Studiocanal releases a newly-restored version of the rarely seen classic WW2 Navy thriller, Gift Horse. 80 years ago, during WWII, British ‘Operation Chariot' stunned the Nazis, and the film pays tribute to this raid.
Directed by Compton Bennett (The Seventh Veil) and Starring Trevor Howard (The Third Man, Brief Encounter), Richard Attenborough (The Great Escape, The Angry Silence) and Sid James (The Carry On series), this stunning new restoration of Gift horse will be available to own on Digital, Blu-Ray and DVD from April 4 and on VOD from May 9.
In 1940, the Royal Navy is frantically recruiting for WWII so pulls Lieutenant Commander Fraser (Trevor Howard) out of retirement to captain the HMS Ballantrae, herself recently re-commissioned and lent by the Americans to a seriously under-resourced British Navy.
Despite an inauspicious start and multiple repairs, Fraser crafts the ship and its crew into an efficient fighting force, culminating in a daring mission to destroy a French dockyard which is crucial to the Nazis in maintaining their formidable battleships.
The climax of the film is a fictional account of the real-life St Nazaire Raid of 1942 AKA Operation Chariot – led by a ship very similar to the Gift Horse itself, and celebrated as The Greatest Raid of All.
We had two copies of Gift Horse on blu-ray to give away to UK readers.
The winners are:
Catherine Booth, Edinburgh
Mark Adamson, Tyne and Wear
