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Convoy [VHS]

Clive Brook (Actor), John Clements (Actor), Pen Tennyson (Director, Writer) Rated: Parental Guidance Format: VHS Tape
4.0 out of 5 stars 140 ratings
IMDb6.0/10.0
Format VHS
Contributor Roy Kellino, Günther Krampf, John Clements, Edward Chapman, Judy Campbell, Albert Lieven, Edward Rigby, Anton Diffring, Clive Brook, Patrick Kirwan, Penelope Dudley Ward, Michael Balcon, George Carney, Allan Jeayes, Pen Tennyson See more
Runtime 1 hour and 25 minutes
Colour Black & White
Number of discs 1

Product description

While escorting a covoy during the Second World War, Royal Navy cruiser the HMS Apollo, commanded by Captain Armitage (Clive Brooks), is nearly lured into a German U-Boat ambush using a refugee ship as bait. However, the plot is foiled by the arrival of a North Sea Patrol ship. The Apollo's adventures are not over yet, though, for German pocket battleship Deutschland is en route to destroy the convoy. It is up to the Apollo and her crew to make a valiant last stand and endure the Deutschland's fire long enough for the convoy to get through.

Product details

  • Is discontinued by manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • Rated ‏ : ‎ Parental Guidance
  • Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 18.6 x 10.64 x 2.85 cm; 173.88 g
  • Director ‏ : ‎ Pen Tennyson
  • Media Format ‏ : ‎ VHS
  • Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 25 minutes
  • Release date ‏ : ‎ 7 Feb. 2000
  • Actors ‏ : ‎ Clive Brook, John Clements, Edward Chapman, Judy Campbell, Penelope Dudley Ward
  • Studio ‏ : ‎ Dd Video
  • Producers ‏ : ‎ Michael Balcon
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00004L8JZ
  • Writers ‏ : ‎ Pen Tennyson, Patrick Kirwan
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
  • Customer reviews:
    4.0 out of 5 stars 140 ratings

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4 out of 5 stars
140 global ratings

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Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • John B
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent vintage war saga
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 September 2017
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    Excellent vintage war saga. I enjoy the old movies, and how relatively crude the special effects of battle scenes were compared to today's wild computer gens. There is a wonderful innocence in these films, when good and bad were so much more easily defined, and everyone put other's good in front of their own. God save the King and all that. A time when it was honorable to take the moral high ground. Enjoyable to live that nostalgic feeling for awhile and forget all the current false flag cover ups and back door dealings in todays' politics. Jolly good show.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Retro Brit
    3.0 out of 5 stars An old war film.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 November 2020
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    An old war film made in 1940. It was an enjoyable war film set at sea, etc. Very dated and obviously a feel good film for propaganda purposes. Dated but all right, at the end of the day.
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  • Silverroom
    5.0 out of 5 stars A rare DVD,much of which filmed under actual war time conditions, a must see film!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 February 2013
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    A long awaited DVD only now available, previously only available on VHS. An excellent film, realistic and exciting drama telling the story of the Battle of the Atlantic. The film follows the crew of the Royal Navy Cruiser, HMS Apollo as she departs for her tour doing escort duties in the North Sea.Many of the scenes were filmed under wartime conditions and as to drama of this film. A must see film for those who like a film to be a true depicition of life in the Royal Navy during the war. The film also embodies the true British spirit that was so evident at the time our country was almost on its knees. It leaves you feeling it's great to be British.
    44 people found this helpful
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  • Darth Maciek
    4.0 out of 5 stars A war time propaganda film, but also a surprisingly realistic look at the opening stages of the Battle of the Atlantic
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 October 2014
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    This 1940 British film was part of war time propaganda effort, but as this kind of things goes it was rather a nicely done one and it is worth (re)discovering even today. Below, more of my impressions, with some limited SPOILERS.

    Royal Navy light cruiser HMS "Apollo" and her screen of destroyers are escorting a convoy in the North Sea. The skipper, Captain Tom Armitage (Clive Brooks) and his recently affected 1st Officer, Lt. David Cranford (John Clements) have a very uncomfortable relationship as there is a lot of history between them - and in fact it seems that Cranford was affected to HMS "Apollo" because somebody in the Admiralty wanted to get back at Armitage... Considering the circumstances they have to bite their lips and try to make it through this period of forced cohabitation... Their task will not be easy, as not only the convoy is attacked by the U-Boats but also is stalked by a German raider, the "Deutschland", a ship much more powerful than HMS "Apollo" and the destroyers... To complicate things further, one of ships from the convoy, an old dilapidated tramp, keeps lagging behind...

    This is an old film, made with a little budget and low technology for military propaganda purposes, and yet, it actually can be still watched with interest. Quite a lot of real war time pictures were included showing destroyers and cruisers really firing in anger and there are even some pre-war shots of the real "Deutschland". The scenario includes a couple of rather impossible things, but for most of the time the story is actually plausible. Germans are of course shown as total caricatures, but at least they know how to shoot and they sure inflict a lot of damage in this film... The courage of pilots of seaplanes, catapulted from ships and flying vulnerable machines over vast, bad tempered and very cold sea, without ever being certain if there will be somebody to pick them up at their return, is particularly well shown.

    The fight against pocket battleship "Deutschland" is an especialy good moment of this film. It was clearly inspired by the real sortie of "Deutschland" against allied shipping in 1939, during which she sunk two civilian cargo ships and captured a third, but also by the battle of the River Plate (13 December 1939), in which three British cruisers engaged her sister ship, "Admiral Graf Spee". I am not saying here anything about the issue of the battle shown in "Convoy"...

