Battle of Britain (1969)
Directed by Guy Hamilton

Battle of Britain film poster
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British Forces are defeated at Dunkirk in France in May 1940, conserving their remaining aircraft for defence of the homeland. The Luftwaffe launches a major air offensive.

When the Germans launch an aerial attack from France, they not only disable large swaths of British radar capability, but also succeed in wiping out half of the aircraft of the RAF before they manage to get off the ground. As Germany continues raids and sorties, Britain looks for pilots to defend herself. However Germany plans for one final attack that will breach the small reserves of air defence and bring the south coast to it's knees.

The actual story here is one of bravery and sacrifice in the face of huge odds, with the fate of Britain held in the balance. British pilots were added to by Polish, American, and Commonwealth pilots, however numbers were still way down and the odds were with the weight of forces. Of course we know the outcome and the film could have gone two ways: 1) go for one specific pilot as the lead and stay with him or 2) just go all out for the main story. The film actually goes for a mix of the two and it does reasonably well in some regards and terribly in others.

The film does convey the determination of the British people not to give in despite overwhelming odds & almost certain defeat. Also conveyed fairly well are the diminishing resources in men & material on a daily basis on both sides despite superhuman efforts above & beyond the call of duty.

The one thing it does well is bring the overall story to the screen, albeit it in a very sweeping manner. The history is basic enough but telling enough to inform even the most unaware, apathetic teenager. However the actual final battle is just a montage of crashes – the film isn't able to capture the sweep of the final battle in the same way as it had made the smaller sorties tight and exciting. Likewise the characters are a strange mix. It attempts to have a few characters that it follows from the cockpit to the bedroom, but it doesn't really succeed. The star cast doesn't really help as it stops them just being faceless men. It's not even made clear that Michael Caine has died until someone mentions seeing his character, Squadron Leader Canfield, go down in an exploding plane.

This is the weakness of the film, it has a great basic story but absolutely no frame to hold it all together. Without any fixed point the film just tells a general worthy story but can't really hold an audience for the rather too long running time. All the usual wartime clichés are here – the black Labrador, the twitchy rookie, the heroic deaths etc and they do slightly damage the flow of the film.

The film also features dozens of well known British actors, mostly in cameo roles. The focus is on the pilots, played by Michael Caine (Squadron Leader Canfield) and Robert Shaw (Squadron Leader Skipper), who try to keep as many planes in the air as possible. Christopher Plummer (Squadron Leader Colin Harvey) deals with the same problems, as well as a wife (Susannah York) who's about ready to divorce him. This subplot is a serious flaw, because it's never fully developed and at a convenient moment is simply dropped from the story. Trevor Howard (Air Vice Marshal Keith Park), Patrick Wymark (Air Vice Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory), Laurence Oliver (Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding) and Michael Redgrave (Air Vice Marshal Evill) are the officers trying to co-ordinate limited resources long enough to give the pilots a fighting chance against the superior Luftwaffe. British viewers should spot Michael Bates (Rangi "you know, there's an old Hindu proverb" Ram from BBC televisions perennially funny "It Ain't Half Hot Mum") as Warrant Officer Warwick.

A number of the parts are based on real characters. Robert Shaw's is based on Adolf 'Sailor' Malan - 74 Squadron Ace, Susannah York's Harvey is based on one Felicity Hanbury (who later became the Commandant of the WRAF). The scene where she has to deal with a bombed slit trench is based on what happened when Biggin Hill was attacked.

The sky battles were very carefully choreographed, some planes were flown by veterans who fought the real battle. None other than the German Ace Adolf Galland with 104 kills to his credit (35 of them during the real Battle of Britain) was German military advisor. BATTLE OF BRITAIN's strongest feature are the slew of air-combat sequences, genuine vintage aircraft, realistic-looking miniatures and even some stock footage. These combat scenes are filmed with swift-moving shots from every angle, rapid cutting and loud sound effects which give them a degree of realism not found very often in mainstream war films. In fact, the only air combat film I've seen that came close to this degree of realism is THE BLUE MAX, which I'll review on an upcoming site dealing with aircraft from that period. The air-combat sequences show aircraft engaging each other in graceful deadly one on one ballets. In reality the Battle of Britain was more like a knife fight in a back alley with lone aircraft being attacked by groups of opposing aircraft or opposing aircraft using cloud cover to sneak up on one and other.

