The Dam Busters
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Movie Reviews of The Dam Busters
Movie Review: A bright war-time idea combines with brave men, but (an inconvenient question) did their deaths change anything?
Summary: 4 Stars
The problem was simple. The solution was difficult. The cost was high. The result was not everything that was expected or even hoped for.
The Dam Busters tells us, with patriotic steadfastness and gallant actions, the development of a bouncing bomb, the story of Squadron 617 and then the action code-named Operation Chastize, carried out on May 17, 1943. Nineteen British aircraft set out on a high-risk mission to destroy key dams providing water and electricity for Germany's Ruhr industrial complex. A new bouncing bomb would be used to skip across the water, smash into the targeted dams and explode. Delivering the bombs required flying skills of the highest order. The planes had to sweep in very low and very fast through mountains and valleys, using unproven altimeters and primitive bomb sights. The crews had to release the bombs, now set to spinning in open bays, at the precise moment when calculations gave the bombs the best chance to skip and not sink and to strike exactly where they should.
The first part of The Dam Busters is the story of Professor Barnes Wallis (Michael Redgrave), whose idea for a bouncing bomb is nearly smothered by disbelieving civilian and military bureaucrats. Barnes is brilliant, innovative and extraordinarily persistent. Somehow, he succeeds in developing his spinning, bouncing bomb and convinces the war leaders that it can destroy dams where conventional bombing wouldn't.
The second part concentrates more on Wing Commander Guy Gibson (Richard Todd), who has been appointed leader of Squadron 617. He is charged with developing the flying tactics that will get his squadron over the target and successfully deliver the bombs. He has to come up with new flying techniques that will maximize the chances for success. These also maximize the chances for crashing into mountains and receiving a lot of German flak. He also will lead the attack. Through it all a typically inspiring music score will thump away.
Wallis' eccentric genius as he develops his bomb, fixes the glitches and deals with Whitehall is at times amusing but usually inspiring. Redgrave does a fine job with his character. Gibson's assurance and courage in the face of great personal risk (which at times almost seems that gambling with death has become some sort of exciting drug for him) is both inspiring and unnerving. Todd gives the standard ever-optimistic but serious-in-the-face-of-death portrayal that so many war movies dish up. Todd, like John Mills, was good at this sort of thing. He makes his character believable. The run into the Ruhr valley so low the crews could almost shake hands with the civilians, with flak crashing about, the planes shaking, the crews trying to make everything work as it should, the now spinning bombs let loose and bouncing off the waters toward the dams, and then the steep, steep climb of the remaining planes is gripping.
How successful was the mission? The movie doesn't deal with this, only with Wallis' ingenuity and the inspired heroism of the men who flew, who died and those who survived. But let's take a look at what wartime gallantry can bring. Of the several targeted dams, two were breeched and extensive flooding and destruction ensued. Of the 19 aircraft that set out, 11 returned. Of the 133 aircrew members 53 were killed and three became prisoners of war. Within a month after the raid, the Germans had restored water output back to normal and the Ruhr electricity grid was again producing power at full capacity. Of the more than 2,000 men and women who were killed in the flooding, more than half were Allied prisoners of war and forced laborers.
Professor Barnes, who also was the father of the earthquake bomb, was knighted and died full of honors at 92 in 1979. Wing Commander Guy Gibson was awarded the Victoria Cross and was killed a year later on another mission. He was 26 years old.
With operations like this, war leaders usually tell us later how much home front morale was improved, how much we learned from the operation, how many resources the enemy had to reallocate to guard against further such attacks, and how the gallantry and courage of our fighting men and women are without parallel. Often these leaders are themselves awarded medals and ribbons and honors. Perhaps we need fewer of these leaders who seem so easily caught up in the kind of gallantry that always results in the deaths of many brave young men and women. For those interested in "gallant" ideas that lead to the essentially pointless deaths of courageous young soldiers, you might want to watch A Bridge Too Far, Dieppe and Cockleshell Heroes.
The DVD has no extras. The video and audio transfers are not exceptional but do no major harm to enjoying the movie.
