THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN (1969) | Opening Scene | MGM
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- In 1940, the British Royal Air Force fights a desperate battle to prevent the Luftwaffe from gaining air superiority over the English Channel as a prelude to a possible Axis invasion of the U.K.
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The Battle of Britain (1969)
Directed by Guy Hamilton
Screenplay by James Kennaway & Wilfred Greatorex
Cast: Harry Andrews, Michael Caine, Trevor Howard, Curt Jurgens, Ian McShane, Kenneth More, Laurence Olivier, Nigel Patrick, Christopher Plummer, Michael Redgrave, Ralph Richardson, Robert Shaw, Patrick Wymark, Susannah York
Rated G
Available on Blu-Ray, DVD and digital platforms.
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The Battle of Britain (1969)
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No CGi. All real planes except for a few model shots. It was the Top Gun of it's time. Some of the best flight sequences ever put to film. Criminally underrated.
Happisak's...
I still have the program when I went to see this film at the cinema (Leicester Square, London in 1969). Inside the program it showed pictures of how the Spitfires (for the film) were made from balsa wood.
Indeed!
As a kid my parents took me to Duxford to see the film set, that chateaux was just a wooden front with scaffolding behind for support.
A LOT of model shots.....and Spanish built HA-1112 Buchons with merlin engines... and not-quite-right "He 111's"... .but YES! A magnificent effort for the time!!! Underrated? BY whom?
Absolutely agree with you 🇬🇧 👍
The low-level flying shots are incredible. No CGI, actual brilliant flying.
The slight yawing by the 109s is authentic - it was a feature of the type.
My favorite scene.. you can hear the 109 superchargers scream
The amount of coordination in the larger fights was amazing too.
Not to mention they were running an airbase full of planes, with all the maintenance, fuelling etc.
05:22 breathtaking!
@@tongoio yet they are powered by MERLIN engines cause they are not 109s
Christopher Plummer, Robert Shaw, Lawrence Olivier, etc. in less than 9 minutes. Nice to be in charge of casting.
You forgot to mention Edward Fox, Ian McShane and Harry Andrews.
To these 72-year old American eyes:
Plummer is the head of the family in Sound of Music which my daughters watched endlessly in their childhood;
Shaw is the heavy in From Russia with Love and the Sting and the tragic old salt in Jaws; Olivier goes all the way back to black and white Shakespeare films like Henry V and Hamlet. And you know I am omitting too much for brevity.
You missed Trevor Howard.
@@robertweinmann9408 Well, I was stretching my 'etc.' quite a bit. Trevor Howard in 'Mutiny on the Bounty' is a great high school memory.
You forget Laurence Olivier - it was like the 'Longest day' the stars and rising stars ⭐ were all out for this one.
This film convinced me to join the RAF. I left 23 years later
Top gun is probably why I joined the US Navy. This movie always reminds me of my dad. Have a good one Nato brother!
Many people don't realize how unbelievably brave our awesome cousins across the pond are... and the RAF is a prime example. They stood against the might of the luftwaffe during the darkest hours of WWII.
_Rule Britannia!!_
Greetings from North Carolina btw, I'm very proud of the UK and everything it stands for.
It didn't do that for me - I had already decided. What it did do was give me the spirit that stayed with me through my 3 years of training and 14 years as a fighter pilot in the 1970s and 80s.
I had already decided to join the RAF when I saw this with my father, a WW2 air gunner. I joined the following year. three years after watching the film I was working on the BBMF Spitfires and Hurricanes used in the film. I also completed 23 years
Thank you for your service! I was in the U.S.N. for four years.
That letter was brilliantly written. Dowding doesn't always receive the credit he deserves for having the foresight to know how important the Battle of Britain was going to be.
He was a Scott,that's why he was so brilliant ! Oh I'm not one sided - McRorie is my name.
I believe that's why Dowding didn't commit more fighter cover over Dunkirk he knew that he would need those aircraft for the upcoming battle of Britain.