The air raids are nicely done, (some of which were filmed at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford in Cambridgeshire), as is the recreation of Hitler's speech to a crowd of fanatical Hitler Youth, and the film also earns points for going beyond the bloodthirsty Nazi stereotype and trying to portray the German pilots such as Alexander Allerson (Maj. Brandt) as just a group of regular guys'working for a different firm & the cost in German lives which is quite rare for films of this vintage, although this attempt is hindered by the precious little screentime given to each character, particularly the Germans.

The technical efforts were immense. The Messerschmitts have reworked engines and the Heinkel He.111s have different antenna's and engine specs, because they were updated by the Spanish Air Force for later use after World War Two, the difference is barely noticeable when one watches one of those spectacular aerial battles. The Spanish Air Force was still using these planes until 1965! The Spitfires and Hurricanes were borrowed from the Battle of Britain flight. Look out for a Ju-52 trimotor in the opening scenes.

The film shows "The Few" as a group of equals - in reality the class system was still to the fore in some places more so than others. Officers would not mix with NCO's, Auxilliary Air Force pilots (predominantly from the upper classes) looked down on Volunteer Reserve pilots (predominantly from the working/middle classes).

Many pilots were killed simply because of the stupid tactics they used - fighting by the 1930s RAF rule book until lessons were learnt. Many didn't see what hit them. In most other ways the film is by and large correct. The British were very reluctant to use Polish and Czech squadrons; despite many of these pilots being much more experienced than the British. One of the highest scoring aces in the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain was Czech pilot Sgt J František, who flew a Hawker Hurricane with No. 303 squadron, a Polish squadron, with17 confirmed kills & 1 probable.

Overall, a great story but far from a great film. Far too loose, lacking any central point (or points) of focus and coming out disjointed as a result. That said the aerial battles are still pretty enjoyable despite the poor effects when the planes explode!

The film did revive interest not only in this recent period in British history but also in vintage planes of the period that had all but completely vanished by the late 1960's when the film was made.

All in all, BATTLE OF BRITAIN is an average battle-epic with the expected all-star cast and some better-than-usual battle scenes. There's no political message, no value to the film other than spotting your favourite actor and drooling at all of the vintage planes. That's what the movie is about. Just sit back and be entertained.

Guy Hamilton who directed this film also directed four of the James Bond films including Goldfinger (1964), the quintessential & in my opinion, the best of the James Bond films made to date. He was also assistant director on the set of The Third Man directed by Carol Reed in 1949 & starring Joseph Cotton & Orsen Wells. Set in the underworld of black marketeers in post World War II Vienna and shot on location, The Third Man is without question one of the greatest films made, ranking along side the likes of Citizen Kane.

The opening scenes to The Battle of Britain can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNVVoH9-QH0.
See The Battle of Britain Trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaX3m7mMmxM.

Battle of Britain Trivia:

• British cast

  The film has an all-star cast including Laurence Olivier as Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, Air Officer Commanding RAF Fighter Command, Trevor Howard as New Zealander Air Vice-Marshal Sir Keith Park, Air Officer Commanding No.11 Group RAF and Christopher Plummer as Canadian fighter pilot, Squadron Leader Colin Harvey (since Plummer is Canadian, he asked for his character's RAF uniform to display the "Canada" shoulder flashes). Other cast include Michael Caine as Squadron Leader Canfield, Ralph Richardson in a cameo as the British Ambassador to Switzerland, Robert Shaw as Squadron Leader Skipper, Susannah York as Section Officer Maggie Harvey (Colin's wife), Ian McShane as Sergeant Pilot Andy and Kenneth More (who had made himself a household name with his portrayal of Douglas Bader in Reach for the Sky 12 years before) as Group Captain Barker – Station Commander at RAF Duxford.

