Battle of Britain movie (1969)

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panzermahn
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Battle of Britain movie (1969)

Post by panzermahn »

Well, what can I said about this movie? One of the best war movies I had ever watch. The Luftwaffe uniforms were fantastic and were quite accurate right down to the Waffenfarbe! Kudos to the British, they always made good war movies without the typical Hollywood portrayal of evil Germans especially in WW2 movies.

I think in the making of this movie, there was quite a lot of efforts to shoot the German scenes. Remember the scenes between Major Falke and Foehn in the club house, Hitler speech scene, (the uniforms of the BDM was portrayed accurately) etc.

And I also like the finale theme of the movie which was so British and beautiful

Regards
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Post by panzermahn »

The only thing I find it to be irritating about this movie was the female ARP officer and her tit-for-tat attitude with Christopher Plummer :?
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Post by Rolf Steiner »

Hi Panzermahn

oddly enough I was at a gig last night and one of the bands were using clips from the film as a backdrop sequence. I think I posted a thread in books regarding this a while ago, there's a very interesting book about the making of this film if you can get hold of it. The filmmakers used Adolph Galland as a consultant, with the result that there was a certain amount of push-and-shove as to how the germans got portrayed ('Dolpho' appears to have flown off the handle from time to time). The main compromise that ended up staying in was the depiction of one of the Luftwaffe brass (Kesselring? I forget) seeing Goering off with a nazi salute, which Galland insisted was gratuitous nazi-ing up and would never have happened. Military salutes only at luftwaffe briefings.

Another interesting aspect of this film was the clash of post-war sensibilities it brought to light - supposedly some of the flying duties were handled by the 'confederate air force', some of whom, according to the book, got a kick out of goosestepping about and throwing that (already contentious) nazi salute to one another while relaxing between takes. The German actors and extras involved were somewhat less amused by this.

The 109s and heinkels used in this movie were obtained, with some difficulty, as surplus stock from the spanish air force... spanish auctions seem to work differently to anyone elses!
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Post by phylo_roadking »

The film itself is full of goofs - anachronistic vehicles and settings, and the legendary up-and-over steel garage door and 1960's electric doorbell of Robert Shaw's period cottage :D
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Post by panzermahn »

Hi Rolf,

Yeah, I think the title of the book was Battle of Britain by Leonard Mosley, rite?

Honestly, I always had preferences for British war films (another one would be The Great Escape).

When I was in the United States during last year's summer, I got the oppurtunity to visit the EAA International Airshow at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the first thing I wanted to look for was the Spitfire. And they do have an operational 2 seater Spitfire :) And they got a lot of Mustangs but Spitfires the best.

And I first watch the Battle of Britain movie when I was 9 years old back in 1990. Of course back then I was fascinated by the Spitfires and the BF-109s without the knowledge of Luftwaffe uniforms as I had know. :D

One of the funniest moments I had ever seen was that during the end of the Hitler speech, old German women was raising their right hand in the Nazi salute. I wonder how was the reaction of those German extras who participated in those scenes?

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Post by phylo_roadking »

One of the funniest moments I had ever seen was that during the end of the Hitler speech, old German women was raising their right hand in the Nazi salute. I wonder how was the reaction of those German extras who participated in those scenes?
What German extras? That was filmed in a sound stage at Pinewood along with the majority of non-location ground and studio scenes while the flying extras were busy flying 300 hours of air footage. The two German actors playing the pilots summoned to Berlin would have been at most babes in arms during the war. The only place where everyone involved in the production gets to see the "finished" product is at the very end of filming and cutting, the individual location film crews and "specialists" only get to see the rushes of their own day's filming each evening.

Apart fron the German flying crew for the Buchons and Casas, the only extras used who really DID see WWII were London Eastenders of all ages hired for the Tube station scenes in the old disused "Aldwych" station on the Circle Line; some of the older extras hired pulled out and refused to take part after the first rehersals because the overcrowding etc. was too realistic for their memories.
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Check out "Piece of Cake" and ...