Dowding stood in the way of several very ambitious RAF officers, Park among them, who coveted the top positions, his included. After the Battle of Britain was over, they conspired to get him shunted to a less important job, then to erase the record of his leadership in winning the Battle. When they actually arranged to write him out of the official RAF history of this period, it was too much for Churchill. He took the rare step of chiding these RAF officers directly in writing, calling this aspect of the official history one of the most shameful political tricks he had ever encountered - which was saying a lot.
@@doverbeachcomber I think you are doing Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Rodney Park, GCB, KBE, MC & Bar, DFC a serious disservice. I think you referring to Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, KCB, DSO & Bar.
@@doverbeachcomber On 17 October Dowding and Park attended a meeting, chaired by Douglas, to discuss fighter tactics at the Air Ministry in London. Senior RAF personnel were present, including Leigh-Mallory but so was the relatively junior officer, Squadron Leader Douglas Bader, a firm advocate for the Big Wing. Neither Park nor Dowding had expected this nor thought to invite an officer with a contrary frontline experience. Park, who to some attendees appeared fatigued, found himself having to justify his interception methods and explain why the Big Wing was not an appropriate tactic for his area of operations. Leigh-Mallory countered, stating his desire to help No. 11 Group and promising good response times for assembly of the Big Wing. In the absence of any protest from Dowding, Douglas approved the use of Big Wings over No. 11 Group's area of operations. The tactic was used by No. 12 Group for the rest of October but remained relatively ineffective, being too slow to get to where they were needed. Park continued to raise complaints about the use of Big Wings but Douglas saw this as being a personal objection to No. 12 Group operating in his sector.
Anyone who knows even a little about the art of film making can appreciate the truly exceptional directing and cinematography of this movie. No CGI or graphical effetcs, just superbly executed film making.
Check out Waterloo. Epic film with thousands of extras. No CGI 👍
I would highly recommend the "making of", usually added in the Special DVD releases. Some of the stories in that are just fantastic. Worth a watch.
I watched it being filmed as a 10 year old boy in bedfordshire
Tuve la suerte de ver esta espetacular película, tan reales los combates aereos y todo su arte de recrear la batalla de Inglaterra.
También e visto muchas películas de temas aeronáuticos.
A mi modesto juicio , la mejor película que vi én mi vida .
This looks completely average for the time and absolutely ridiculous now
This is one of the greatest historical movies ever made! Watched it with my Dad in 1970's India-always will be a special movie. As many viewers have said, never get tired of watching and re-watching it over and over again. The planes with their authentic engine sounds! Makes one's hair stand up.
I remember seeing this movie when it came out. One of a great bunch of WW2 movies that came out in the 50s and 60s.
I don't which year I saw this but it was in the Pt. Chevalier cinema (west Auckland, New Zealand) in the early 1970s, dad had seen it when it came out originally and said that my brother and I both needed to see the film for ourselves. I couldn't have been any older than ten at the most, my brother would have been about 8. I've never ever forgotten it and this is a film that, I think personally at least, everyone should watch.
Hardly authentic sounds, since the Messerschmitts were borrowed from the Spanish Air Force - and they flew Messerschmitt 'Buchons' (Letterboxes) with Rolls-Royce Spitfire engines. [You can tell because Rolls-Royce put their exhausts at the TOP of the engine, Daimler put their exhausts at the bottom]
Given all that, Sound Effects may have recorded and re-recorded genuine Messerschmitt engines?
I had a Spitfire fly over my garden a few months ago. What a sight that was. Heard the indisputable sound of those Merlins before I saw the plane. It was an original not a reproduction.
@@formicapple2 I was at school in Dover when they were shooting this film. Lovely sunny Sunday afternoon and SIXTEEN Messerschmitts flew over in formation. The whole school was out cheering and waving.
This film was a tribute to Air Marshall Sir Hugh Dowding. He was never forgiven for withdrawing RAF fighters from France, believing their defeat was inevitable. But it was an action that probably saved this country.
What saved Britain was that Hitler's heart was NEVER seriously engaged in the planning and subsequent execution of operation sea lion. From day 1 his obsessions lay in the east.
He didn't have many alternatives. It is better to accept it, because it seemed to be right solution.