    To finish with the REAL story of this powerful German ship, let's also say that in 1940 she was renamed "Lutzow". The reason for it was first to avoid negative morale effect should she be sunk - one can only imagine the titles in allied press: "Deutschland destroyed!". The name "Lutzow" was given to ex-"Deutschland" as the tribute to battle cruiser "Lutzow" lost at Jutland battle in 1916 - this name also just became available, as Kriegsmarine's unfinished heavy cruiser "Lutzow" was sold in 1940 to Soviet Union. This change of name brought luck to ex-"Deutschland", as she survived almost all the war, before being very seriously damaged on 13 April 1945 by RAF bombers and ultimately scuttled by her own crew on 4 May 1945.

    The name "Apollo" was given to no less than nine ships of Royal Navy until now, beginning with a French frigate captured in 1747 and renamed HMS "Apollo" and ending with the missile armed Leander-class modern frigate commissioned as HMS "Apollo" in 1970 - this last ship was sold in 1988 to Pakistan and served in this country navy under the name of "Zulfiqar", until she was retired in service and expended as target in 2010. There was indeed a light cruiser named HMS "Apollo" commissionned in Royal Navy in 1934, but in 1938, two years before this film was made, she was transferred to Royal Australian Navy and renamed HMS "Hobart" - she later served with great distinction in Pacific War. Therefore, in 1940, when this film was made, there was no ship named HMS "Apollo" in Royal Navy - the name was used again only in 1943 and given to a fast large minelayer of Abdiel-class.

    There are three U-Boats in this film - "U-37", "U-40" and "U-42" - and they all really existed. One of them is sunk in the film, but I am not saying which one it is. Let's however be said, that in the real life the two U-Boats which survive this film were already on the bottom on the sea since 1939, and that the U-Boat which is sunk in this film was actually the only one of the three to survive the whole war...)))

    Three real Royal Navy destroyers were used to make this film: HMS "Imogen", HMS "Isis" and HMS "Griffin". Only the last survived the war...

    One thing which I found in the same time exotic and familiar in this film was a scene with East-European refugees who travel on one of the ships in the convoy. At one moment they start singing in a language which I completely couldn't understand or for that matter recognize, but the melody, well, being Polish myself I recognized it immediately - it is a popular old Polish tune "Krakowiaczek jeden" ("A little guy from Cracow"), still used a lot as a jingle on the radio...)))

    Actors playing the main roles are nowadays completely forgotten, but if you make a little effort and have a look at secondary characters, you will be able to identify Stewart Granger who at that time was still a struggling young thespian...

    All in all, this is a rather interesting cinematographic curiosity to discover - and also a useful reminder of how hard and cruel were for the allies the first three and a half years of Battle of Atlantic, until the turning point of spring 1943... ENJOY!
    21 people found this helpful
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  • B&W Fan
    5.0 out of 5 stars Convoy
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 November 2012
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    This is a rare british war film by the director Pen Tennyson.He made only a few films before being killed during the Second World War.The story is a classic love triangle played out against the backround of the war at sea.I am looking for more films by this director.
    25 people found this helpful
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  • Mr. S. Fletcher
    3.0 out of 5 stars Don't bother
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 July 2017
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    Very old fashioned. My dad was on the convoys, but this film didn't do it justice. Plastic ships, fake waves, poor acting.
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  • A. D. Spurgin
    5.0 out of 5 stars A lovely true to life war film.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 March 2022
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    Pure pleasure to watch
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  • south walian
    5.0 out of 5 stars old sea dog and ww2
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 March 2014
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    Veterans would love this and bring back.memories I bought for my dad he don't know her so I hope he will be .pleased
    The film a s the war war was raging so they took a risk it gives you an impression what the sailors were like in those days
    10 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Marolyn Dawson
    5.0 out of 5 stars Now what we wxpwxted
    Reviewed in Canada on 23 October 2021
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    Different not spell binding just manageable
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  • John D. Newitt
    5.0 out of 5 stars Heroism
    Reviewed in the United States on 6 July 2021
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    Old movie but shows what sailors went through during the early ww2 naval war
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  • tv21
    1.0 out of 5 stars Don't even bother with this issue!
    Reviewed in the United States on 27 March 2013
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    For the $19.95 price tag you receive a very bad copy burnt to a standard DVD disc (they say on the page... "NOTE: This DVD is published under license from Video Yesteryear - Plain Case - NO ARTWORK". That aside I STRONGLY recommend anyone wanting this film (which is great by the way). To go to Amazon.co.uk (England) and purchase the Studio Canal version - less than is charged here - and far far superior in quality than sold here (it is actually DVD quality) - and yes, it even comes in a professionally bound package with color slick art and a DVD to match. This version out of 10 is a minus 3! Don't waste your time even thinking about purchasing this version here.
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  • Seen Them All
    4.0 out of 5 stars Made during WW2 action film.
    Reviewed in the United States on 5 December 2009
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    The move was made during WW2 (British film) about the convoys bring food and war materials to England and the war ships that protect them. Many scenes were actually shot during convoy operations using real ships. Considering the age of the film, the quality is not too bad. Acting is typical of this period with a propaganda message that "England WILL Prevail". Production quality is not up to today's standards but considering it was filmed during wartime with limited resources it is understandable. Good actions sequences and the quality of the film stock is pretty good. Overall a pretty good film and worth watching.
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  • G. Sapinsley
    2.0 out of 5 stars Looks like it was videoed and audioed straight off a TV screen.
    Reviewed in the United States on 19 April 2020
    Verified Purchase
    No particular quality was promised, so I guess I can't complain. At some point, I will see if I can find it someplace else.
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