarf is going to bring about such reactions but then again an 800 ft ship damaged and on the bottom of the ocean should bring the same reaction.

It's a well-made documentary from a guy who did quite a few. To see a representation of war in its most horrible form and revisit it is quite compelling and the fact that it was a German ship Hitler actually visited but without being finger waving throughout the film was a nice touch.

While I had always been aware of the Bismarck and her place in the history books, I had not really studied it in greater detail up until now. Decades ago it was characterized as the 'best in class', but more recent histories have set its place more realistically compared to other Battleships. The one thing that has always stayed with this ship was its tremendous armor protection that was revealed by how much of a beating she took before sinking , which was attributed to the 'Krupp armored steel' used. But superficial examination of the Bismarck's much quoted armor thickness figures revealed that 'newer' battleships had greater thickness and thus better armor. This had threatened the Bismarck's invincible mystic.

After some Internet reading and research, I had discovered Garzke and Dulins "Axis and Neutral Battleships in World War II". This revealed the schematics of Axis armor lay outs, which pointed to an interesting finding compared to similar armor schematics in allied warship designs [two other volumes by the above authors]. Most modern Battleships had been built with the "all or nothing" armor theory, but the German warships followed a different armor scheme that looks essentially like `spaced armor' one would expect on modern tank armor.

This DVD was important in confirming how much better this type of armor offered. The DVD shows how the subs mini ROV was able to examine the inside of the hull bottom along its entire length where the torpedo bulkhead is. This area was blown away when the ship impacted the crater and slid down the mountain. This revealed that none of the torpedos that had perforated the Bismarck's outer hull, were able to also penetrate the inner torpedo bulkhead, which one would normally associate with sinking a warship. Not only that, but it seems that only a couple of the gigantic British shells that hit the Bismarck's hull, also penetrated the inner armor scheme to reach the engine room and then only at very short range. It seems that if none of the torpedos completely penetrated into the hull, then the ship must have been sunk by other means. The only other explanation is the often-reported claim of the Bismarck survivors, that they scuttled the ship to prevent it falling into enemy hands and end the murderous bombardment they were subjected to. This DVD plus Ballard's earlier work on the Bismarck wreck seem to confirm the German account of this event.

All in all a worth while DVD to have.

now i have not scene the dvd of this program, but i did watch its original airing, and as a WW2 buff my self. the bismarck has been something i have enjoyed learning about. as for a comment on lack of underwater footage. this program had tons of it. watch any other documentory on this great story in history and you will only see the smallest snap shots fo this battleship. on this program you will see wide sweeping shots, and finaly see thr true size with the sea born monster the truely shook the seven seas, even in its short life. and for the ambiguous answers to its demise, also very untrue. with clear imiages of the intact interior hull ins every breach, is proof, the british did not sink the bismarck.

I can't get enough of documentaries like this one. I highly recommend Bismarck to WWII history buffs out there as well as those interested in lost vessels and undersea exploration (also those Clive Custler fans out there like myself). The recreations were fantastic and having contributions from some of the actual German survivors really added depth to this top-notch production.

Another DVD worth owning for the Cameron/historical adventure enthusiast is The Lost Tomb of Jesus

modern technology meets world war II era saga. being of german descent, i've always held a fascination with the bismarck. well presented documentary -- historical facts, modern technology, involvement of actual survivors, etc. a brave ship who fought against overwhelming odds . . . AND finally good to set the record straight .... she WAS scuttled by her own crew.

If you want to know the whole journey of Bismarck better, "The Search for the Battleship Bismarck" by NG is the choice. This one is about the analysis of its sinking based on the wreck.

The animation is pretty cool and successful for the illustration. The film is more movie-style than documentary and some parts are very similar to the movie "Titanic" by James Cameron.

In my opinion, the main contribution of this film is to settle down the dispute about if the British sank or the German scuttled the Bismarck. Without this, I shall rate this film three stars.