Quite so, it was disgraceful how he was treated after the battle, and Keith Park. Ironically, Trafford Leigh-Mallory, the man who would have lost the battle, was promoted.
In contrast with Leigh-Mallory, who was an utter bellend.
@@himoffthequakeroatbox4320 Indeed. Keith Park was another who was never given the credit he deserved. Brilliantly played by Trevor Howard in the film btw.
I was a 9-year-old in Perth, Australia in 1969 when my parents took me to see this at a drive-in. I've seen it numerous times since, but that initial viewing has always stayed with me, tinny drive-in speakers and all. One of my most memorable movie experiences growing up. I still think it's one of the best WW2 movies ever made. It's screaming for a digital remaster, if that hasn't been done already (haven't come across one as yet).
Ha,ha...I first saw this at a drive in in Alberta, Canada. Big screen indeed and those heavy, tinny speakers. After the show, someone would inevitably drive off with the thing still attached to the window😂🙂
Yep... I was 8 or 9, in a theater in Ft. Worth. My father had just joined the Army at age 32, and was undergoing helicopter training before he was sent to Vietnam the next year. And I had already spent a LOT of time in private aircraft prior to seeing the movie... probably could have flown a Cessna at age 6 with some rudder-pedal extensions... so yeah, I was INTO IT : )
P.S., I DO have it on DVD, though I'm not sure it was "remastered"... may not even look as good as the original film!
@@smithwesson7765 We "accidently" drove off with a few of the speakers now and then. They made good back deck speakers in the days before rear speakers were factory installed.
They should add muzzleflashes and tracers in the aerial battles, they seem like an airshow recreation.
Digital remaster? Only if they Enhance the footage w/out any degradation. Would rather see remastered than remakes, like Midway, Titanic & Pearl Harbor... Atrocious!
One of the best opening scenes to any movie ever. Captures the spirit of the times perfectly. Funny thing, it gets even better after this clip ends with the military music and views of the German Air Force.
Absolutely..... "The battle of France is over..... the Battle of Briain is about to begin"...... then that fantastic theme
I have to agree. I was hoping it would go on just a bit longer for the parade of all the German aircraft/crews.
Especially since right at the end of that Grand Parade of Luftwaffe Power, the general's stops short of the gate to the HQ and he says to his offsider "If I have to look at one more bomber, I'm going not going to recommend you for promotion."
Absolutely. The flip to the JU-52, then that magnificent "Aces High March" and the ground displays really demonstrate the Luftwaffe at the height of it's power and what the RAF's up against. "Just HOW are the Brits going to beat them?" the viewer begins to wonder.
But they do.
Except for the small problem that there were no Spitfires in France then., just Hawker Hurricanes.
Gawd....l love the part when the luftwaffe comes in low and starts strafing everything. The second scene you see the plane come just over the fence. Absolutely beautiful cinematography!
"And so bear ourselves to our duties,
That if the British Empire lasts a thousand years,
Men will still say that this was our finest hour. "
-Churchill
"Give your brain a chance!" has been one of the most useful phrases ever uttered!
I always love the interaction between Plummer and the senior NCO. It's a great example of leadership and trust.
That's Robert Shaw. He also played the shark fisherman Quint in Jaws.
@@lyndoncmp5751 I'm talking about when Harvey speaks to the senior NCO about the 'lame ducks' and getting the men out. Shaw displays a different leadership also, but certainly not trust to the corporal who he tells to refuel/rearm.
Is Plummer affecting an American accent here? "Yeah!"
@@alexmuenster2102 he's Canadian. RAF had many Canadian pilots.
@@juvandy Yeah, that's what I had guessed.
First saw this film in 1969 with my dad. For years I was convinced that the German airplane at 5:23 flew UNDER that fence. Great movie. I NEVER get tired of it.
Me too. I was 16 years old. What a thrill it was. Wonderful film and a great memory that has lasted all my life.
Spanish fighters crewed by their real life pilots. Apparently they were *extremely* willing to fly right to the limit, even more than was planned for, with that grass-cutting shot at the beginning being their piece de resistance
Me too. Do you recall the Battle of Britain bubblegum cards? I amassed the full set.
