Battle of Britain movie (1969)

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phylo_roadking
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Re: Battle of Britain movie (1969)

Post by phylo_roadking »

but this one, I have to go and watch it again
iI's the scene where Shaw has taken Ian McShane home with him after his family are killed in the East End...he looks in on his sleeping sons, knocks on McShane's room door, then cut to them leaving the house - spot the doorbell and the garage door.

For REAL lovers of the film, however - there's an "Easter Egg". There's a three-part documentary series on the BoB floating around the documentary channels...I THINK it's called "Their Finest Hour"...and the production team bought up and used their selection from the REST of the 300 hours of aerial footage that was shot but not used in the film!!! :D
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Re: Battle of Britain movie (1969)

Post by panzermahn »

I remember some moments in the film that were quite peculiar

1. There is a scene where a German NCO were shouting at a bunch of German troops. When he saw Goering's motorcade, he ordered the soldiers to moved to one side of the road. In the car where Goering and Kesselring were sitting together, it seems that their lips moved but there are no conversation and the only sound were the Aces High march. The same thing happened early in the movie in the scene where Milch was inspecting the Heinkel He 111 bombers with kesselring. There were some conversation based on the lips movement but nothing was heard in voices

2. At the same scene as above, there were 2 German soldiers at the emplacement with twin MG34 guns. One of the soldiers wore the Stahlhelm with chinstrap near his lips..You think the German Army would tolerate such improper wearing of the Stahlhelm by its soldiers

3. There are some nude scenes of the kids in the river where they were arguing whether the planes in the skies were Heinkels or Messerschmits

4. Colonel Schmidt's (when he barge in the room where Jeschonnek was discussing with other Luftwaffe officers) Iron Cross medal were pinned slanted in his breat pocket

5. What happen to Oberleutnant "Bruno" (Major Foehn's friend) and Oberleutnant "Hans" (Major Falke's younger brother) later in the movie?
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Re: Battle of Britain movie (1969)

Post by phylo_roadking »

3. There are some nude scenes of the kids in the river where they were arguing whether the planes in the skies were Heinkels or Messerschmits
Peculiar now...but not then; diferent days, different standards :?
5. What happen to Oberleutnant "Bruno" (Major Foehn's friend) and Oberleutnant "Hans" (Major Falke's younger brother) later in the movie?
You see where they AREN'T :wink: Check out the scene where the fighter pilots sit down to dinner again...exhausted, and they see all the empty seats at table that won't be filled again...
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Re: Battle of Britain movie (1969)

Post by Paddy Keating »

Yes, indeed, WW1 British veterans certainly used the term "boche" for Germans. Regarding Aldwych tube station, it was the terminus of a short branch spur off the Piccadilly line. It's still there but, as Phylo says, closed. Many of the deeper tube stations on the Piccadilly, Bakerloo and Central lines were used as air raid shelters during the Blitz. There were a few howlers but on the whole, it was a very good film by 1960s standards. I think Andrew Mollo acted as uniforms consultant. L Kafka mentions "Dark Blue World". I strongly recommend anyone with an interest in the BoB to see this film. It is magnificent. It was shot on quite a low budget. Watch it in Czech with English subtitles. That way, you really get the whole experience. Amazing! Spitfire owners lent their aircraft free of charge and I think the DP who worked on TBoB in 1968 came out of retirement to oversee the aerial photography. And then, proving that low budgets are not an obstacle to excellence, there was the 1970s British film "Aces High", with Peter Firth as a young RFC pilot.

PK
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Re: Battle of Britain movie (1969)

Post by panzermahn »

And the worst scene in the movie, German troops and vehicles marching in Dunkirk before the opening credits. The tank (panzer number 201) and the 1st APC are the most un-German types of vehicles I have ever seen among all WW2 movies in European theater (even worse than the so-called German panzers - which were modified Yugoslavian tanks - crossing the bridge in the movie Force 10 from Navarone)

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Re: Battle of Britain movie (1969)

Post by phylo_roadking »

Another BoB "interesting factoid"...
"Another early scene was the Dunkirk recreation which shot at the beachfront at Huelva, Spain. Only later did the directors find out this was where The Man Who Never Was deception had been carried out. The Germans were deceived by counterfeit documents purporting that the Allies were to invade Sardinia rather than Sicily, planted on a drowned man dressed as a Royal Marines Officer, Major Martin, allowed to wash up on the beach in 1943"
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Re: Battle of Britain movie (1969)

Post by centurion854 »

Ok, I could be wrong and I acknowledge that I am in the company of those who make my miniscule grasp of history look sorry, but here it goes. As an eight year old lad, I saw the Battle of Brittan like the day it came out. I was amazed by it then. Many years later I own my own copy,on DVD. Little inaccuracies like doorbells and garage doors don't bug me. I can suspend my disbelief past them.

Someone else mentioned the book which was very informative about the making of the movie. Some of the planes were bought at auction and some were loaned by the spanish air force. A spanish pilot was killed unrelated to the movie and the producers made a generous monetary gift to the widows and orphans fund. This impressed the Spanish and things progressed smoothly from there.

I also believe several of the actors on the Brittish side were actually in the RAF during the war, at least according to the book. Sir Michael Redgrave comes to mind. Also Douglas Bader and Adolph Galland were tech advisers so I think it was a reasonably accurate movie. As far and the special effects, c'mon....it was the 1960's, least we forget. In sci fi movies, we could still tell Godzilla was destroying model cities!
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Post by L. Kafka »

Would a German pilot have smarted-off to Goering like that?
"What are they going to do, send me to Vietnam?"
A oft heard GI refrain in Vietnam in '68.
phylo_roadking
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Re: Battle of Britain movie (1969)

Post by phylo_roadking »

Would a German pilot have smarted-off to Goering like that?
Eventually, Galland at a high enough rank - yes. Renmember the fighter pilots' revolt of 1944
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Re: Battle of Britain movie (1969)

Post by Pirx »

Polish pilots are speaking with perfect, old fashioned, pre-war accented polish language.
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phylo_roadking
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Re: Battle of Britain movie (1969)

Post by phylo_roadking »

perfect, old fashioned, pre-war accented polish language
Pirx....wouldn't their grammar be supposed to be perfect anyway for wireless R/T procedure? :wink:
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Re: Battle of Britain movie (1969)

Post by Soldat7128 »

phylo_roadking wrote: Sun Jun 21, 2009 5:54 pm
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...
For me the larger point is that movies today aren't made with the same depth, maturity, or even-handedness (everything feels snarky and overly visual, like a cross between a video game and a Reddit post.) Also I dislike CGI, I don't find it generally better (maybe it's still in the stage of getting to the point where it truly looks realistic, or maybe younger people today prefer "artificial reality".)

(To give an example, I don't think I've seen an English-language war film in the last 15-20 years with a German character who wasn't a caricature.)
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