Marky B

Hi there,
One of my favourite war films was Guy Hamilton's 1969 epic The Battle of Britain.
The dogfights were perhaps the best ones on screen,particularly the final one,which was delivered in silence except for a radio girl trying to call out for a pilot,assumed killed,and Walton's stirring music.
However,the scene where little man Ralph Richardson stands up to big man Curt Jurgens,is one of the best exchanges,I think,in cinema history. Does anyone know the full verbatim of that scene?
Also I thought it was one of Laurence Olivier's best films,playing the worried Air Chief Marshall Dowding,who knew the RAF had too few aircraft,piloted by a lot of unexperienced young men,all that against the might of the powerful Luftwaffe.
His best line,when asked by the air minister (Anthony Nichols) if the comments by the German
Embassy in Washington about the RAF's figures being inaccurate were true;
"I'm not interested in propaganda,minister. If the figures are right,they'll give up. If they are wrong,they'll be in London within a week."
Ta Ta,
Marky B thumbs_u

I once shot an elephant in my pyjamas - how he got in my pyjamas,I'll never know

steve d holt

Wholeheartly agree with your comments on the film.my favourite moment is when the british flyer, played by Ian Mcshane, returns to London with his Wooden Spitfire only to see the air raid shelter blown up along with all inside. It still moves me today......

Marky B

I understand from DB7 that the orignal music for the Battle of Britain is about to be released on CD or put on the soundtrack of the forthcoming DVD (which I can't wait for!).
However,watching the BOB on video,the final scene where Laurence Olivier leaves his desk and walks to his terrace to look up to the silent,empty sky,Ron Goodwin's music starts playing.
Watching it on the television network,a different piece of music is played. Is that part of the original William Walton music?
Ta Ta
Marky B

I once shot an elephant in my pyjamas - how he got in my pyjamas,I'll never know

Russ

Curt Jurgens - "Goering and his Luftwaffe would like to flatten London as a prelude to invasion"

Ralph Richardson - "It's two lumps you take isn't it"

CJ - "What's left of your army abandoned it's weapons at Dunkirk, you're defeated and just playing for time. We know the moves you are making in Washington, and we know the Americans won't be drawn in, their Embassy gives you 2 weeks"

RR - "So what's stopping you"

CJ - "Look David the Fuhrer has been very reasonable he offers guarantees"

RR - "Experience shows that the Fuhrer's guarantees guarantee nothing

CJ - "What about Churchill?, after our last appeal what do we hear, we will fight them on the beaches, with what?"

RR - "Winston gets carried away sometimes"

CJ - "With liquid courage so they tell me"

RR - "Clearly you do not know him"

CJ - "David we are not asking for anything, Europe is ours, we can walk into Britain whenever we like"

RR - "If you think we're going to gamble on Herr Hitler's guarantees you're making a grave mistake, all those years in England seem to have left you none the wiser.
We're not easily frightened, also we know how hard it is for an army to cross the channel, the last little corporal to try came a cropper.
So don't threaten or dictate to us until you're marching up Whitehall and even then we won't listen"

Marky B

Thanks,Russ
A priceless piece of dialogue!
Marky B

I once shot an elephant in my pyjamas - how he got in my pyjamas,I'll never know

DB7

Some of the dogfight scenes from Battle of Britain were used in Dark Blue World. Also two Spitfire's.

btw, Battle of Britain DVD should be released in May.

samkydd

I'd never seen this film until last weekend when I picked up a mint copy on VHS at a charity stall at Swanage Railway Station for £1.

When they made the film I was at primary school in Norfolk and some of the flying and airfield scenes were filmed locally so the making of it was featured in the 'paper and on regional television news quite a bit.

Seeing it for the first time I didn't realise how many stalwarts of the 1950s and 1960s WW2 movie genre were in it; Kenneth More, Michael Redgrave, Michael Caine, etc. (I'm surprised Sam Kydd, Sydney Tafler and Jeremy Bulloch weren't in there somewhere as aircraft mechanics or ARP wardens).

I'm sorry to say that I was a little disappointed overall because apart from the excellent flying and bombing scenes the story was a little convoluted, some of the dialogue a bit feeble and the acting wooden. It was as if they'd crammed in so many big stars that there was little time for developing individual characters, so you didn't even remember their names! Michael Caine's RAF character had a black labrador just like Guy Gibson in The Dambusters, but in the enlightened 60s I doubt it had the same name.

The opening theme tune was rather disappointing too, and not a patch on The Great Escape, The Dambusters or 633 Squadron's memorable music!

It must have been one of the last big budget war movies made in this country and I suppose it was the end of an era for British war films. The only other famous one I can recall which came out a few years later, but on a much smaller scale, was The Eagle Has Landed (also filmed in Norfolk).

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

Houdi

I think I am right in saying that none of The Eagle Has Landed was actually filmed in Norfolk. Aldernay and the scenes shot in the harbour were, in fact, Charlestown harbour near St Austell in Cornwall. The airfield was RAF St Mawgan near Newquay. The marshes and beach scenes were also shot on the Atlantic coast of Cornwall around Newquay. And the fictional village of Studley Constable which appeared on Robert Duval's map between the villages of Warham and Wighton in Norfolk, was filmed entirely in Mapledurham in Oxfordshire. Mapledurham is still exactly as it appears in the film, complete with watermill, church and manor house. Nowadays there is a charge to access the road to the watermill.

Hope this is of interest.

Jim

I would disagree with you about the opening music for the Battle of Britain samkydd. The rousing 'Luftwaffe March' has got to be a great get-up and march tune!

Wasn't some or all of 'The Eagle has Landed' filme d in the Channel Isles?

Good morning boys.

JamesM

The DVD has two musical soundtracks but there is no explanation for this. Perhaps someone can enlighten us.

Steve Crook

Is one of them the full Walton score?
AIUI Walton wrote a full score but that wasn't liked by the director so he got Ron Goodwin to write a new score for most of it. In the version usually seen, all the music is Goodwin's apart from the 'Battle in the Air' and the 'Battle of Britain March'.

Steve

Marky B

According to Ron Goodwin on a radio interview a few years ago,Laurence Olivier was threatening to pull out of the film unless William Walton did the score. I am not sure whether Guy Hamilton liked WW's music at all,but as a sweetener to Larry he offered to keep in the excellent Battle In The Air - the rest was by Ron Goodwin.
Ta Ta
MArky B

I once shot an elephant in my pyjamas - how he got in my pyjamas,I'll never know

samkydd

Sorry to disagree but several kids from our school and their relatives worked as extras on the film, and the village used was near Wiveton, between Holt and Blakeney (many of the crew stayed at The Blakeney Hotel).

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

Steve Crook

I see that the IMDb entry for the film has a few notes about alternate versions on the various DVDs:

# The 2004 U.K. DVD release features two audio versions of the film: the original theatrical release audio featuring Ron Goodwin's score, and a secondary audio track with the restored William Walton/Malcolm Arnold score. A surviving member of the film crew painstakingly tracked down and restored the Walton session recordings.

# The 2004 UK DVD issue also restore the "original" Maurice Binder Main Title credits.

Steve

Steve Crook

Interesting. Does anyone know Mapledurham or Wiveton?
Which was used? Maybe they both were.

Steve