@@raypurchase801 Goodness I'd forgotten about them. I had a few cards but never the full set.
It was the first film i watched in the cinema in 1969.
This film the Battle of Britain needs a thorough 4K Restoration and be shown again in U.K. cinemas like they did with The Great Escape a few years ago
So if there is anybody at MGM UA reading this ,there are 9000 of us on a certain site dedicated to the making of the film who would love to see this happen . Crowdfunding has even been discussed which just goes to show how much support there would be too
Wouldn’t it be nice to get that internegative out of the archives ( the one with Maurice Binders titles ) , restore each frame and then give it the remastered BLURAY Stereo soundtrack with any 4K release given the deluxe treatment of being able to see the film either with Ron Goodwins film score and/or Sir William Waltons in its entirety.
Give us the chance to see this film on the big screen again for new generations to see. The tv screenings don’t do it justice .
Is it not Park Circus In the U.K. who handle these film distributors restorations and has not Amazon taken over the MGM/UA catalogue ?
Surely there must be some finance around to undertake this 4K restoration rather than go the crowdfunding route. . I did hear that it could cost up to £50k to do a restoration for a 2 hr long film and that’s a mere drop in the ocean .
As most of the aerial shots were filmed in 70mm , I just wonder what this film would look like today on an IMAX screen which would be quite something as the film was released in the super Panavision process.
After all, if it wasn’t for the Battle of Britain film , all the restored original planes we now see at air displays today , simply would not exist . It set the ball rolling for restorations worldwide so it’s importance as a film can never be underestimated.
Well said!!
Battle of Britain would be worth seeing in IMAX.
Why does it need 'restoring'? How does down-sizing to just 4K video qualify as a 'restoration'?
@@ommadammo Wdym downsizing bro? The film itself is more than 4k, but the digital version is only SD. It would be an upgrade
@@arandomyoutuber6634 we are not using any of the 4K video elements ie cds or master tapes of the film. Even the Blu-ray is optimised from a tape to the 4K standard. You’re thinking 4K video.
Cinema is different
This is a 4K digital cinema process for a terrabyte memory system
But you have to restore the 35mm internegative that’s in the vaults in Arizona and scan each frame . Initially ,if it happens. It will be the first 4K uplift from the actual 35mm print for use SOLELY IN CINEMAS.
There is a significant difference between 4K VHS/Blu-ray for domestic use and the 4K- 6k cinema elements .
I’ve done cinema projection for years so I think I’ve got a handle on it
We were fortunate to grow up during the time movies like these were made. They will never be the same again.
"That's why I wrote it" a great line to end a great scene
55 years later this is still by far the best made military aviation history film .
It's a racist flop.
@@MarkHarrison733 racist? How?
This role for Canada's Chris Plummer goes some way to make up for his inexplicable absence as a Canadian officer at Juno in The Longest Day.
Superb film. It tells a small part of relatively recent history that must never be forgotten. We owe ‘The Few’ so much. Lest We Forget. 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
Sadly a part missed by our current snowflake and cancel culture generation. Without these guys the snow flakes woudn't even be around to snivel and whine about everything.
@@georgejohnson7591 They would probably complain the film is not diverse enough and there is no LGBTQ+, trans content.
@@rogueriderhood1862 Couldn't make the movie today unless Dowding was played by Idris Elba.
How's Britain doing lately ?
@@georgejohnson7591I didn't know that winter weather dictated the culture! Snow joke.
The altitude of that Buchon skimming the fence... mental.
It was after watching this, that I got into building airfix models as a kid. For the time, the cinematography was and still is amazing.
A very powerfull film portraying just how close things got in the summer of 1940.
I'm guessing your a similar age to myself, I used to love building airfix models, planes, tanks ,etc .
Now its hard to find a shop that still sells them , I got my first one since I was young , shopping online a few months ago, a bf 109 , just needs paint and decals b4 its finished.
As a youngster they were great on rainy days when stuck indoors.
Along with the original of "Dunkirk" - imho a far better film and a better account of the whole issue than the remake which I found less than interesting..
