lordtednfs

An honest opinion. Leave well alone. The original will never ever be equalled. I think the only reason that they will do a remake is because it will be in colour, young people today don't like b+w movies, shame on them.

If it is to be remade in colour, then they might as well remake every classis b+w movie with actors of today in colour. Perish the thought.

We are the ones who should show our kids the classic movies as they were made, I for one have already started to do that with my boys so they can see the excellence of cinematagrophy as it was then, long before computers came along. And already they are begining to enjoy and ask to see Laurel & Hardy films, especially The Music Box. They enjoy their time with Daddy watching what makes me laugh and I don't encourage them to laugh, they laugh of their own free will. Long live the classic British movies.

_________________
Hooked off the line

Steve Crook

Nicky posted this on the P&P email list

More on the Dambusters remake (in case you're wondering, the original
did star a Pnp fave). No word yet on the dog...

Nicky


-Dambusters movie is off to a fry-er
Lincolnshire Echo (Lincoln); Mar 14, 2008; p. 3


Comedian Stephen Fry has finished his second draft of the screenplay
for the new film about the Dambusters raids.The entertainer and
best-selling author made the announcement to his fans in an Internet
podcast.
The 50-year-old, who has been asked to write the script for the big
budget re-make of the classic film, explained how he had 'got his head
down' to work on the screenplay last year.

Mr Fry said: "I wrote the first draft and then started writing the
second draft while doing the series I do called QI. That's based in
London and in the days that I wasn't doing QI, I was zooming around
England meeting old survivors of the original Dambusters raid and
people connected with survivors, and building toward a second draft,
which I managed to write."

The Dambusters was the nickname given to the flyers of 617 Squadron,
based at RAF Scampton, near Lincoln, who destroyed a series of dams in
the Ruhr area of Nazi Germany in 1943 using famous 'bouncing bombs'.

They were immortalised by the 1955 film starring Richard Todd and
Michael Redgrave - best remembered for its stirring musical score.

Oscar-winning director Peter Jackson - who became a household name
with his epic Lord of the Rings trilogy - is producing a pounds107m
re-make with Christian Rivers in the director's chair.

It is thought much of the filming will take place in Jackson's native
New Zealand - home to his Weta Workshop - where he will re-create the
action sequences using computer-generated imagery (CGI).

But executive producer Sir David Frost, whose company Paradine
Productions owns the film rights, has told the Echo at least some of
it will be shot in Lincolnshire, including at RAF Scampton.

Mr Fry visited the county during his research last year.

Among the stops on his tour was the East Kirkby Aviation Heritage
Centre, which houses an original Avro Lancaster bomber like those
flown in the Dambusters raids.

Fred Panton (76), who runs the museum with his brother Harold, said:
"They were very interested and they had got a lot of information which
I didn't know. We showed them inside the Lancaster, we ran the engines
and we gave them a taxi ride in it."

Mr Panton has been told by the producers most of the early filming
will take place in New Zealand.

But he said: "I would have thought they will be contacting us before
too long because they certainly said they will be coming back to
finish the film off." It is not yet clear who will play legendary Wing
Commander Guy Gibson - but Scottish heart-throb James McAvoy is
rumoured to be among the favourites.

karenbutterfly

Not sure about a remake, but will watch to see how it turns out if it ever happens.
I too wish they would not delete things from historic films, but Dambusters i am afraid is my second fav. war film. The best has got to be REACH FOR THE SKY. I can watch it over and over again.

penfold

The reason I would like ( in principle) a film to take a fresh look at the subject is that the original film actually downplayed the achievements of the young flyers during the raid, and ignored entirely the story after the raid. I hope the new film would correct that.
Tha naming of the dog is an irrelevance, a sideshow stirred up by those who like to tut at the PC brigade and modern ways. The reasoning should be; what is more important in the scheme of things; to have a name historically correct, or to make sure that a large chunk of our population are not discouraged from learning about the sacrifices our forefathers made. The name, or the dog, has to go.

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

maturin

Absolutely. The scenes with Todd and the dog in the original film served their purpose, but I feel sure that Stephan Fry will create a script which is as true (or more true) to the reality of the sacrifice which these and many other fliers made.

I marvel at the pc nonsense coming out of the UK, and USA, but in this case I'd say there's nothing much to to argue about.

Dump the dog or the name.


Richard

Moor Larkin

OMG! I can hear the sound of the engines..............

..............Take Cover!!!

davidb

another remake of a classic ,get carter ,alfie ,the wicker man , i wish them luck but.....

Windthrop

This one might have more of a chance if it is kept British without American interference. The advances in special fx could benefit the new version unlike the others mentioned.

That's the joke that killed the Music Hall

dannywilde

The problem is that there just aren't really the actors around now to take those kind of old-school British military parts. At the time the original was made, many of the actors would have seen service in World War 2, their experiences adding a great deal of authenticity to their performances.

There are a couple around (Miles Anderson and Julian Wadham spring to mind), but not enough I wouldn't say.

Steve Crook

At the beginning of the war most airmen didn't have much combat experience - but they soon learnt

Steve

Frank63

I don't see why they should either.

If you.ve been to RAF Scampton and seen the 'fuss' they make of that dog's grave you'd realise it's importance to the story of "The Dambusters" ' at that time'.

Some say Gibson was, amongst other things, quite arrogant, but to get the job done that he was asked to do no doubt he had to be. Thank God there were people like him around at the time. Had it been today goodness knows what we'd do. Give up, no doubt and "Sprechen Sie Deutsch"

" I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception" Groucho Marx

Steve Crook

People used to say a similar thing in the late 1930s.
Cometh the hour ...

Steve

penfold

I disagree, it simply added a lot of years to their performances...if they were ex-WW2, they would have all been ten+ years too old for their roles unless they were playing very senior rank roles, like AVM Cochrane or above. Most of 617 weren't much older than kids at the time of the raid. Plus you seem to believe, and I'll stand corrected here if I'm wrong, that all 617's bomber crews were ex-public school. They weren't, some were from relatively humble origins, and not all English for that matter. Based on his performance in Atonement, McAvoy would be stunning as Gibson IMHO.

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

dremble wedge

But wartime experiences didn't always help. I remember reading that Christopher Lee (who did serve with the RAF during the war) was turned down for parts in The Longest Day and Battle of Britain because they thought he didn't look like a military type!

Buffalo_Chuck

I suspect they'll be able to distill the film down to 1 or 2 characters who actually won the war and not muck up the rest of the 2-3 hours with those senseless trivialities like comrades in arms, the enemy, crewmen, planning, commanders, etc.