Our brave lads in the RAF give jerry what for. It was their finest hour.
I am surprised this film is so high up the rankings of greatest war films.
The story is simple enough. Our brave boys hold back the Luftwaffe as they defend this green and pleasant land. The flying scenes are in the main very good as they soar and wheel over the channel you get great views.
The air fighting scenes are good until an airplane actually gets shot down. The planes seem to blow up in exactly the same way each time. A lot of the shots are repeated immediately after one another.
Most of the action the ground is shot from different angles so when a building explodes you see the same building blow up again a few seconds later.
The best shots were when the British planes were going into action or when the airfield was being bombed.The shots from the air were spectacular.
A lot of the special effects are amateurish which is bad for 1969.
The basic story line is good but they introduce loads of different characters but none are developed so we do not get to know any of them . Most of them are caricatures such as Michael Caine as the tally ho fighter pilot with the racing car and the dog waiting for him when he gets back.
I was in Essex when the film was being made and I actually saw a flight of German bombers being followed by a plane that was filming them. Also one day a spitfire came low over a hedge as I was driving along.
We were sitting at tea when my uncle got up and said that's a German plane. he said he could recognise the different engine sound and he was right as we went out on a summers night to see the German bombers flyover ahead.
Apart form the flying scenes not a film you would want to keep rewatching. The story lie was too poor. A Bridge too Far and The Longest Day cover big events but they do make us believe in the characters and feel for them .This was a just a parade of chaps in RAF uniform to fill out the scenes.
Even Kenneth More who was quite capable of winning the war on his own did not get a very big or interesting part.
One of the most touching scene was when the Germans had attacked an airfield and there was a line of dead WAAF.s It showed that at that time everyone was in the front line. It did not matter that they were women, they were still going to get killed.
Also when the sergeant pilot comes home to see his family in the middle of the blitz on London . One minute they are alive the next they have been killed yet he was the pilot in the front line.
It showed how the Germans changed their tactics by not knocking out the RAF first. They swapped to bombing London. They should have stuck at one task at a time. They then abandoned their plans to invade Britain.
It is received wisdom that the RAF saved Britain and as a result we were able to fight on an win the war with of course some help from the United states and USSR.
I suppose the truth is we were the only country still fighting as whilst at the time this film depicted the USSR was an ally of Germany.
It is number 29 in the list only two after Dirty Dozen. I could and have watched Dirty Dozen many times whereas Battle of Britain would start to pall on the second viewing.
The Germans were caricatures and Goering was shown as a bit of a joke.The best scene with him was then he asked his commanders what they needed to win the battle.
One said spitfires. His face changed to rage.
In all great filming, poor story. It also lacked a great theme tune.
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