@@iansimpson4911 I didn't know there was an older version,
I'll definitely watch it if I can find it .
Is it true that most regular soldiers thought the RAF had abandoned them, and letting germans bomb rescues ships and shoot them on the beaches .
My goodness that mental low flying was for real!....There's an fresh organic look and feel to this film, its so real and crispy and the music..the real planes...its so fresh. It makes Dunkirk look dull and plasticky.
One of the major problems with both the Hurricane and Spitfire is that the engine cuts out when inverted. Watch the opening shot when the pilot does a victory roll. You can hear the engine splutter and a puff of black smoke as it misses a few cycles.
I thought he was about to go down.
Yes, carborated engines hate negative G's, the ME-109 used a fuel injected engine and did not suffer such problems.
. bowl and float fuel system don't work upside down
Wrong. The engine doesn't cut out when inverted, it does so when subject to negative G, ie, if the pilot suddenly 'bunts' the aircraft by pushing the nose down, it causes fuel starvation. Pilots over came it by half rolling the aircraft as they entered a dive, then once in the dive, they rolled back around through 180 degrees. Miss Shillington's 'orafice' solved the problem altogether!
@@tongoio When subject to negative G, not just when inverted........
This was one of my and my mates' favourite films when we were kids in the early 80s. We'd build Airfix models of the planes and do recreations. Everyone had at least one Spitfire and one Messerschmitt in our "hangar", together with heavy bombers and other aircraft. Few things were better than building a new tank diorama or painting your figurine army. These days it's a fringe hobby for nerds, back then it was a point of pride to know as much as possible and have the best models.
they took it away from kids by making the glue prohibited to minors. With good reason, they killed a industry to save a few skin heads who were huffing it. Right about the time we were going into the warning label infestation.
Memorable times man
👍🇨🇦
In my "hangar" some 40-45 years ago: Lockheed P38 (Airfix), Mustang P51 (Airfix), Curtiss P40 (Airfix), Vought F4u Corsair (x2, one Airfix and the other one Hasegawa), Douglas Boston (Airfix), Spitfire (x2, both Airfix), Mosquito (Airfix), Bristol Beaufighter (Matchbox), BF109 (Airfix), BF110 (Airfix), Junkers Ju87 Stuka (x2, both Airfix), Junkers Ju88 (Airfix), Reggiane Re 2002 Ariete (Supermodel), all of them 1/72.
Great great memories, along with those beautiful Airfix 1/32 soldiers among the toys we enjoyed and "used" the most!!!!
@@mellilore sounds awesome. Can't remember all of mine, but the Stuka and B17 were among the favourites. I remember Matchbox tried wrestling in on the figurine market at some point, but they were garbage compared to Airfix.
@@M1tjakaramazov Miklòs Klein's Airfix made awesome stuff, IMHO unmatched back then and even more nowadays. When I see how poorly the average toy is enginered and made today, I feel sorry for my 8 and 6 YO kids :-(
My grandfather was a carpenter at Pinewood and built all the mock Hurricanes and Spitfires blown up in the ground scenes
As kids we were awe of our parents and grand parents generation that lived and fought through WW2, hoping we would never have to in the future. We thank you.
Opening scene…Hurricane’s engine sputters during a roll, carburetor starving the engine when inverted. So accurate.
Black smoke from a rich cut.
@@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935 Thanks, guys! I always wondered about that.
And they don't even explain why Plummer rips into the pilot for doing that close to the ground, risking a stall.
Correct. Compare with the scene in "Reach for the Sky", in which Bader performs aerobatics for his Canadian squadron. We see the puff of smoke, but the audio track doesn't match the visuals.
@@crhu319 He explains it himself later in the film, though not in technical terms.
Stunning low-level flying at 5:23 and I love that there is no CGI.
I've watched this wonderful movie so many times. My late Grandfather flew in Lancs for the pathfinders. And my great Uncle flew spitfires in Africa.
This is more than just a film, it’s a journey back in time in a time machine. Bravo to all concerned.
What a cast: Ian McShane, Robert Shaw, Christopher Plummer and Edward Fox all in the opening few minutes of this classic masterpiece, and produced by the better half of the Bond producers----Harry Saltzman.
