Battle of Britain
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Movie Reviews of Battle of Britain
Movie Review: Three stars for overall film, plus one for aerial battles
Summary: 4 Stars
During a 15-year period (1962-1977), the all-star cast recreation of major World War II battles was an expensive sub-genre of the action-adventure/war film category. Undoubtedly spurred by the success of 20th Century-Fox's 1962 mega hit The Longest Day and ending, ironically, with 1977's well-intentioned but widely ignored A Bridge Too Far, the "big cast, big budget" war epics ranged from excellent (The Longest Day, The Great Escape), decent (Tora! Tora! Tora! and A Bridge Too Far), all the way down to dismal (1966's Battle of the Bulge, 1976's Midway). Not only did the law of diminishing returns apply here (as it did with the countless Star Wars knock-offs that hit the silver screen soon after that film became a cultural force to be reckoned with), but the then-ongoing war in Vietnam soured audiences on any film that was in any way favorable to the military.Nevertheless, the big-name war epic was embraced by many countries that had participated in World War II, and one of the United Kingdom's biggest contributions was, naturally, 1969's The Battle of Britain, a spectacular if rather uneven mix of historical recreation and fictionalized melodrama that commemorates the decisive defeat of the German air force (Luftwaffe) by the outnumbered fighter pilots of the Royal Air Force in the summer of 1940.
The movie, directed by Guy Hamilton (who later would be briefly connected with the struggles to bring Superman: The Movie to take flight but was better known for directing a James Bond flick or two), has many things in its favor. First, it's fast paced -- considering it covers a five-month period (May to September 1940) -- and has a running time of two hours and 12 minutes. Second, it boasts some of the best aerial photography ever filmed, employing as many airworthy vintage aircraft that producers Harry Saltzman and S. Benjamin Fisz could acquire (mostly Hurricanes, Spitfires, Heinkel 111 bombers and Messerchmitt Bf 109s). Third, it has a stirring and memorable score by Sir William Walton, with its two dueling themes of a Germanic martial march and the soaring victorious RAF fanfare underscoring the beautifully choreographed aerial battles. Fourth, it has a stellar cast of mostly British stars of the 1960s, including Harry Andrews, Michael Caine, Trevor Howard, Curt Jurgens, Laurence Olivier, Christopher Plummer, Ralph Richardson, Robert Shaw, and Susannah York. Finally, Hamilton and his production team shot the film on location in France and the British Isles, attempting -- and mostly succeeding -- to get the period details just right.
Nevertheless, in trying to give the audience both a history lesson and some human interest drama by delving a bit into the personal lives of the airmen, the screenplay by James Kennaway and Wilfred Greatorex seesaws wildly from war documentary (albeit in color) to soap opera dramatics (namely the conjugal conflicts between Canadian squadron commander Plummer and his WAF wife York). Also, the fact that this sort of war epic doesn't rely on a single "lead" to carry the picture but instead scatters its cast in small vignettes on and off the field of battle (or, in this case, in and out of the cockpits) doesn't give the audience a single hero to identify with or follow throughout the whole movie.
Although some of my fellow reviewers have pointed out that The Battle of Britain's complement of aircraft is limited to five types of live-action aircraft (Hurricanes and Spits for the RAF, He-111s, Bf-109s and two Ju-52 transports for the Luftwaffe), choosing to depict the Ju-87 Stukas with model photography and ignoring the twin-engine Messerchmitt Bf 110 fighter and the Ju-88 medium bomber, I can perhaps live with that, realizing that there might not have been any of those in flyable condition in 1969. Maybe if the film had been shot in the 21st Century with CGI special effects (as in the horrible Michael Bay effort, Pearl Harbor), this "oversight" would have been unforgivable, but considering how vastly different the miniature photography scenes would have looked in contrast to the breathtaking live action aerial footage, it was wise that the producers put their budget where it counted. I -- in contrast to more accuracy-minded folks -- don't penalize the producers for using various variants of aircraft to stand in for their 1940 forbears. Nor do I find fault with the now outdated visual effects; yes, some of the explosions (particularly of crashing planes and the big bombing raid on London at night) look cartoony, but, again, this film was made in 1969, not 2004...or even 1999.
The MGM 2003 DVD release is a bit lacking in the critical areas of sound (it's okay but not exactly earthshaking) and extra features, since the only such offering is the original theatrical trailer. Heck, it doesn't even bring a chapter list or one of those trivia-filled booklets such as those in the MGM Home Entertainment DVDs of The Great Escape and A Bridge Too Far. Nevertheless, its restoration to widescreen places The Battle of Britain's DVD version head and shoulders above the fullscreen VHS videotape edition.
