National Geographic Search for Battleship Bismarck [VHS]
The battleshipBismarck, the pride of the Nazi navy, was thought, like the ill-fatedTitanic, to be unsinkable. When it left port in May 1941, even the formidable British navy professed to be nervous, and the rallying cry "Sink theBismarck!" was born. Amazingly, just two weeks into its maiden voyage, theBismarckwas spotted, torpedoed, and sunk by the British in the North Atlantic, an almost unbelievable turn of events--as crucial a turning point in World War II for the Germans, according to one survivor interviewed in this video, as Pearl Harbor was for the Americans. In 1989 Dr. Bob Ballard, the man who discovered theTitanic, and a crew painstakingly searched a 100-square-mile area off France, and after some heartbreaking near misses, ultimately found the remains of the once-glorious ship. The video cuts effectively between historic footage, interviews with British and German survivors, and scenes from the Ballard expedition, expertly woven together to paint a complete portrait of the sinking and its aftermath. Fans ofTitanicand World War II buffs especially will be fascinated.--Anne Hurley