THE DAM BUSTERS: Blu-ray (Associated British Pathé, 1955) Studiocanal/Film Movement
No movie that inspired George Lucas’ epic invasion on
the Death Star in Star Wars (1977) ought to be dismissed. And so, it is
with director, Michael Anderson’s rather stolid, but nevertheless highly
entertaining, The Dam Busters (1955) – a WWII flag-waver based on the harrowing
exploits of a small troop of RAF fly boys from the 617th Squadron, memorably
detailed in Paul Brickhill’s book on the same name. The Dam Busters is
one of those methodically paced but ingeniously scripted movies about male
heroism at its most altruistic. Aside: we don’t really see this anymore, if at
all – the derring-do of white European men having since been unfairly
criticized, distilled and reconstituted from a jaundice and thoroughly biased
reflection as members of an oppressive patriarchal system in which all other
races and the opposite sex are made subservient to them. Rubbish, indeed. Before continuing, it
behooves us to address the proverbial ‘elephant’ in the room, Wing Commander
Guy Gibson’s ownership of a regal black Labrador, named ‘Nigger’, repeatedly
– and rather lovingly – addressed as such throughout the movie, until the poor
animal is tragically struck and killed by an on-coming car; the dog’s death,
dealt with maturely, understated in its poignancy, and used as foreshadowing for
the perilous mission looming on the horizon. For the record, the real Commander
Gibson did own a black Lab, and his name was ‘Nigger’ – neither derogatively
nor deliberately intended as a slight, feeding into its loaded connotation in
the United States. Gibson’s dog, was the treasured mascot of the 617th
Squadron, and frequently accompanied him on his training flights. The real dog
was also noted for his playful predilection for good strong ale (quick – let’s
report him as an anathema to all recovering alcoholics!), which he drank from
his own bowl in the Officers’ Mess. R.C. Sherriff’s screenplay accurately notes
Nigger’s demise – also, the use of his name as ‘code’ to convey during the
breaching of the Möhne Dam.
I get exceedingly bored with the so-called ‘progressive’
left in leading 1st world nations in their faux incredulity, attacking
certain art and artists from another generation entirely by grafting today’s
principles onto their artistry to rather repugnantly infer a more insidious
form of institutionalized racism at work. Borrowing from Randall Kennedy’s 2001
Washington Post treatise on ‘that word’ – “Nigger is derived from the Latin
word for the color black - niger…where “…it did not originate as a slur,
but took on a derogatory connotation over time…In the 1700’s niger appeared in
what the dictionary describes as "dignified argumentation" such as
Samuel Sewall's denunciation of slavery, The Selling of Joseph. No one
knows precisely when or how niger turned derisively into nigger and attained a
pejorative meaning. We do know, however, that by the end of the first third of
the nineteenth century, nigger had already become a familiar and influential
insult.” While there is little to deny that the use of the word has long
since transgressed from its origin, and indeed has become a loaded racial
epitaph, indiscriminately lobbed back and forth throughout the course of its
history to negatively reference Blacks, the purpose of its use in The Dam
Busters provides no such branding as ‘hate’ speech, and, certainly none to
have been regarded as censorable whenever the movie is broadcast, and, in fact,
has been intermittently aired with re-dubbed dialogue, inserting ‘old boy’
or ‘my dog’ for the use of ‘that’ word. Indeed, even the Index on Censorship –
the bible/watchdog, chronically on the look-out for such incendiary references
- labeled this excision as ‘unnecessary and ridiculous’. Context folks –
it’s everything! Enough said.
Following the runaway success of Brickhill’s book, Robert
Clark, head of Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC) petitioned for the
film rights as a vehicle for popular Brit-based leading man, Richard Todd. As
cost precluded filming of the entire book, Clark encouraged Brickhill to
provide a ‘treatment’, working with screenwriter, Walter Mycroft, who would
adhere to Brickhill’s original vision while making the necessary changes to fit
the movie’s budget. Hence, Operation Chastise became the focus of the
movie’s plot, a decision wholehearted concurred by R.C. Sherriff – who would
eventually write the actual screenplay. The Air Ministry’s participation was crucial.
