Sink the Bismarck (1960)

Factual error: Here's a big historical mistake. The character of German Admiral Lütjens is depicted overall in this film as a wild-eyed Nazi fanatic. In real life, he was distinctly anti-Nazi, vehemently protested the anti-Semitic actions of Hitler's regime, and was himself subject to intense Nazi scrutiny as he was a quarter Jewish and his wife was half Jewish. He was one of many German naval officers who fought only for their country, not Hitler.

Continuity mistake: The Bismarck is sighted by a British agent in southern Norway, sailing out of the Baltic into the North Sea - east to west. But the view through the agent's binoculars shows the ship sailing from right to left on the screen - which would be sailing west to east from the point of view of an observer on the Norwegian coast.

Factual error: The battle of the Denmark Strait is wrong in that both sides are heading and shooting in the wrong direction. The Germans are shooting to starboard rather than port, and the British are shooting to port rather than starboard.

Trivia: Esmond P. Knight, the actor who portrayed Captain Leach of the battleship "Prince of Wales" was a crew member on the ship during the real battle where he was badly injured, suffering a period of blindness.

Larry Redfield

Edward R. Murrow: This is London, Ed Murrow reporting. This island, which is no stranger to bad tiding, received news today that HMS Hood largest warship in the British fleet and pride of the British navy, has been sunk by the German battleship Bismarck. From the Hood's compliment of 1500 men, there were three survivors.

A.C.N.S.: Good old hood, she'll get them.