The Dam Busters (film)

The Dam Busters is a 1954 British war film, set during the Second World War, and documenting the true story of the RAF's 617 Squadron, the development of the "bouncing bomb", and Operation Chastise - the attack on the Ruhr dams in Germany. It stars Michael Redgrave as Barnes Wallis, and Richard Todd as Wing Commander Guy Gibson. The movie was based on the books The Dam Busters by Paul Brickhill and Enemy Coast Ahead by Guy Gibson. It was re-mastered and re-released in September 2007 in the United Kingdom.

The Dambusters March is Eric Coates's stirring theme for the 1954 film The Dam Busters.

It is critically and popularly acclaimed, made a tremendous contribution to the film, achieving iconic status. For many, it is synonymous with the film — indeed, with the exploit itself. The Dambusters March remains a favourite military band item at flypasts in the UK.

The composer's son Austin Coates recounted in a radio interview for the BBC, that the march was not actually written for the film and had in fact been completed a few days before he was contacted by the producers. The composer had apparently been carrying out an exercise in composing a march in Elgarian form, which is the same structure as the famous Pomp and Circumstance Marches.

The march is now the musical setting for the hymn "God is our strength and refuge".

Coates had a profound dislike of writing film music and turned down numerous requests; he was prevailed upon by the producers, who told him this was "a film of national importance." He was initially inclined to refuse the commission, but on hearing more about the film, came to the conclusion that the piece he had just completed might just be the very thing.

Dambusters is a war film announced to be produced by Peter Jackson and directed by first time director Christian Rivers. It is a remake of the 1954 The Dam Busters. Jackson has said in the mid-1990s he became interested in remaking the 1954 film, but found that the rights had been bought by Mel Gibson. In 2004, Jackson was contacted by his agent, who said Gibson had dropped the rights. Stephen Fry is writing the script of the film. Casting would be decided in December 2007 or January 2008.[6] It will be distributed by Universal Pictures and StudioCanal.

Cast

Michael Redgrave - Doctor B. N. Wallis, C.B.E., F.R.S.
Ursula Jeans - Mrs. Wallis
Charles Carson - Doctor
Stanley Van Beers - Sir David Pye, C.B., F.R.S.
Colin Tapley - Doctor W.H. Glanville, C.B., C.B.E.
Frederick Leister - Committee Member
Eric Messiter - Committee Member
Laidman Browne - Committee Member
Raymond Huntley - Official, National Physical Laboratory
Hugh Manning - Official, Ministry of Aircraft Production
Patrick Barr - Captain Joseph 'Mutt' Summers, C.B.E.
Edwin Styles - Observer at trials
Hugh Moxey - Observer at trials
Anthony Shaw - R.A.F. Officer at trials
Basil Sydney - Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris G.C.B., O.B.E., A.F.C.
Ernest Clark - Air Vice-Marshal The Hon. Ralph Cochrane G.B.E., K.C.B., A.F.C.
Derek Farr - Group Captain J.N.H. Whitworth, D.S.O., D.F.C.
Laurence Naismith - Farmer
Harold Siddons - Group Signals Officer
Frank Phillips - B.B.C. Announcer
Richard Todd - Wing Commander Guy Gibson, V.C., D.S.O., D.F.C.
Brewster Mason - Flt / Lt. R.D. Trevor-Roper, D.F.C., D.F.M.
Anthony Doonan - Flt / Lt. R.E.G. Hutchison, D.F.C.
Nigel Stock - Flying / Off. F.M. Spafford, D.F.C., D.F.M.
Brian Nissen - Flt / Lt. A.T. Taerum, D.F.C.
Robert Shaw - Flt / Sgt. J. Pulford, D.F.M.
Peter Assinder - Plt / Off. G.A. Deering, D.F.C.
Richard Leech - Squadron Leader H.M. Young, D.F.C.
Richard Thorp - Squadron Leader H.E. Maudslay, D.F.C.
John Fraser - Flight Lieutenant J.V. Hopgood, D.F.C.
David Morrell - Flight Lieutenant W. Astell, D.F.C.
Bill Kerr - Flight Lieutenant H.B. Martin, D.S.O., D.F.C., A.F.C.
George Baker - Flight Lieutenant D.J.H. Maltby, D.S.O., D.F.C.
Ronald Wilson - Flight Lieutenant D.J. Shannon, D.S.O., D.F.C.
Denys Graham - Flying Officer L.G. Knight, D.S.O.
Basil Appleby - Flight Lieutenant R.C. Hay, D.F.C.
Tim Turner - Flight Lieutenant J.F. Leggo, D.F.C.
Ewen Solon - Flight Sergeant G.E. Powell
Harold Goodwin - Wing Comdr. Gibson's Batman
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Peter Diamond - Tail Gunner
Arthur Howard - RAF Pay Clerk In NAAFI
Patrick McGoohan - Guard on Door
Nina Parry - Barnes Wallace's daughter