Their loan out of 4 authentic Lancaster Bombers, modified to mimic the air
ships employed during WWII, ran at a cost of £130 per hour, or 1/10 the movie’s
total budget. Interestingly, several Avro Lincoln bombers were employed as ‘set
dressing’. However, when The Dam Busters had its American debut, a scene
depicting a plane smashing into a hillside, actually excised from Warner Bros. 1942
war movie, Flying Fortress was inserted, presumably to serve as a ‘dramatic’
highlight. Important also to note, the production never actually left Britain –
The Upper Derwent Valley in Derbyshire, substituting for the Ruhr Valley, the
coastal crossing shot over Boston, Lincolnshire, and King’s Lynn, Norfolk, with
additional aerial shots lensed in the skies overhead Skegness, and, Windermere.
Also, while RAF Scampton – the actual site of the launch, was used for several
scenes on the ground, RAF Hemswell, just a few miles north of it, also stood in
for the famed airfield. Alas, just as production was beginning to shape up, the
project was hit with a legal injunction by Gibson’s widow, eventually settled
out of court when Brickhill and Clark agreed to make references to her late
husband’s book, Enemy Coast Ahead.
The Dam Busters is also noted for appearances of
actors, then, as yet unfamiliar to North American audiences, but who would go
on to become big stars in their own right: Robert Shaw, as Gibson’s engineer,
Flt Sgt Pulford, George Baker (Flt. Lt. Maltby), Patrick McGoohan (a walk-on as
a security guard) and, Richard Thorp (Squadron Leader, Maudslay). The picture’s
stars, Michael Redgrave (father of Vanessa and Lynn), and, Richard Todd were
already ensconced fixtures in the cinema firmament by the time The Dam
Busters went before the cameras. Ironically, Todd’s – chronologically, the
fledgling of the two careers - was nevertheless the more prominent by 1955,
having crossed over into American films. The Dublin-born actor, whose mother
committed suicide when he was 19, and, became a cadet at Sandhurst with
aspirations for a military career, was instead bitten by the acting bug in 1936.
Nevertheless, at the outset of WWII, Todd enlisted and was nearly killed by a
bomb blast that leveled D-block of New College. Fate again intervened when Todd,
expected at the Café de Paris in London, was delayed in his attendance, long
enough for the café to be obliterated in a bombing raid, killing all 15 of his
commissioned subalterns. Todd then went on to attain the rank of Full Lieutenant,
helping to secure the Pegasus Bridge near Caen with John Howard, the man whom
Todd would eventually play in Darryl F. Zanuck’s WWII magnum opus, The
Longest Day (1962).
At parade’s end, Todd was taken under the wing of his
one-time agent, Robert Lennard, now a casting agent for Associated British
Picture Corporation and a long-term contract was drawn up in 1948. Todd’s
appearance in John Patrick's play, The Hasty Heart that same year caught
the attention of a Warner Bros. talent scout, leading to his being cast in the
movie-version alongside contract players, Ronald Reagan and Patricia Neal. It
also earned Todd an Oscar nomination. That same year, Todd was voted as Britain’s
favorite male film star, and, the following year, was pitched as the psychotic killer
in Hitchcock’s Stage Fright (1950). Walt Disney tapped Todd for a trio
of lavishly mounted costume programmers, beginning with The Story of Robin Hood
(1952), immediately followed by The Sword and the Rose (1953), and
finally, Rob Roy – The Highland Rogue (again, in 1953). And while
all three performed excellently in Europe, only the first movie was a success
in America. The Dam Busters comes at the cusp of Todd’s reinvigoration
as a leading man, preceded only a few months by the release of 2oth Century-Fox’s
religious tear-jerker, A Man Called Peter (1955). Indeed, while ‘Peter’ rang
registers around the world, The Dam Busters would, in hindsight, represent
the summit of Todd’s career only in Britain. Ironically, the qualities that
made Richard Todd such an amiable and dashing figure in postwar cinema, his rugged
handsomeness wed to a gentlemanly grace, were precisely the virtues working
against him throughout the counter-culture sixties where a generation of less
refined leading men was decidedly preferred. Despite the fact, Todd was Ian
Fleming’s template for the creation of James Bond, and the preferred candidate by
Fleming to play the titular super-spy on the big screen, Todd’s movie career
went into very steep decline after 1960. He worked, but in pictures of highly
questionable pedigree. Rather ambitiously, Todd attempted to keep his
reputation alive by announcing he would produce a movie based on Fleming’s The
Diamond Smugglers, and a TV series on the true exploits of the Queen’s
Messengers. He was also rumored to
be in talks for a movie based on the life of William Shakespeare. Alas, none of
these projects ever came to fruition.
