The Dam Busters

[chriskathome]

These men had guts that I personally couldn't contemplate. My grandads brother was Spam Spafford the bomb aimer in Gibsons plane and if anyone tries to tell me it was fruitless I'll be more than happy to put them right.

[42ndStreetFreak]

It's all according wht you call fruitless.



It did cause great damage, but for only a very brief period and soon production was up to pre-rais levels.



it also killed and destroyed the homes over many, many civilians.



BUT, it did boost moral to a very big degree, and that can be very important.

But also pretty invisible.



DIRECT harm to the german's caused was indeed pretty limited and open to debate if it was worth the cost in airman and civilian life.



That is not to say the airman were astonishingly brave and skilled.

[Hackett]

It's only fruitless in hind-sight. If you asked any English civilian in Coventry, Liverpool or the Eastend of London about dead German civilians they would have cheered. As for it's worth?, wright thing at the best time. Absolutely no doubt for me.

[deckard]

Too right Hackett! Ah, retrospect... if all decisions in this world could be made with the knowledge of hindsight, jeez! Anyone basically makes decisions as to what they think is right at the time and this mission was imho the absolute correct thing to do - those aircrew were the at the heroic forefront of that decision and do you think they would have changed their minds with hindsight? I think not.Regards, Decks.

[circle kay]

Hi new to the site, one of the best Brit war films without a doubt. IMO The Cruel Sea is the best about the RN, The Way Ahead about the Army and The Dambusters about the RAF (Appointment in London a good runner up often overlooked). Re the 'PC' edits the offending word is still sent back in Morse from G George even in the most cut up ITV showings! As for the special effects, the model work looks a bit dated now but the film clips of the test drops of the bomb in the film are real records of the tests. They look very scratchy because they were censored to hide the details of the bomb. The 'Upkeep' and 'Highball' mines were still classified until the late 60s! Looking forward to chatting about lots of Brit films CK

[Marky B]

I always thought Eric Coates wrote the music for The Dambusters. What was Leighton Lucas' contribution to the score?

Ta Ta

Marky B :thumbs:

[deckard]

Originally posted by circle kay@Feb 10 2005, 11:30 PM

Hi new to the site, Looking forward to chatting about lots of Brit films CK

Welcome to the forum CK! I hope you find it enjoyable and yes there is a lot of nattering about British film( and other stuff now and then!) so get stuck in... :grin:

Regards, Decks.

[Steve Crook]

Originally posted by Marky B@Feb 12 2005, 03:37 PM

I always thought Eric Coates wrote the music for The Dambusters. What was Leighton Lucas' contribution to the score?

Ta Ta

Marky B

Maybe he wrote the lyrics

All together now "Daah dah dah dah diddly dah dah" :grin:



Steve

[deckard]

G'faw, g'faw,G'faw! Regards, Decks.

[DAVID RAYNER]

As far as I know, Eric Coates composed The Dam Busters March, the music used on the opening credits and end cast, while Leighton Lucas composed the rest of the score.

[Marky B]

Thanks,Dave

Ta Ta

Marky B :thumbs:

[mysteriesofedgarwallace]

Apparently, the water tank scenes were shot at the National Physical Laboratory and are still there.

[Rob Compton]

The "test" shots of the bombs being dropped were filmed at Chesil Beach in Dorset



rgds

Rob

[Marky B]

If anyone is interested,at the Yorkshire Air Museum (south east of York on the B1228),there is a hut dedicated to Barnes Wallis and the history of the development of the bouncing bomb. The museum itself was an old RAF base. Also in North Yorkshire,there is Eden Camp on the Scarborough/York A64 road. A former POW camp in WWII,it has many dedications to the history and people who served and died in the war. I remember seeing effigies of a family sitting around the radio,listening to a recording of Neville Chamberlain's speech declaring war on Germany on that Sunday morning. Even though I wasn't born until 23 years after the event,it still sent a shiver down my spine. There is also a small "thing" you can sit in,sensing what it was like to be inside a bomber on an air raid. Both are well worth the visit if you are in the North Yorkshire area.