Post by L. Kafka »

"Dark Blue World" for other battle of Britain stories.
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Re: Battle of Britain movie (1969)

Post by panzermahn »

Just watched this again yesterday night....I loved the scene when Major Foehn was inviting Major Falke for a dinner. The music at this scene was the gentle variation of the Aces High March chorus
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Re: Battle of Britain movie (1969)

Post by panzermahn »

I think we will never see a war movie of this magnitude anymore.... :(

The Spitfires and the Me-109s are one of the most beautiful aircrafts ever flew in the history of aviation

I read somewhere that the Franco's government actually lend the Heinkels and the Me-109s to the producers without even charging for the crew, maintenance and fuel despite at first the producers having doubts due to tension between both countries on the issue of Gibraltar
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Re: Battle of Britain movie (1969)

Post by phylo_roadking »

I think we will never see a war movie of this magnitude anymore....
Oh I dunno - depends on how much money a studio wants to plow into a production. There are more restored Spitfires flying now than in 1969, for example - I think they gathered over 50 at Duxford the year before last from all corners of the globe. And more Hurricanes every year. Even some of the film's original Buchons are still flying on the civil register in Europe, and at least one Casa.

There were a LARGE number of period warbirds gathered at HUGE expense from all over the globe for Pearl Harbour - but in the end IIRC there was very little REAL aviation footage used in the final cut of the movie, for the CGI looked better... :?

The real problem isn't AIRCRAFT - its Axis armoured vehicles as all the rivet-counters know...
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I give it B minus grade...

Post by L. Kafka »

I saw Battle of Britain in a theater when it came out in 1969 when I was in the Marines. I was impressed with the historic sweep of the story, but after seeing it many times since then, I feel the special effects were lacking at times, e.g., mid air collisions. The German made aircraft from the Spanish air force that was contracted for use in the movie was good stuff.

If you enjoy this historic theme moment, I highly suggest Dark Blue World, a romantic sage of Czech pilots serving with the RAF.
"What are they going to do, send me to Vietnam?"
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Re: Battle of Britain movie (1969)

Post by panzermahn »

Yes, Battle of Britain isn't as realistic as Saving Private Ryan..but I guess it envokes the romanticism and sentimentalism of knights in the skies from this movie. A lot of the movies bit and pieces were realistic as ever especially the German scenes. And the German uniforms were as accurate to say teh least (if you notice a scene where the Heinkel crashed, there were some German Red Cross personnel with the correct waffenfarbe at their shoulder straps and collar patches :)

I don't think you get that accurate with war movies nowadays...and of course, the Aces High march (the gentle tune of it remains the best part of the score)

And the funniest scene is when the Polish pilot landed on a farm

Polist pilot: Gud af-ter-noon
Farmer: Good afternoon my arse! You boche bastard (I thought only the French would say boche)


And the most irritating scene was the scene between the husband (Christopher Plummer) and wife (Susannah York)..That's just plain spoilsport of the entire movie :roll:
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Post by panzermahn »

phylo_roadking wrote:The film itself is full of goofs - anachronistic vehicles and settings, and the legendary up-and-over steel garage door and 1960's electric doorbell of Robert Shaw's period cottage :D

Hi Phylo

I never realised that! I know there is a mention that Goering's train when he arrived at France was actually Spanish 1960s REFE train but this one, I have to go and watch it again :D


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Panzermanh, I do not approve of bumping nasties...

Post by L. Kafka »

...in war movies. Just because I once bumped nasties in the midst of a war in '68 is no excuse for including such a thing in war movies. :wink:
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Re: Battle of Britain movie (1969)

Post by phylo_roadking »

Farmer: Good afternoon my arse! You boche bastard (I thought only the French would say boche)
...ah - but 25 years before said farmer would have spent some considerable time IN France... :shock:
"Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle." - Malcolm Reynolds
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