The Dam Busters is as noted for its bombastic
march, composed by Eric Coates, so wildly popular that it quickly became a
parade favorite at legitimate military maneuvers. Coates, however, had a
natural aversion to composing music for the movies, and most of The Dam
Busters’ score was instead the work of Leighton Lucas. Interestingly, Lucas’
own ‘main theme’ is heard throughout the picture, interpolated with Coates’
march, each striking their own indelible chords with the audience. For those
working on The Dam Busters, the experience was mostly uneventful – an example
of pure professionalism prevailing, even if the movie took certain artistic
liberties in recreating the events from Brickhill’s book. Brickhill’s was not
an accurate source either, as much about the raid was kept classified and thus
hidden from the public at the time of its publication, leaving Brickhill to
speculate on the particulars. Barnes Wallis, assistant chief designer with
Vickers-Armstrong Ltd. (and represented in the movie by a rather Teutonic Michael
Redgrave) was intimately involved behind-the-scenes. In the movie, the fictional
Barnes is asked by a reluctant officer about the RAF’s hesitation to lend them
a Vickers Wellington bomber on which to conduct their flight testing of the
bomb. “Well,” Redgrave’s stoic scientist replies, “If you told them I
designed it, do you think that might help?” As a matter of record, the real
Barnes never encountered any opposition in conducting his experiments, nor was
he the Wellington’s chief designer, although the plane did employ his geodesic
construction method. Also, only Gibson’s
wireless operator, Flight Lieutenant Robert Hutchison (Anthony Doonan)
accompanied him on the perilous ‘dam busting mission. In the movie, all of
Gibson’s crew is along for the ride, including Flying Officer Frederick
Spafford (Nigel Stock), Flight Lieutenant Torger Taerum (Brian Nissen), Flight
Sergeant John Pulford (Robert Shaw) and Pilot Officer Andrew Deering (Peter
Assinder) as the front gunner.
There are too many examples of ‘artistic license’ in The
Dam Busters to go into any great detail. For example, in the movie the idea
to bomb the dams is credited to Wallis. In reality, the Air Ministry had
already made the dams their target. Also, several sequences in the movie
indiscriminately substitute the bouncing ‘Highball’ bomb for the ‘Upkeep’
actually used in the legitimate raids. Due to certain logistics, the Highball
was never made operational. In one of the more glaring misrepresentations, an
aerial view of the Eder Dam shows the Schloss Waldeck on the wrong side of the lake.
The movie also offers no credit to Sgt. Charles Sackville-Bryant, the man who actually
managed to work out the mechanical problems with the bombing release gear, and was
awarded the BEM for his efforts. Much of
The Dam Busters is firmly situated in the technical progression and development
of the bombing devices eventually used to carry out the raid. Indeed, viewed
today, the picture is squarely situated as a melodrama, exploring the camaraderie
of men who firmly believe in their valor, with the actual raid occupying less
than 20 min. of the picture’s actual run time. We begin in early 1942, with aeronautical
engineer, Barnes Wallis working out the logistical kinks to his design in his
own backyard with a mini-model, entertaining to his children, but of vital
importance to the RAF. Wallis’ plan is to bomb several Germany's dams, creating
a flood that will cripple their armament factories situated downstream. Engaged
by the Ministry of Aircraft Production, Wallis diligently labors to evolve his
bouncing bomb, designed to skip over the water to avoid protective torpedo
nets. The theory is that when it strikes the dam, the bomb’s backspin will sink
it, making the explosion far more devastating. Alas, the delivering aircraft
must fly extremely low to enable the bombs to skip correctly. In theory, all
this is sound. But the Ministry is hampered by a lack of production capacity,
thus putting Wallis’ plans on hold to actually test his theory full-scale.