Movie Review: Seminal British war movie
Summary: 4 Stars
The movie deals with the attack by the RAF on German dams over the river Ruhr , destruction of which would inflict a blow to the German war machine by damaging its industrial capacity..It is a movie in two parts .The first details the invention and testing of the legendary "bouncing bomb"by the great inventor Barnes Wallis (Michael Redgrave).The second part deals with the training of the air crews chosen to carry out the raid ,building up to the night of the raid itself.The raid is lead by Wing Commander Guy Gibson(Richard Todd)
Redgrave is exceptional in his portrait of the ultimate "back room boffin",an eccentric scientific genius who treads a fine line between inspiration and obsession.He doggedly pursues his plan to strike a decisive blow right to the heart of the enemy with a single decisive dagger thrust rather than, as he brillinatly describes the strategic bombimg offensive ,"kill him with a million peashooters" .The picture gives us a detailed evocation of the research and development of the weapon often in the face of obstructionism from the civil service .It is a world of windswept firing ranges and chilly test tanks .The movie does not gloss over either the failures and false starts or the obstacles thrown up by petty bureaucracy.
In the second part ,as the night of the raid draws ever nearer the camera dwells on the small group of men who must carry out the attack -the focus is on their rituals as thw wait in their various ways to be called into action ,knowing that many will not return.They play impromptu games of cricket,lounge upon the grass or simply patiently sit and wait their call to action.The raid is skillfully shot by director Anderson and he is at his best in the scenes following the raid,s completion -empty tables in the mess halls,clocks ticking in the stillness ,as the camera prowls through the rooms of the dead liongering on empty chairs and vacant soaces in the mess hall.The shot of Gibson walking away to write letters to the relatives of those who did not return is doubly poignant when you realise it was a task that fell to Todd -who served in World War 2 -in real life.
This movie deatils a small scale operation with big repercussions and does so in a semi-documentary style which makes it truly compelling viewing .It is a portrait of understated heroism greatly helped by R C Sheriff's sensitive screenplay and a slew of admirable performances
Special praise is due to the bravura Dam Busters March by Eric Coates a piece of music that is a hardy perennial in the British movie score cstalogue .
The whole movie is truly compelling viewing
Movie Review: Excellent Movie, Very Good DVD
Summary: 4 Stars
Anchor Bay Entertainment did an excellent job of transferring this British WWII classic to DVD. Scratches and blemishes in the picture are virtually nonexistent. And it IS Region 1, so it WILL play in just about any DVD player in the US and Canada (for those of you in the US and Canada).
If all you care about is having a good copy of this movie, then I highly recommend this DVD. If you also want special features like trailers, "Making of" documentaries, deleted scenes, etc., then you may want to wait until someone puts out a "special edition." All this DVD offers apart from the great transfer is scene selection (that missing star is actually half a star for not having more in the way of special features).
In the meantime, I recommend also getting Paul Brickhill & Guy Gibson's books ("The Dam Busters" and "Enemy Coast Ahead," respectively) upon which the movie is based along with the DVD of the PBS documentary "Secrets of the Dead: Bombing Nazi Dams" (which incidentally uses footage from this movie though uncredited). If you can find it, you might also want the audio cassette version of Brickhill's book read by the film's co-star, Richard Todd.
Movie Review: The Dam Busters
Summary: 4 Stars
This movie was shot in b/w in 1955 and uses real AVRO Lancasters taken out of storage. It is generally historically accurate, with a few embellishments made here and there.
Viewers may be put off by Wing Cmdr. Guy Gibson's choice of name for his black Labrador retriever, "Nigger". "Nigger" winds up being a major plot device in the movie, so you find yourself cringing at the prolific use of the word. It is a historical fact and supposedly the dog's grave is still marked on the Air Base where the actual raid was launched from. You just have to consider the lack of political correctness at the time this took place.
The movie is exciting and the special effects are pretty decent for the time period, although some scenes using aircraft models are a little hokey. The test and evaluation scenes in which the dambuster bomb was developed is interesting and actual footage is inserted fairly seamlessly.
It's a must-have for collectors of WWII movies filmed in or shortly after the war.
Movie Review: A surprising gem
Summary: 4 Stars
I found this movie on cable and immediately wanted it for my library. The DVD itself is a good, clean copy with no unwanted digitizing artifacts. As is common with releases of older films, there are no extras on the DVD.
The film itself was a joy for me to watch. I knew the outlines of the story, in which a secret, innovative weapon was developed to attack the Ruhr dams during World War II. What made it special was that this is one of a SMALL handful of films in which the engineering process is dramatized well. Not only is the engineer the lead of the story, but he does not work miracles; the weapon progresses from idea, through concept, subscale models, and full scale use, with problems and setbacks at each stage.
The acting style is a little dated now, and one distracting (but historically true) element is that one character's black dog is named "nigger", which I found distracting. Still, this is a movie I will enjoy watching many times.