TankGuy May 1940 would see France, Holland and Belgium fall to the might of the Nazis. Concurrently, the British and French suffer a crippling defeat at Dunkirk after being cut off by the Germans. The surviving soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force are evacuated just as Hitler plans the invasion of the British Isles, known as Operation Sea Lion. Firstly, the Nazis must achieve total air supremacy. When this proved difficult however, the German Luftwaffe resorted to a relentless bombing campaign of the British mainland. As the death toll of the Blitz increases, Air Chief Marshall Sir Hugh Dowding rallies the RAF to inflict greater casualties on the Luftwaffe. This marks the beginning of what would become known as the battle of Britain...An engaging but at times overwrought wartime epic, Battle of Britain was produced by James Bond's Harry Saltzman and directed by Guy Hamilton(who also helmed 4 Bond movies). I don't usually go for British war movies, although this film is an exception. It's a gripping effort from beginning to end which also serves as a decent history lesson, despite being highly anachronistic in appearance(check out those 60s hairstyles). I was impressed by the useful statistics just before the end credits regarding the number of allied and German pilots who fought and died in the battle of Britain. This was a commendable attention to detail that is seldom seen in other war movies and for once I felt as if I had learned a couple of interesting facts from simply watching a film. Battle of Britain is comprised of docu-drama style vignettes which were also a fine touch, although the film did loose itself in the multitude of characters and was therefore a little disjointed. There were instances when the film veered into cheesiness thus forcing the director to refer to the great big book of war movie clichés. This made some sequences unnecessary and others unintentionally humorous. The mostly wooden performances didn't do much to rectify this. The film contained a lot of sleepwalk performances and in the case of the German characters there was a lot of overacting(I couldn't take Hein Riess' Goring seriously, maybe it was his white uniform). I was also frustrated by the lack of sorrow displayed by a young Ian McShane after his character's wife and children are killed in an air raid. The corny romantic subplot between Christopher Plummer and Susannah York did not deserve a place in the script, but one can't have everything. At nearly 2hrs 10mins the film is slightly overlong with some scenes of padding in which unimportant characters come and go. I'm positive i've heard parts of Ron Goodwin's orchestral soundtrack in at least 2 other war movies. However, the title score was pretty catchy, but lacked substance.The action sequences were what carried the movie. Tasty pinches of suspense were scattered throughout the film with the air skirmishes. These battles became increasingly taut as the film progressed with the fiery destruction of aircraft as well as buildings and vehicles on the ground. The inclusion of blood squibs when the pilots were shot was also an excellent touch. Some of the special effects will look horribly cheap in a CGI world, but that's all part of the appeal. The climatic "battle in the air" was beautifully atmospheric. It was more than just another dogfight, this was men fighting for both survival and freedom. Tight stunts also had me on the edge-of-my-seat. I felt queasy watching pilots bail out of their burning aircraft thousands of feet in the air. The bombing of the airfields was eerily tense too. Masterful cinematography amazingly captured the raw fear of the pilots in combat. The dizzying 360 degree pans added to the suspense.Harry Saltzman's ambitious saga of the battle of Britain is of robust educational value. There's a bit of flag waving done too, but there's nothing wrong with that. Wedged firmly between classic and potboiler, the tight battle scenes and aforementioned educational value save the film from being mediocre. 8/10.