They were all far too old.
First film I went to see at the cinema and today still the best
Dowding knew what he was doing and still doesnt get the credit he deserves.
He was a victim of internal RAF politics after the Battle, and Churchill also disliked him. Which did not help.
I had this on a two VHS video set when I was 10. I watched it so many times. Joined the Air Force and got to be a pilot. This movie meant a lot.
These few seconds that showed the beach of Dunkirk was more realistic than Nolan's entire movie.
That was exactly what I was thinking!
If you want more modern interpretation of Dunkirk scene, check Atonement.
The Battle of Britain. The RAF'S Finest Hour. The sound of Spitfire's Merlin engines humming sends chills to the spine!
The RAF and Sir Winston Churchill saved all of us.....while Roosevelt and our US government slept .
And Hurricanes Merlin
@@frederickloucks4865 Oh brother.
Dont forget the Spitfire. The greatest fighter plane of WW2 @@frederickloucks4865
The interesting thing is that every aircraft in that scene was flying a Merlin engine! The messerschmitts had been bought from the Spanish Air Force and re-engent with Merlin's for them, the hurricanes had Merlin's built in. I had read during the making of the movie that nearly every qualified Merlin mechanic was used for the movie.
I don't think they bought them, I think they were on loan from Spain and were built with Merlin engines from the start. By the time Hispano built them under licence the Daimler-benz engines were unavailable whereas there were plenty of surplus merlins.
AKA Messerspit
Hurricanes had Merlin's from the off! lol
@@brendanpells912 The original plan was to build them in Spain, with Daimler-Benz engines supplied from Germany. This fell through, as DB couldn't supply enough for the Luftwaffe, let alone another country.
Spain therefore started to build them with their own Hispano-Suiza engines. The first flew in 1944.
Rolls-Royce engines were introduced in 1951. They remained in operational service until 1965. It was almost certainly this model that was used in the film.
Us young lads in the '70's would revel in films like this when they were aired. We were Airfix model fans and could name almost every WWII British plane, and Douglas Bader was my all time favorite Ace (I have a signed copy of Fight for the Sky).
We Will Remember Them 🌹🇬🇧
"Reach for the Sky"?
Sorry, I'm a nerd as well.
@@raypurchase801 No Ray, IDCL is correct on that. Paul Brickhill wrote the famous "Reach for the sky" book, but Bader himself penned "Fight for the sky - The story of the Spitfire and Hurricane" in 1973 which can easily be bought secondhand online, and is an easy, comfortable but interesting read.
05:49 laurence olivier speech IS the letter written by Air chief Marshall Dowding! Brilliant film, ' that's why I wrote it.' EPIC
I've been maintaining a VHS player for 20 years, now, just for this movie!
And I think it's about time to watch it again!
Really? That movie was released on DVD more than a decade ago....
@@TOFKAS01 I even have it in 4k but it hasn't the same vibe as the VHS recording with the old commercials on it :p
That version also has the alternate German dubbing that I can't find on any of the newer versions.
@@paulmustermann7068 Oh yes, right. I know about that. The VHS is having a better german dubbing. The dialoge of the original geman actors were just placeholders. Unfortunately you can hear that if you know german.
Bit with the lame ducks must have been heart breaking when your doing it for real.
One of the greatest WW2 movies ever made.ive lost count how many times ive watched this brilliant piece of cinema.
Some of the footage shot from the camera plane, B-25 Mitchell, has been used in a ton of other films/docs etc..
One of those films I can, and do, watch over and over and never miss a frame when it's on TV again and again.
Don"t bother fact checking this film, it is as close as it gets to documentary.
When people Fact check movies like Tora Tora Tora, Downfall, The Longest Day and this one it's annoying
As far as I'm concerned, this is how it was back then, filmed live at that time.
Remember going to the cinema with my Dad back in 1972 to see this. Great film for its day. No need for CGI then with great soundtrack which I doubt could ever be bettered. Cast perfectly put together and superb direction.What more could anyone say, if you are a WW2 buff then watch it and be impressed!