• German cast

  The film is notable for its portrayal of the Germans by subtitled German-speaking actors. Among the Germans were Curd Jürgens as the German Ambassador to Switzerland and larger-than-life musical star Hein Riess, who played the commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, occasionally laying into his fighter chiefs. One scene included a brief exchange based on what wartime Luftwaffe pilot Adolf Galland (who was to become the youngest man to hold general rank in the Luftwaffe at the age of 30) had said to Göring. When Göring asked Galland (the character of "Falke" was a substitute in the movie) what he needed, Galland allegedly replied, "Give me a squadron of Spitfires!" According to a booklet publicizing the movie, Riess had allegedly once met Göring himself during the war. German ace Adolf Galland with 104 kills to his credit was German military advisor. Galland acquired 35 of those 104 kills during the real Battle of Britain while serving with Stab III./JG 26. One of his victims was British ace P/O “Johnny” Allen of 56 Sqn, RAF

• Thirty-two Heinkel He 111's were borrowed from the Spanish Air Force for use in the film. The Spanish varient known as CASA 2.111, served with the Spanish Airforce until 1965.

• Outtakes from the film's dogfighting sequences were to eventually be used in the 2001 Czech film "Dark Blue World".

• So many planes were brought together for Battle of Britain that the production boasted the 35th largest air force in the world.

• The "smoke" from damaged engines was made by injecting cooking oil into the exhaust manifold.

• The Spitfires and Hurricanes were borrowed from the Battle of Britain flight.

• Filming was carried out at four airfields, Duxford in Cambridgeshire, Debden & North Weald in Essex & and Hawkinge in Kent all of which were operational during the Battle - indeed, one surviving Second World War hangar at Duxford was actually blown up and demolished for the "Adler Tag " (Eagle Day) sequence rather than the explosions being simulated.

• A North American B-25 Mitchell was the primary camera plane for the aviation sequences and as it was painted garishly half green and half red, with "electric" green vertical stabilizers, wings striped yellow and black and engine cowlings yellow and white; it was dubbed the "Psychedelic Monster".

• Location filming in London was carried out mainly in the St Katharine Docks area where older houses were being demolished to make way for new housing estates. Partly demolished buildings were used to represent bombed out houses and some disused buildings were set on fire. Ironically, St Katharine Docks was one of the few areas of London's East End to survive The Blitz. Many of the extras were survivors of the Blitz. Aldwych tube station, which was used as a wartime air-raid shelter, was also used as a filming location. Almost all the period equipment from the London Fire Brigade Museum was used in the film.

• The scenes at RAF Fighter Command were filmed on location at RAF Bentley Priory in Middlesex, the headquarters of Fighter Command during WWII. Air Chief Marshal Dowding's original office, complete with the original furniture, was used.

• Half-scale Junkers Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers that could be flown by radio control were made for sequences of the Luftwaffe attacks against the British radar sites. Radio controlled Heinkel-111s were also built and flown to depict bombers being destroyed over the North Sea.

• Poor weather beset the filming in the UK; in an effort to reflect the cloudless skies over Britain in the summer of 1940, many upward-facing flying shots were filmed in clear skies over Spain, while the downward-facing shots were almost all done below the clouds, over southern England, whose farmland landscape is very distinctive. However the 1940 camouflage was so perfectly recreated it was difficult to see the planes against the ground and sky, so a cloud background was used where possible.

• The scenes in the operation centre where the British listen to their fighters' wireless transmissions is for dramatic reasons only. In reality the operations centre received information on the progress of the battle by telephone via the sector airfields.

• The scenes at the end of the film, where the RAF pilots are seen suddenly idle and left awaiting the return of the Luftwaffe raids is more cinematic license; the battle gradually fizzled out through late September although further large raids continued at least until the end of 1940.

• The confrontational scene between Dowding, Park and Leigh Mallory is entirely fictitious.

• The film doesn't mention that, shortly following the end of the Battle, both Dowding and Park were forced out of command due to political chicanery by Leigh-Mallory, despite having proved that Leigh-Mallory's theories were unworkable.

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