Battle Hell

This film tells the true story of the British HMS Amethyst, which became stranded on the communist-dominated Yangtse River in 1949. Directed by craftsman Michael Anderson, BATTLE HELL is a factual, rather dry recounting of events on the ship as it lay crippled in the water, unable to escape from the heavy shellfire that was bursting around it in the midst of Chinese civil war. Under the lead of the ship's new captain, Lieutenant Commander Kerans (Richard Todd), the ship and crew travel 140 miles downriver in the dark of night to break the communist blockade and rejoin the rest of the British fleet. Akim Tamiroff is stereotypically evil as the Chinese colonel...