Movie Review: Their finest hour: the movie
Summary: 4 Stars
Some years ago I was talking with a late-middle-aged Englishman who had been involved in the U.S. film industry. After we had exhausted, for the time being, a mutual interest -- beautiful leading actresses -- the subject somehow got around to the film The Battle of Britain. My acquaintance said that among the film's distinctions was that, having been released in 1969 (which probably meant it had been written and filmed a year or more earlier), it possessed an authenticity that was becoming less possible with each passing year: many members of the cast and crew were old enough to remember the World War II years, and some had actually been involved in events related to the story.
When I saw the film in its DVD incarnation recently, it was that aura of authenticity, of being visualized through having "been there," that leaped out at me. The year of the battle, 1940, was 29 years before the movie appeared. The key personnel could remember that time well enough to get the less obvious details right.
So, in The Battle of Britain, it's not just the uniforms and aircraft insignia and such that are accurate; you also get a sense that the words the characters speak, the vocal style (more formal by far than today's U.K. English), the interior decor, and the countryside as seen from the air (much less built-up in 1969) ring true in a way that would be hard to reproduce now.
(The only serious anachronism is that the women sport hairstyles that no one would have dreamed of in the '40s.)
The film is a remarkable technical triumph in its thrilling depiction of air battles. I know nothing about the production background, but they obviously used real Spitfires, Messerschmitts and Heinkels in dazzling maneuvers. I would not have thought there'd have been enough left in airworthy condition, or that anyone would have allowed them to be used in simulated aerial combat that surely had the potential for accidental destruction of the aircraft. Perhaps the Spitfires' owners felt that it was worth the risk to aid a movie that might enable the younger generation to better understand the heroism and sacrifices of the RAF pilots in the war.
The shots of the planes exploding and crashing were presumably done with models, but the verisimilitude is outstanding. You are almost never conscious that you are watching special effects.
In the intervals between aerial dogfights, the scenes on the ground are less compelling, although it's interesting to see how the locations of the German bombers and the RAF fighters were plotted on huge horizontal maps by RAF women (WAAFs?) receiving radio messages from spotters via headphones.
With all this going for the film, it's too bad I have to tell you not to get too excited when you see the cast list. Many of the famous names involved have only routine or minor roles. Even Michael Caine doesn't make much of an impression. In the movie's one concession to romance, Christopher Plummer is a colorless "leading man." Susannah York, playing the object of his affections, blows her one big moment, in the aftermath of a bombing attack on the airfield where she's stationed, by egregiously overacting.
Two greats of the English stage and screen provide some compensation. Ralph Richardson, as a diplomat who receives a German ambassador who wants to persuade the British government that they have no chance against an invasion, has only one scene. But Richardson, with that extraordinary voice that Kenneth Tynan compared to the sound of very expensive tissue paper being crinkled, offers a riposte that stirs the blood.
Laurence Olivier plays the air chief marshal in overall charge of the RAF defense strategy, with an air of controlled, bottomless melancholy, as though he feels that every RAF airman who will die in the cockpit is his brother. We, too, should mourn all those who were killed or maimed to save Britain in her darkest hour, and honor them for every hour of freedom that they helped make it possible for us to enjoy. The Battle of Britain isn't the ideal tribute to those heroes, but it's a heartfelt one, and its virtues well outweigh its lesser moments.
The DVD transfer is good. And if you haven't seen the widescreen version, you haven't seen the film.
Movie Review: Seventy years ago this month
Summary: 4 Stars
The plot of this movie has few surprises for anybody familiar with the history of the period; subtlety isn't the point. It's a dramatic recounting of a stirring saga that everybody should remember, especially in this anniversary year. I won't quote Churchill, everybody knows -- or should know -- what he said about the RAF pilots.
Seventy years ago this month, the Lufwaffe tried to destroy the RAF so Germany could invade Britain. They failed. Historians disagree on exactly why they failed to destroy the RAF, and whether Germany could have pulled off an invasion even if they had destroyed the RAF, but there is nearly universal agreement that the late summer and early fall of 1940 was a crucial moment in world history. The revisionists have had their say, and the consensus has I think come back to something pretty close to the standard narrative, if a slightly more nuanced view of that narrative. This film gives the standard narrative as it was understood before all the revisionist historians had picked it over. In its fundamentals the story told by this film is still true: it didn't happen EXACTLY this way, but it did really happen. The RAF really did save Britain and the world against some pretty frightening odds.
It is also clear that the British made extremely effective use of what is anachronistically called "radar" by the cast of this movie (the word actually used by the RAF in 1940 was RDF for Radio Direction Finding). Whatever you call it, it was key to the survival of Britain in 1940. The Germans actually had much better radar technology; what set the British apart was they built the world's first complete system for gathering all available data -- radar, spotters' reports, the current status of every airfield, etc., and providing a complete picture to those deciding how to deploy available resources. Since the RAF was stretched desperately thin, these data were of vital importance (as was another source of data not yet public knowledge when this movie was made: the Ultra Secret of codebreaking).
