For it's period , this movie is a classic. The story of the problems and the discouragement of designing the bomb was well represented,even though the shape was wrong,(this design was only declassified 10 years later, when the model kit came out.)"Operation Chastise" was led by Cmdr. Guy Gibson, who was very young, younger than Richard Todd, who portrayed him, but the British calmness comes though, even when his dog is killed.You will also see a very young Robert Shaw as his Flight Sergeant.It has been written that the raid was not as successful as first realized, but it was not meant to end the war, just disrupt the German war effort, which it did.The courage of the crews, will not be forgotten.Flying into the flak, drawing fire for the other bomb runs and their low level attack. Like Gibson tells Wallis at end,"They would have went anyway, knowing they might not return." I had seen this movie, on TV,when I was younger, and had heard they are in the process of making a remake now. Producer Peter Jackson,("Lord of the Rings") is behind the project. I recommend this movie for your War Classic collection. Bill, in IndyRead full review
This was made in 1954 so do not expect the special effects that are usually seen today. That being said, it is a good movie with Michael Redgrave sealing the show with his characterization of Barnes Wallis. The movie uses real footage of testing the "Upkeep" bombs used on the Ruhr dams and the "Highball" anti-shipping bombs, that were not deployed in WWII. Some scenes have the bomb covered with a black dot as I suspect they were still secret in 1954. Still an entertaining movie that is fairly accurate.
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Brilliant movie, one of the better Second World War movies I have seen, and only made ten years after the end of the war. As a result, the movie makers had access to four -- FOUR -- airworthy Lancasters. The movie takes a hard look at the protagonists, who do what they have to do despite the uncertainty that the mission can be accomplished. This is one I will watch again and again.
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Take a trip back to WWII, when two Dams in Nazi Germany needed to be destroyed to put a hurt on Nazi war production. Watch how the idea got thought of and the training. Than watch the mission. Oh ya, this was a real life mission. The events in the movie all happened. This is not Fiction, these events really happened. The development, the planning the mission and the destruction of the DAMS. ENJOY! !!!!!
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For anyone interested in what it was like to fly a night-time mission into Nazi Germany during WWII, this film is a must. The first hour of the film is dedicated to the problems that Dr. Barnes Wallis encountered in designing the bomb to do the job of blowing up dams. The remainder of the film shows how the raids were carried out, and the photography is great. For those who have never been on a low level bombing mission at night, this film makes you feel as though you're there. The bravery that these men exibited was extraordinary, as evidenced by the amount of medals given to the aircrews. The leader of the raid, Wing Commander Guy Gibson, was awarded the Victoria Cross. I believe he was 24 at the time. He lost his life later on in the war, coming back from another raid. There are many great WWII films, and this one has to be rated very near the top. It's one you'll replay many times. Richard Todd did a super job portraying Guy Gibson, as did Michael Redgrave as Barnes Wallis.Read full review
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