bowmanblue 'The Battle of Britain' is, unsurprisingly, about the period during the Second World War before the Americans joined and Britain was generally under air siege from the Nazis. I'll say now that I thoroughly enjoyed the film and was surprised at some of the negativity towards it. From what I can gather, people believe that the film isn't 'historically accurate,' as it doesn't give enough mention to all the other (primarily Commonwealth) countries' pilots who also lost their lives in the fight.To be fair, they may have a point. Yes, the film *almost* makes it look like only British pilots fought (with the odd fleeting scene with a handful of Polish airmen). But, in order to do every nation justice, the film would have to last weeks in order to give every airman enough screen time.During the end credits, we're treated to a poignant text reminded of the 'official' statistics, showing just how many other nationalities helped Britain out (and it's probably more than you think!). However, if you really want to get the most out of this film, you'll just have to accept that it's the Brits who the story really focuses on.And there are some pretty big names on the bill. No one bigger than Michael Caine, Robert Shaw and Edward Fox to name but a few. Others are there largely to be cameos, but everyone plays their part.It's hard to built too much of a story around an event that actually happened. If you start trying to focus on adding a 'traditional' narrative, you sometimes have to forgo telling things as they happened. The 'story' has already happened. The writers couldn't really tell it any differently. As with many war films, events have had to be 'condensed' in order to fit with the narrative they give it.'The Battle of Britain' may have the odd narrative flaw or character that isn't as developed as the audience feel s they should have been, but any film like this isn't supposed to be 'character-driven.' It's about a period of time where hundreds of innocent people were dying daily (and that's not even counting the airmen who were doing their best to defend the civilian population).When the aerial dogfights come, they're pretty spectacular. The film-makers restored many vintage planes and brought them back up to be air-worthy. Just because there aren't any computer-generated effects here, doesn't mean that the special effects aren't impressive.If you're looking for a story driven film, you may want to try somewhere else. If you want a totally historically-accurate depiction of the era, then read a history book. However, if you're happy with a film which generally gives you an idea just how scary it was to fight (and often) die in the air defending your country, try this. Those who fell don't deserve to be forgotten, however they're remembered.

AaronCapenBanner Michael Caine heads an all-star cast including Trevor Howard, Christopher Plummer, Harry Andrews, and Sir Laurence Oliver as this Guy Hamilton directed film attempts to recreate the historical account of how the Royal Air Force(RAF) valiantly defended Britain from the Nazi air assault of 1940, which cost the lives of many fine airmen, as well as a huge number of civilian deaths along with Airplane and property destruction that cost England dearly, though which ultimately turned the tide against Hitler's Germany.Though the aerial dogfights between the RAF and Luftwaffe are impressively recreated, this film is otherwise disappointing, as it never creates an involving story with its characters, or any kind of compelling dramatic story, which is strange, since the potential was there. A good documentary on the subject may be more interesting and informative than this, unfortunately.

Silent_Cal There's not much in the way of character development in this film. It's not that kind of film, so let's get that out of the way at the start. Michael Caine, Laurence Olivier, Robert Shaw, and Christopher Plummer (among many others) are on hand for their star power and charisma, but don't expect awards-worthy performances. This movie, as the title suggests, is about the Battle of Britain, so you should expect Spitfires, dogfights, the Blitz, and lots of pompous Prussian military marches.And that's exactly what you get. The makers of the film assembled a huge fleet of vintage aircraft from around the world: many Spitfires were restored to airworthy condition just for the movie and are still flying today because of it; Messerschmitts and Heinkels were loaned by the Spanish Air Force and have gone on to star in films and air shows; a trio of Hurricanes make a rare appearance. This might only be of interest to aviation enthusiasts or history buffs, but so what: it's an historic film, the only occasion outside of newsreels that you'll ever see these aircraft in their element, and it's breathtaking.The plot follows the basic timeline of the Battle. After Dunkirk, the British withdraw to their island and Hitler contemplates his options. Eventually, after a few perfunctory scenes set the stage, the Luftwaffe launches its attack. The outnumbered pilots of the Royal Air Force fight back against impossible odds. Young, inexperienced men are thrown into combat with a short life expectancy. Untried Polish volunteers acquit themselves rather well, in a couple humorous scenes. Olivier, as Air Chief Marshal Dowding, lends gravitas to the situation, while his German counterpart, Goering, frets and struts and intimidates his underlings.There's plenty missing, but there's plenty to like. The stars all do their bit for queen and country, and the attention to detail is superb. The narrative often seems to skip bits and pieces, and leaves several characters hanging...but as I said, this isn't about the characters so much as the moment in history that they happen to be passing through.