The "Amethyst Incident" (also known as the "Yangtse Incident" ) is a mostly forgotten bit of history involving Great Britain and the Chinese Communist revolutionaries. In April, 1949, the frigate Amethyst was headed up the Yangste river to bring supplies to British diplomats. However, while this was in no way a military mission, the ship was attacked and severely damaged by shore batteries. And, for three months, the ship was stuck in a mud bank...until some sort of diplomatic solution could be arranged. But, with revolutions, negotiations were pretty much a waste of time. Eventually, the commander of the ship had no choice but to try to slip away during the cover of darkness...and this film is about this three month event.
This story was told in a very straight forward manner...with little in the way of jingoism nor over-the-top patriotism. The acting was also quite fine, though I did object to something this British production did which Hollywood was also fond of doing...having Caucasian actors playing Asians. In this case, Akim Tamiroff played the Chinese leader....which is odd, as Keye Luke (an ethnically Chinese man) played his second in command. But this is my only complaint in an otherwise well made and enjoyable historical film. Well worth seeing.
