''The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands'' is a 1927 British docudrama film directed by

Walter Summers Walter Summers (1892–1973) was a British film director and screenwriter. Biography Born in Barnstaple to a family of actors, British motion picture director Walter Summers began his career in the family trade; his first contact with filmma ...

. The film focuses on the naval warfare around the

Battle of Coronel The Battle of Coronel was a First World War Imperial German Navy victory over the Royal Navy on 1 November 1914, off the coast of central Chile near the city of Coronel. The East Asia Squadron (''Ostasiengeschwader'' or ''Kreuzergeschwader'') ...

and

Battle of the Falkland Islands The Battle of the Falkland Islands was a First World War naval action between the British Royal Navy and Imperial German Navy on 8 December 1914 in the South Atlantic. The British, after their defeat at the Battle of Coronel on 1 November, s ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. It was the last in a successful series of documentary reconstructions of First World War battles by British Instructional Films made between 1921 and 1927. The film was produced at

Cricklewood Studios Cricklewood Studios, also known as the Stoll Film Studios, were British film studios located in Cricklewood, London which operated from 1920 to 1938. Run by Sir Oswald Stoll as the principal base for his newly formed Stoll Pictures, which als ...

and on location off Malta and the Isles of Scilly. The film is an entirely fictional recreation with a strong documentary feel. The film cost an estimated £18,000 to make. It grossed £70,000 in Britain alone. It was restored and re-released by the

BFI The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

in 2014.

Restoration

In 2014 the

BFI National Archive The BFI National Archive is a department of the British Film Institute, and one of the largest film archives in the world. It was founded as the National Film Library in 1935; its first curator was Ernest Lindgren. In 1955, its name became the N ...

restored the film for the centenary of the events with a new score composed by Simon Dobson.

Historical background

On 1 November 1914, off the coast of

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

near Coronel, ships of the German and British navies exchanged fire resulting in the sinking of two British ships and with the loss of nearly 1,600 sailors. To counter the German squadron, the Royal Navy sent two battle-cruisers - and - to the South Atlantic. In December 1914, the British battle-cruisers, accompanied by smaller ships, engaged the German squadron during the

and sank the German armoured cruisers and near the Falkland Islands.

References

Bibliography

* Dixon, Bryon
''Battles of the Coronel and Falkland Islands, The (1927)''
BFI Screenonline. * Low, Rachael. ''History of the British Film, 1918-1929''. George Allen & Unwin, 1971. * Wood, Linda. ''British Films 1927-1939''. British Film Institute, 1986.

External links

* 1927 films 1920s English-language films Films directed by Walter Summers British silent feature films Films shot at Cricklewood Studios World War I naval films British black-and-white films British documentary films 1927 documentary films 1920s British films Silent war adventure films 1920s war adventure films British World War I films {{WWI-documentary-film-stub