Popular World War II film Above Us the Waves will be one of the highlights of Maori Television’s ANZAC Day programming.

The 1955 film is based on the true story of one of the war’s most audacious operations, during the Battle of the Atlantic. The Royal Navy is keen to destroy the monster German battleship Tirpitz, a vicious and hard-hitting menace that is lurking in a Norwegian fjord 60km from the sea, quite safe from the frustrated might of the British fleet.

The Navy comes up with a plan to use midget submarines to get into the fjord and plant underwater explosives – a daring and highly risky one-way mission. Will the mission succeed, and at what cost? The gripping, action-packed film stars Sir John Mills Donald Sinden and John Gregson.

Ross Jennings, executive producer of Maori Television’s ANZAC Day programming, says British war films remain “hugely successful” in New Zealand, and this is the third year in a row that Māori Television’s ANZAC Day coverage has included one. “As these films are becoming harder to get hold of for broadcast, it’s great to be able to provide one on ANZAC Day – it’s becoming a bit of a tradition,” he says. “And Above Us the Waves has a top cast, making it an absorbing watch.”

ENDS

© Scoop Media