This exhilarating silent movie from 1927 has been restored by the British Film Institute for the anniversary of world war one. It tells the story of a resounding British naval victory against the Germans in 1914 – cinema audiences and military authorities perhaps preferred to remember this event than the agonisingly inconclusive Battle of Jutland, in 1916, or indeed any of the grim land warfare. British press and public had been astonished and outraged by the German navy’s defeat of a British squadron near the city of Coronel, off the Chilean coast, in November 1914. So First Sea Lord Sir John “Jacky” Fisher dispatched two battle cruisers for a counterattack near the Falkland Islands. Co-written by John Buchan, the film is undoubtedly gung ho, but with spectacular scenes, subtle close-ups and intelligent characterisation; the huge battle sequences mesh with scenes from the home front in both Germany and England. It has enormous confidence and artistry, and the comparison with Sergei Eisenstein is justified.