Filming
The flight sequences of the movie were filmed using real Avro Lancaster bombers supplied by the RAF. The aircraft, four of the final production B.VIIs, had to be taken out of storage and specially modified, and cost £130 per hour to run, which amounted to a tenth of the film's costs. A number of Avro Lincoln bombers were also reputedly utilised as "set dressing."[2](An American cut was made more dramatic by depicting an aircraft flying into a hill and exploding. This version used stock Warner Brothers footage of a B-17 Flying Fortress as opposed to a Lancaster.)

The Upper Derwent Valley in Derbyshire, England (the actual test area for the real raids) doubled as the Ruhr valley for the film. The scene where the Dutch coast is crossed was filmed between Boston, Lincolnshire and King's Lynn, and other coastal scenes near Skegness. Some more of the film was shot over Windermere, in the Lake District. The airfield used was RAF Hemswell, a few miles north of RAF Scampton. Hemswell was operational during the war, but not when filming took place.

The film is accurate historically with only a few minor exceptions:

Barnes Wallis said that he never encountered any opposition from bureaucracy.
Instead of all of Gibson's tour-expired crew at 106 squadron volunteering to follow him to his new command, only his Wireless Operator, Hutchinson, went with him to 617 squadron.
Crews for the operation were not all highly-decorated and personally selected by Gibson; some crews were simply posted straight in.
Rather than the purpose as well as the method of the raid being Wallis' sole idea, the dams had already been identified as an important target by the Air Ministry before the War.
Gibson did not devise the "spotlights altimeter" after visiting a theatre; it was suggested by someone else as a result of previous experience/experiments.
The wooden "coat hanger" sight intended to enable crews to release the weapon at the right distance from the target was not wholly successful; some crews used it, but others came up with their solutions, such as pieces of string in the bomb-aimers position and/or markings on the blister.
Gibson's dog was not the victim of a hit-and-run; in fact, the driver and passenger in the car were injured themselves as the former tried to avoid the collision.
No bomber flew into a hillside near a target on the actual raid.
The film was made before some of the details about the bombs used in the attack were declassified (in 1962), and thus is somewhat inaccurate about some of the fine points of how the bombs were actually delivered.
Some of the sequences showing the testing of Upkeep in the film are actually of Mosquito fighter-bombers dropping a later version of the bouncing bomb, code-named "Highball" developed to be used against ships. This version of the weapon was never used operationally.

Plot

The film falls into two distinct halves. First, Wallis struggles to develop a means of attacking Germany's dams, in the hope of crippling German heavy industry. Working for the Ministry of Aircraft Production, as well as doing his own job at Vickers, he works feverishly to make practical his theory of a bouncing bomb which would skip over the water to avoid protective torpedo nets. When it came into contact with the dam, it would sink before exploding, making it much more destructive. Wallis calculates that the aircraft will have to fly extremely low (60 ft) in order for the bombs to skip over the water correctly. But when he takes his conclusions to the Ministry, he is told that lack of production capacity means they cannot go ahead with his proposals.

Angry and frustrated, Wallis secures an interview with Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris (played by Basil Sydney), the head of Bomber Command, who at first is reluctant to take the idea seriously. But he is eventually convinced and takes the idea to the Prime Minister, who authorises the project.

Bomber Command forms a special squadron of Lancaster bombers - 617 Squadron - to be commanded by Wing Commander Guy Gibson. He recruits experienced crews, especially those with low-altitude flight experience. Whilst they train for the mission, Wallis continues his development of the bomb, but experiences problems. With only a few weeks to go, he succeeds in fixing them and the mission can go ahead.

The bombers attack the dams. Several Lancasters and their crews are lost, but the overall mission succeeds and two dams are breached

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