Ta Ta

marky B :thumbs:

[Marky B]

Oops

I have just remembered today is the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Dresden.

I hope I have not come over as insensitive to anyone,nor am I trying to stir up a debate about that still controversial issue. My posting was originally about Barnes Wallis and the bouncing bomb - as per thread - the comments about Eden Camp came as an offshoot as I reminded myself of the museum.

Full apologies.

Mark

[DAVID RAYNER]

Regarding Dresden and many other towns and cities in Germany, well, as "Bomber" Harris once famously said on a newsreel: "The Germans began this war under the rather childish delusion that they could bomb everyone else, but nobody would ever bomb them. Well, they've sown the wind and now, they're reaping the whirlwind!"

[samkydd]

I saw The Dambusters on the last day of term in 1975 in the geography room at school, with a noisy projector showing the film and a big screen up against the wall. I remember the film's brown sepia images, and the theme was quite close to home because several of the teaching staff had served in the war in the RAF, some with Bomber Command.



When the name of Gibson's dog was heard during the film I remember the fits of sniggering amongst fellow pupils (can I say "sniggering"), and that was way before political correctness had gone mentally challenged.



Back in the 1970s we had neighbours with a black cat called Darkie and a black mongrel dog called Sambo. There was no underlying racism intended on their part (or thinking about it, perhaps there was) they were just simplistic and obvious names to call their black pets from a generation of people who were brought up pre-war, and didn't even consider that such names might cause offence.



So if The Dambusters was made today I doubt that the dog's original name would be used, but in the context of the period it was originally made in I doubt if anyone even gave it a second thought!

[arty-dave]

(Russ @ Sep 24 2004, 01:06 AM)

As one who has spent all day in Rochdale

I feel your pain...

[theuofc]

(Stuartieboy @ Dec 2 2002, 07:12 PM)

...We under-rate the british war movie of the 1940s and 1950s, yet it includes our greatest artists: Powell and Pressburger; Carol Reed; David Lean and, dare I say, Lewis Gilbert. The Dam Busters by Michael Anderson surpasses all in its eloquence and its refusal to slip in to easy flag-waving....

Shooting "The Dam Busters" (1954) must have been a challenge to DP Erwin Hillier and camera crew, but one he was more than up to given his briliant work on "I Know Where I'm Going," (1945), etc. I'm assuming the dam shots and explosions were done with model dams. Was any of the camera work done by flying over an actual dam? Aerial photography for greats like Johnny Jordan and Skeets Kelly was a fatal business, and a sad loss.



For those interested, "Dambusters" is listed among the "100 Greatest War Films" a two-part show airing on More4 tomorrow.



Barbara



More4: Monday, 17 April

18:55 THE 100 GREATEST WAR FILMS 03:05



First half of the two-part show counting down The 100 Greatest War Films of all time as voted for by the British public. From Platoon to The Pianist, The Deer Hunter to The Dam Busters, and Schindler's List to Spartacus, The 100 Greatest War Films tells the stories behind the most memorable battles captured on film and features interviews with over 100 actors, directors, producers, writers, family members and those who lived through the epic battles that later made it onto the big screen....



22:00 THE 100 GREATEST WAR FILMS 03:15

Concluding half of the two-part show.

[Steve Crook]

(theuofc @ Apr 16 2006, 10:47 PM)

Shooting "The Dam Busters" (1954) must have been a challenge to DP Erwin Hillier and camera crew, but one he was more than up to given his briliant work on "I Know Where I'm Going," (1945), etc. I'm assuming the dam shots and explosions were done with model dams. Was any of the camera work done by flying over an actual dam? Aerial photography for greats like Johnny Jordan and Skeets Kelly was a fatal business, and a sad loss.

The explosions were done in post-production with not overly well done cut-outs. Even as a young lad I never found the actual explosions to be very realistic.



Steve