Come the end of The Dam Busters, we find it treading a really fine line between what might be considered a frilly; triumph of the spirit infused British romp and a nasty, quite disturbing war feature which appears to go to some lengths to pitch the destruction of certain structures and the consequent deaths of a few anonymous thousand as an uplifting tale of determination and grit played out against chaos. When the bouncing bombs the British have devised gleefully bound their way over the German rivers and into their dams, consequently spilling thousands of tons of water into what appears to be a valley of civilisation, the film appears to want to cheer on the event indeed inviting us to do so in the process through its rousing score, after such was the graft everyone went through leading up to it. But then it backs away, a realisation that many others will most probably now suffer and that the warring with hate, evil and those of murderous mindsets in the form of Nazi Germany has only further spawned something designed to have similarly negative effects towards a large cluster of human-being's well-being.
There are two things to consider when dealing with Michael Anderson' 1955 film The Dam Busters in relation to giving away what unfolds, firstly: the entire film and its characters are based on true to life people whom went through what they went through prior to the bombing of the featured dams; secondly: it's The Dam Busters. It, whether by way of the famous theme tune or entire true to life tale, ought to be, in some shape or form, engraved on the minds and conscious of any British person of probably about fifteen and up. As a stand alone film, I do think it's slightly more interested in the aerial stuff and the special effects making up its grand finale of the whole thing going up than anything else, with character and how going through what these people went through affected them and their home life somewhat sidelined. It isn't at any great loss, the film's ultimate attitude towards the British characters, be they technicians; pilots or otherwise, being that they ought to be tough and resilient with nothing too bad in their lives to ever affect them, thus veering it down said route of priorities.
We begin at a rural house in England and Michael Redgrave's inventor Barnes Wallis is practising with a product designed to skim over the surface of some water so as to reach a specified object at the other end of a small tank. Some German bombers arrive overhead en route to London; an exchange of dialogue has Wallis speak to another man about how the raids have been going for some time and that defences are at a stretch to counterbalance them, an early establishing of Britain being on the back-foot or at the mercy of continual punishment with the rest of the film effectively going on to document how the status-quo can be reestablished, or even ruptured further more for our benefit. The attitude towards the bombings is exemplified in that Wallis gets on with his project regardless, and his wife is all too keen to make the tea before announcing in a chirpy fashion that it's ready and waiting – such aerial bombardment and sky-based activity does little to affect these people. The film gets on with it, effectively taking a mere eighteen minutes to go from having Wallis out in his garden experimenting primitively with marbles to fully automated versions of the bomb in planes and ready to be tested proper; an expositional sequence involving Wallis, a map and his plan wedged in for good measure.
The first half of the film is fraught with barrier as Wallis attempts to get his bouncing bombs off and running from the black board to the bomber. Funding is an issue, how much time the Royal Air Force appear to be willing to spend in dealing with the idea is also a problem. An early visit to then RAF big-wig "Bomber" Harris (Sydney) has someone inform Wallis on the way in that our Sir Arthur might throw your plans out of his window if he thinks you're wasting his time. We arrive at his office with Wallis, Harris' commendations and titles plastered all over the window of his door frame before the man's even appeared on screen, all the while the question within the context of the film as to whether this is even a sane idea, let alone a good one, hovering overhead. Richard Todd plays one of the many pilots whom come to partake in such raid when it finally gets going; the one we map onto the most in a Wing Commander named Guy Gibson whose relationship with his fellow pilots is far more professional and emotionless than his link to a pet dog, who's black, and whose name carries its own baggage.
Gibson is a man whom jumps at the opportunity to go on another tour of duty, despite having been granted leave; his ability to work in a team or lead a team further painting positive traits. He's already completed three tours as it is so we presume him to be fairly skilled, the question as to whether he's able to pull off what Wallis has in mind. The procedure is fraught with difficulty; in that the bombers must fly the closest to the water they ever have done and that often the bombs don't work or the casing breaks, while Wallis himself must hit an all time low and relegate himself to doing the gardening at home before the call comes that the higher ups are actually interested. The overlying item is resilience and it is here in abundance, but identifying it and going along with it has a film here that is capable of being enjoyed thoroughly.
There are two things to consider when dealing with Michael Anderson' 1955 film The Dam Busters in relation to giving away what unfolds, firstly: the entire film and its characters are based on true to life people whom went through what they went through prior to the bombing of the featured dams; secondly: it's The Dam Busters. It, whether by way of the famous theme tune or entire true to life tale, ought to be, in some shape or form, engraved on the minds and conscious of any British person of probably about fifteen and up. As a stand alone film, I do think it's slightly more interested in the aerial stuff and the special effects making up its grand finale of the whole thing going up than anything else, with character and how going through what these people went through affected them and their home life somewhat sidelined. It isn't at any great loss, the film's ultimate attitude towards the British characters, be they technicians; pilots or otherwise, being that they ought to be tough and resilient with nothing too bad in their lives to ever affect them, thus veering it down said route of priorities.
We begin at a rural house in England and Michael Redgrave's inventor Barnes Wallis is practising with a product designed to skim over the surface of some water so as to reach a specified object at the other end of a small tank. Some German bombers arrive overhead en route to London; an exchange of dialogue has Wallis speak to another man about how the raids have been going for some time and that defences are at a stretch to counterbalance them, an early establishing of Britain being on the back-foot or at the mercy of continual punishment with the rest of the film effectively going on to document how the status-quo can be reestablished, or even ruptured further more for our benefit. The attitude towards the bombings is exemplified in that Wallis gets on with his project regardless, and his wife is all too keen to make the tea before announcing in a chirpy fashion that it's ready and waiting – such aerial bombardment and sky-based activity does little to affect these people. The film gets on with it, effectively taking a mere eighteen minutes to go from having Wallis out in his garden experimenting primitively with marbles to fully automated versions of the bomb in planes and ready to be tested proper; an expositional sequence involving Wallis, a map and his plan wedged in for good measure.
The first half of the film is fraught with barrier as Wallis attempts to get his bouncing bombs off and running from the black board to the bomber. Funding is an issue, how much time the Royal Air Force appear to be willing to spend in dealing with the idea is also a problem. An early visit to then RAF big-wig "Bomber" Harris (Sydney) has someone inform Wallis on the way in that our Sir Arthur might throw your plans out of his window if he thinks you're wasting his time. We arrive at his office with Wallis, Harris' commendations and titles plastered all over the window of his door frame before the man's even appeared on screen, all the while the question within the context of the film as to whether this is even a sane idea, let alone a good one, hovering overhead. Richard Todd plays one of the many pilots whom come to partake in such raid when it finally gets going; the one we map onto the most in a Wing Commander named Guy Gibson whose relationship with his fellow pilots is far more professional and emotionless than his link to a pet dog, who's black, and whose name carries its own baggage.
Gibson is a man whom jumps at the opportunity to go on another tour of duty, despite having been granted leave; his ability to work in a team or lead a team further painting positive traits. He's already completed three tours as it is so we presume him to be fairly skilled, the question as to whether he's able to pull off what Wallis has in mind. The procedure is fraught with difficulty; in that the bombers must fly the closest to the water they ever have done and that often the bombs don't work or the casing breaks, while Wallis himself must hit an all time low and relegate himself to doing the gardening at home before the call comes that the higher ups are actually interested. The overlying item is resilience and it is here in abundance, but identifying it and going along with it has a film here that is capable of being enjoyed thoroughly.