The Sinking of the Laconia - Series - 2-DVD Set

The Sinking of the Laconia - Series - 2-DVD Set (DVD) (*)

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Language Selections:
English ( Dolby Digital 5.1 )
English ( Dolby Digital Stereo )
English ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
United Kingdom ( PAL/Region 0 )

Running Time:
171 min + 29 min extras

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.78:1)

Special Features:
2-DVD Set
Biographies
Interactive Menu
Photo Gallery
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 2010 and produced in:
Germany ( Germany, Central Europe )
United Kingdom ( Great Britain, Ireland )

Directed By:
Uwe Janson

Written By:
Alan Bleasdale

Actors:
Andrew Buchan ..... Mortimer
Brian Cox ..... Captain Sharp (2 episodes, 2010-2011)
Ken Duken ..... Hartenstein
Lindsay Duncan ..... Elisabeth Fullwood (2 episodes, 2011)
Thomas Kretschmann ..... Admiral Donitz
Franka Potente ..... Hilda (2 episodes, 2011)
Morven Christie ..... Laura Ferguson (2 episodes, 2011)
Jodi Balfour ..... Sarah Fullwood (2 episodes, 2010-2011)
Nicholas Burns ..... Captain Coutts (2 episodes, 2011)
Ciarán McMenamin ..... Declan McDermott
Lenny Wood ..... Billy Hardacre (2 episodes, 2011)
Ben Crompton ..... Harry Townes
Matthew Aubrey ..... William Williams (2 episodes, 2011)
Ludovico Fremont ..... Di Giovanni
Paul Hilton ..... Henry Bates (2 episodes, 2010-2011)
Jacob Matschenz ..... Mannesmann (2 episodes, 2011)
Matthias Koeberlin ..... Rostau (2 episodes, 2011)
Frederick Lau ..... Fiedler (2 episodes, 2011)
Jörg Malchow ..... Weber (2 episodes, 2011)
Oskar Brown ..... Waldemar (2 episodes, 2010-2011)
Stefan Rudolf ..... Remmert (2 episodes, 2011)
Simon Verhoeven ..... Harro Schaht (2 episodes, 2011)
Nikolai Kinski ..... Walter Drexler
Christian Serritiello ..... Additional Voices (2 episodes, 2011)

Synopsis:

On the 12th September 1942 the Laconia - a cruise ship turned troop ship - was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-156 commanded by Werner Hartenstein. She carried a motley crew of women, children, wounded soldiers and Italian Prisoners of War. Having sunk the ship, Hartenstein should have left them to their uncertain fate in the water but instead he made the incredible decision to save as many lives as he could. A true story of unexpected gallantry and humanity in the fog of war.

Part One: In 1942, the Laconia, an old British cruise liner turned troop ship, is returning to Liverpool from Egypt with civilian passengers and Italian prisoners. Its guns are outdated, its captain, Sharp, lost his last ship and the Italians, unhappy at being caged below the water line, are tormented by their Polish guards. Third officer Mortimer learns that his family have been killed in an air raid and seeks comfort with Hilda Smith, a mysterious widow who seems to have visited Germany recently. At that moment the ship is torpedoed by a German U-boat, whose humane captain, Kapitanleutnant Werner Hartenstein, learning that the Laconia was not a warship, decides to rescue the survivors, bringing some into the submarine and towing others in life-boats.
Part Two: Kapitanleutnant Hartenstein sends out a call for assistance, which is picked up by British Naval Command in Sierra Leone. Fearing a trap, they inform the American air base at Ascension Island, but only of the sinking, not the presence of the U-boat or that its captain has signaled his intention not to attack anyone coming to assist the survivors. With his captain dead, Mortimer is the senior British officer amongst the survivors. Hilda is revealed to be of Anglo-German parentage, fleeing her native Germany after the rest of her family, anti-Nazi like herself, were killed by the Nazis. Hartenstein agrees to keep her secret as does Mortimer, moved by her plight as a genuine rapport builds between German and British, and Hartenstein drapes a makeshift Red Cross flag across the U-boat's deck. However, the U-boat is bombed by the Americans. Hartenstein recognizes the need to secure the safety of his boat and so puts the Laconia's survivors in lifeboats and casts them adrift to await rescue by a French ship he knows is on its way. Most make it to safety. Admiral Doenitz recognizes Hartenstein's humanity by awarding him the Knight's Cross.

Six hundred miles from the coast of Africa, in September 1942, a German U-boat, U-156, sinks the British troopship Laconia carrying 1,800 Italian POWs, 80 British civilians, and 268 Polish and British soldiers. After realising that there were POWs and civilians on-board, and that they are facing certain death without rescue, U-Boat Commander Werner Hartenstein (Duken) makes a decision to go against the orders of Nazi high command. The U-boat surfaces and Hartenstein instructs his men to save as many of the shipwrecked survivors as they can. Over the next few days U-156 saved 400 people, with 200 people crammed on board the surface-level submarine and another 200 in lifeboats. Hartenstein gave orders for messages to be sent out to the Allies to organise a rescue of the survivors, but they were spotted by American B-24 Liberator bombers which moved in to attack. The Sinking of the Laconia takes a look at the human side of the remarkable events that took place: the friendships that developed, the small acts of heroism, and the triumph of the human spirit in the most incredible of situations.

This product was added to our catalog on Monday 11 April, 2011.

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