terrencewallis I read tedg's review & wondered why he missed the central message of this wonderful film? Persecuted men helped another country to fight the persecutors by doing the very dangerous task of flying fighter aircraft. At the end of hostilities they go home & are persecuted by their post-war government. In the telling we see them under stress, much relieved by alcohol & why not? & responding to a few women, plus the Spitfires & beautifully filmed aerial warfare. This is the sort of things they did!! Models & radio controlled ones too, had me fooled. This is a superb film about very very brave men. You will not see better & the huge plus is, it's not Hollywood.

pachl If you want to see the true, vile nature of Communism, watch the movie DARK BLUE WORLD. (Tvamomodrý Svet) It recounts how the brave Czech pilots who refused to surrender fled to England to join the fight against the Nazis. After the war, the Communists feared they had picked up dangerous Western ideas about freedom. So, they had these heroic Czech pilots thrown into a nightmarish prison, where some of the guards were the same Nazis they risked their lives to defeat.If Hollywood wants to understand why so many of their movies fall flat, they should compare the character drama portions of "Pearl Harbor" with this movie. In Dark Blue World, you really make a connection to all the characters. In Pearl Harbor, everyone is like some slick cartoon version of a real person.There are innumerable instances of brilliant writing in this movie. One funny scene that sticks in my mind is when the character Karel is being taught English by a rather formal Englishwoman. When he can't pronounce a word, he ridicules the lesson. In typical stoic English fashion, the teacher calmly but forcefully confronts Karel, and shames him into behaving.The aerial battle sequences in this movie are amazing, and they help to keep the movie lively. I read that it cost $11,000 an hour to rent the planes, but it was worth every penny.Ladies, you are expected to cry at sad movies, but guys.... beware! This movie would make General Patton weep. And if you are a dog lover, you'll use up half a box of Kleenex. Don't say I didn't warn you.

norton-25 Centres on Czech WW2 pilots – the older Frantisek, the boyish impulsive Karel and in the background the quiet piano-playing Honza. As the film opens, it is 1950, the war is over and Frantisek and Honza are imprisoned in a former monastery. In their now Soviet-controlled native country they are 'enemy of the people'. Honza is severely maltreated by his Communist countrymen and dies.In 1939 many pilots manage to escape German-occupied Europe and make their way to England where they join the RAF. Notwithstanding their high motivation and experience they face RAF reluctance and British stiff upper lip. Finally they fight gallantly in the Battle of Britain. However, Frantisek and Karel find their friendship severely tested when they both fall for the same woman.In terms of romantic sub-plot, this is very similar to the Hollywood production Pearl Harbour. However, given the context of the film and Frantisek's eventual fate, it is also possible to read the English woman's treatment of the two men as symbolic of British treatment of the Czech and Polish RAF pilots: conveniently forgetting them once the war is over.In addition, the film is a lot less cliché than Pearl Harbour and the characters are more fully realised. Dark Blue World also scores in terms of its stunning aerial dogfights, which were seamlessly created using a mixture of models, actual live-action aerial filming and out-takes from the 1969 epic The Battle of Britain.In short, Dark Blue World is a well-made, moving, thought-provoking and exciting drama that puts the likes of Pearl Harbour to shame. Highly recommended.

Libretio DARK BLUE WORLD (Tmavomodrý Svet) Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Hawk Scope)Sound format: Dolby Digital Surround EX1939: Two Czech fighter pilots (Ondrej Vetchý and Krystof Hádek) flee the Nazi occupation of their homeland and travel to England, where they join the RAF and are torn apart by their mutual love of a lonely young woman (Tara Fitzgerald).Despite its ravishing widescreen visuals and glorious aerial combat sequences, Jan Sverák's wartime melodrama is a little too restrained for its own good, even when the two main characters become divided by Vetchý's unethical behavior. Performances are solid, but Sverák's intimate direction works against the film's epic sweep, and the result is neither one thing or another. Hádek looks like a Bel Ami porn beauty, which is a huge plus, and Charles Dance makes a brief appearance in the role of a pompous RAF commander.(Czech, German and English dialogue)