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:

I am special. The heavens always open for me.

deckard

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.

"and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock"

Steve Crook

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.

"and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock"

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:

I am special. The heavens always open for me.

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:

I am special. The heavens always open for me.

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

I am special. The heavens always open for me.

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!

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

arty-dave

I feel your pain...

theuofc

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

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