Deflated, though hardly defeated, Wallis goes straight
to the top, turning to Sir Arthur Harris (Basil Sydney), head of RAF Bomber
Command, who takes the idea to Winston Churchill. Now, Bomber Command selects a
special squadron of Lancaster bombers under Wing Commander Guy Gibson, who
specialize in low-altitude flight experience. While Gibson and his men practice
their maneuvers, Wallis continues to refine the bomb. With only weeks to go, Wallis
perfects the device and the bombers descend upon the dams. Tragically, eight
are lost in the harrowing dogfight that ensues, but two of the dams are
breached – classifying the mission as a ‘success’. While Wallis and Air Command
are elated, Gibson is clearly affected by the causalities inflicted. He returns
to base command with a sobering reminder that war is, indeed, hell. Wallis
congratulates Gibson on his ‘victory’ and implores him to get some sleep. Instead,
Gibson quietly explains he will not retire until he has finished writing
letters to all of the loved ones who lost someone during their raid today. The
final shot in the movie is of a solitary Gibson, quietly walking off in the
distance – a painful reminder that no victory in battle is made without
terrible sacrifices.
The Dam Busters had its Royal world premiere at
the Odeon Leicester Square on 16 May 1955, the 12th anniversary of
the actual raid, with Princess Margaret and Eve Gibson, Guy Gibson's widow and
his father in attendance. Richard Todd, Barnes Wallis and the surviving members
of 617 Squadron who had taken part in the mission were all guests of honor with
a portion of the proceeds going to support the RAF’s charitable works. The picture
was an immediate sensation in Britain, but a terrible disappointment in the
U.S. It won an Oscar for Best Special Effects and was justly nominated for
BAFTA awards for Best Picture, screenplay and adaptation. However, its stature
on this side of the pond, as a truly outstanding war movie, in the intervening
decades has only continued to grow. On 16 May 2008, in commemoration of its
65th anniversary, a fly past by a Lancaster, Spitfire, and Hurricane was held
in an event attended by then 89-year-old Richard Todd in the year before his
death, as well as Mary Stopes-Roe, Sir Barnes Wallis’ surviving daughter. Since
the mid-2000’s, rumors have circulated director, Peter Jackson intends to remake
The Dam Busters. Aside: I hope not, as any re-envisioning of the
story in today’s cinema will likely involve overtaking its drama, to be
dominated by a litany of CGI shots, transforming it into a video-game styled
odyssey. Jackson has been toying with
the idea since 2008, and consternating for as long on Gibson’s dog ‘Nigger’
or ‘Nigsy’ the slang Gibson occasionally used to call his beloved pet.
Honestly, can we just let this one go?!? Much of the verve for this re-boot was
fueled by the participation of strike team pilot, Les Munro, who died in 2015.
And while the project continues to crop up in conversations with Jackson, since
2018, mercifully, there has been little movement to develop it further.
Viewed today, The Dam Busters is a solidly
crafted, excellently scripted, and deftly acted WWII drama. It firmly places
its focus on the evolution of the ‘art’ of war and on the men, who made the
mission a reality. The re-release of The Dam Busters on Blu-ray as a
single disc is a tad perplexing. Last year, Film Movement Classics, in conjunction
with Studiocanal, released a 5 pack of Brit-based WWII movies under the banner ‘Their
Finest Hour’, to include The Dam Busters. It’s this disc which has
been repacked as a stand-alone now. As no upgrade has since been made to the
transfer, this offering is virtually identical. Good solid B&W tonality
with only slightly weaker than anticipated contrast, and some excellent fine
detail throughout, with no discernable age-related artifacts to intrude. The 1.0
DTS audio is good stuff too, delivering a refined sonic experience with clear
and precise dialogue and excellent integration of effects and the underscore.
Extras include 3 excellent documentaries: the 56-min. The Dam Busters, the
40-min. 617 Squadron Remembers: The Making of Dam Busters, and
the half-hour tribute to Sir Barnes Wallis. Bottom line: if you already own Film Movement’s
5-pack, there is virtually no point to reinvest in this re-issue. And, given
the bargain basement price of the 5-pack, it’s rather idiotic to think anyone
would prefer this stand-alone to it. Just thoughts. Judge and buy accordingly.
FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)
4
VIDEO/AUDIO
4
EXTRAS
5
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