But none of the radar systems, none of the planning, none of the technology could have saved Britain without the young pilots who flew their fragile craft on sortie after sortie against daunting odds. They were knights of the air, defending their homeland from a truly evil and frightening foe. Today we know how the story ends. In 1940 the outcome was far from clear, and a lot of smart people on both sides thought German victory was inevitable.
Of course the aerial dogfight scenes are the heart of this movie, which has some of the best aerial battle footage ever filmed. Real airplanes -- nearly every suitable airplane that could still fly in 1969 was used -- were flown over the actual locations where the battles took place. Actual London buildings that were being demolished for new construction were burned down for the making of this movie. Today this movie could not be made that way, too few vintage aircraft are still flyable and many of the landscapes look too different from how they looked in 1940. Today computer graphics would have to be used, and while CGI makes some amazing special effects possible it ain't the same. No WWII film has better aerial combat footage than this one, and indeed clips from this film (sometimes converted to low-resolution grayscale for a period feel) have been used in many more recent movies.
Movie Review: Perhaps the best aerial combat movie I've seen
Summary: 4 Stars
"Battle of Britain" starts with RAF pilots evacuating in France with the Germans in hot pursuit. The situation is grim, as the RAF are outnumbered nearly 4-1 and the Germans seem to be unstoppable. Despite this, the British continue a stiff upper lip and refuse to back down, and from then on must deal with constant German attacks and shortages in manpower - all real issues the RAF had to deal with back in this point in the war.Much of the storyline is told from different perspectives of the characters, some historical figures and some from the ranks of the front-line. It is much like the way they did the story in "A Night to Remember": there is no real main story, but different characters in different parts of the event having their own experiences. It works fairly well, with the exception of perhaps Christopher Plummer's and Susanna York's characters. It's not so much that it's a love story as much that it's never really resolved and therefore makes itself pointless - I don't want to give away any spoilers, but if you watch the film you'll know what I mean. Otherwise, the other characters and subplots don't get in the way of the story too much and serve to give you a perspective of what the war was like.
The aerial combat scenes were - as I've already suggested in my title - completely astounding. The accuracy is very good, with Spitfires looking like Spitfires and Heinkels looking like Heinkels. The way they filmed the combat was well done, and I must give the cinematographer thumbs up for the beautiful shots of the sky backdropped against the planes. The point-of view from the cockpit was the best part of the film, especially a shot where you watch from cockpit-view as a Spitfire flies right over the edge of a Heinkel, nearly crashing into it.
The DVD is a bit lacking, I'm afraid. As far as special features...I hope you like the theatrical trailer and watching the movie with French or Spanish subtitles. The theatrical trailer isn't worth you're time, unfortunately. It's a series of random images from the film with a narrator chanting, "Never before has a movie been done like this! Watch as planes zoom around and things fall down and go boom!" The movie itself looks and sounds good, and I suppose that's what really matters to most people. Still, I see a waste of potential.
Despite this, I would definately suggest to my fellow war-film gurus that they pick up this movie. It is in the same breath of "Tora, Tora, Tora" and "A Bridge Too Far," and it doesn't fail.
Movie Review: The Few...
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Battle of Britain" features an outstanding cast of British actors, the James Bond production team of Harry Saltzman and Guy Hamilton, first-rate aerial flying sequences, and a good capture of the major elements of the Royal Air Force's defiant stand against the Nazi aerial onslaught in the dark days of 1940.
What it doesn't have is a coherent plot. The production team seems to have been overwhelmed by the burden of portraying one of the great, mythic moments of British history in the 20th Century. As Churchill noted, "never in the field of human conflict have so many owed so much to so few." This was a moment still in living memory for many people when the movie was released in 1969. The end result is more documentary than traditional story-telling. The movie hops from scene to scene with only a minimal effort to connect the sequences or link the actors.
The movie does feature some terrific scenes. The sequence involving the hasty departure from France of flying units about to be overrun by oncoming German Army units is by turns humorous and harsh, as pilots and non-commissioned officers scramble to save their few remaining aircraft. The training sequences in Britain are similarly well-done, as veteran flyers played by Christopher Plummer and Robert Shaw attempt to whip rookie pilots into shape to face the Luftwaffe. The flying sequences feature real period aircraft carving the sky, although the actors can be tough to tell apart in their goggles and flying helmets. The damage done by the Nazi blitz is heartbreaking.
The Germans themselves are something of an afterthought in this movie, there to provide stereotypical opponents to be shot down over the British Isles. Very few of the Germans are given more than cursory character development and a handful of lines.
This movie is highly recommended to fans of the Battle of Britain, who can overlook the skimpy plot development and revel in the flying sequences and the undoubted glory of the RAF's gritty, gutty win in the air battle. Those without familarity with the history of the Battle of Britain, or who need the more traditional movie elements, may find the it more challenging to follow.