Free BFI VOD for Armistice Day

The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands (1927)

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On Armistice Day (11 November 2014), a week after the new BFI Player was launched, the BFI is making available for free one of the breakout successes of the recent London Film Festival, and one of the finest films of the British silent era: The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands.

This is a thrilling reconstruction of two decisive naval battles from the early stages of the conflict. For Armistice Day (11 Nov) the film (usually available to watch for £10) will be free to view in its entirety for 24 hours from 11.02am – only available in the UK).

Simply sign in or register at player.bfi.org.uk then go to the film page, click Rent now and enter the voucher code Poppy11 to watch the film for free.

The BFI’s new restoration is currently screening in selected cinemas nationwide following its hugely popular world premiere Archive Gala screening at the BFI London Film Festival on 16 October.

This virtually unknown film commemorates two key battles faced by the Royal Navy in the early days of World War One – the Battle of Coronel which took place on 1 November 1914 and the Battle of the Falkland Islands on 8 December 1914.

The Battle of Coronel, off the coast of Chile, was a triumph for German Admiral von Spee – the first defeat of the British navy for a hundred years. The retaliatory strike was instigated six weeks later by ace British tactician Admiral Fisher who sent two large battle cruisers, Invincible and Inflexible, to the South Atlantic to restore British supremacy. Summers’ film was originally released on Armistice Day to act as a memorial to the thousands who died.

Filmed on real battleships supplied by the Admiralty, this monumental production was shot mostly at sea near Malta, with the Isles of Scilly a convincing stand-in for the Falklands. Scenes of naval warfare have rarely been captured on film with such a degree of authenticity. No models and no trick photography were employed, although some interiors were recreated in the studio. It is an astonishingly effective piece of filmmaking, which glories, like Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin, in the power and beauty of the machine.

The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands is presented with a newly commissioned score, composed by Simon Dobson and performed by The Band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines.

Restoration supported by Matt Spick. Score commission and recording supported by the Gosling Foundation, the Hartnett Conservation Trust, PRS for Music Foundation and the Charles Skey Charitable Trust.