What a cast. Edward Fox, Robert Shaw, Christopher Plummer. Three of my favorite actors.
It's odd hearing Robert Shaw speak without a a fake German accent. Every time I see him I expect to hear him belt out Panzerlied.
And Michael Caine and Susanna York....
@@njd2342 Susanna York, Oh yes! A seventeen year old schoolboy's wet dream back then.
@@njd2342 I can't find the bit where Michael shouts, "Oi! Stop chuckin' them bleedin' spears!"
And a very young Ian McShane!😂
I remember being taken to the cinema to watch this when it first came out; I was nine at the time. We rode home in my friends dad's car, an estate, with me and my chum pretending to be gunners in the back of the vehicle. We massacred any car that came close to us and one driver had the good grace to feign being hit by our bullets as he began to overtake us on a short section of dual carriageway. He even slowed down half way through the overtaking manoeurvre and peeled off into the emergency lane as if he was going down in flames. I hope he realised the delight he gave to two young lads, what a fine fellow; and what a movie!. Thanks for the memories.
This was exactly my son's reaction when I took him to see Star Wars.
Jajajaj....ves demasiada television 😅
Practically a documentary... and an EVEN-HANDED one, at that.
"Flood the cowling, plenty of it." As James May would say.
This line always amused me. That May picked up on it is hilarious!
After 53 years its STILL better than what we're getting in 2022 ...... and when they burned those Hurricanes my heart still gets a sadness to it ....... I cant imagine what those pilots and ground crew went through having to carry out those orders 😞
And no CGI!!! Brilliant.
Watched this with my father, Dennis Pritchard who was in the RAF. Wonderful. He flew from Biggin Hill.
I first saw this as an 8 year old in 1969/70 at the cinema in Kenton/Wembley with my Uncle Neil. I sat transfixed throughout and it still looks great today. Such wonderful cinematography and the fantastic music score (written in 3 weeks) by Ron Goodwin RIP is so perfect and uplifting. I wish some studio would digitally remaster it, adding in things that were not available at the time, like 'real' Stukas, JU-88's and Me110's.
Here we are now, 2022, 82 years after the events of this film, and once again an aggressor nation is attempting to bomb another country into submission and subjugation.
One of the greatest movies ever
Its more a collection of vignettes than a good film narrative.
BRING THIS BACK TO THE BIG SCREEN !!!!
My grandad was a flight sergeant during WW2 he also flew in the battle of Britain
I salute him.
Christopher Plummer
One of the Greats
RIP
Robert Shaw too.
RIP.
@@peterbassey9668 We should respect Christopher for getting his family out of Austria.
Sad to learn Robert got eaten by a shark.
Edward Fox was later killed whilst trying to shoot DeGaulle.
In one scene Göring dresses down his Generals and then goes all fatherly on them and asks "What can I do for you?" And General Adolf Galland replies "Herr Reichsmarschall, give me a flight of Spitfires." That conversation is historically correct.
The battle for France was over, the battle of Britain was about to begin .
You should write that down 😉
@@Twirlyhead 🤣🤣
@@Twirlyhead 🤪
Sadly, it is still being fought.
@@peterbassey9668 Go away.
To apreciate how good an actor Christoffer Plummer really was, you need to watch a TV version of Shakespeare's "Hamlet".
It's from 1960 and I've never seen anything like it.
Incredible performance!
Thanks I'll look for this. I thought he was great in "Remember" 2015
@@bsastarfire250 OK? I'm sorry, I haven't seen that one.
"Hamlet at Elsinore" 1964👌
@@fortesfree6807 Yes, you are right of course! The year before he became too famous with the Sound of Music.
@@bsastarfire250 I was going to say the same thing. It’s scandalous he didn’t get an Oscar for Remember
The cinematography of this special old film is very very good. Look at the end the slowly panoramic of the dead battlefield and the far distance rising smoke on the field ... No CGI no visual effects..Real models real vehicles real effects!! Brilliant film.
A lot of interesting things happened in 1969.This film release,Woodstock,Moon Landing,The Beatles White Album and Abbey Road.And it was only three years since we won the world cup and only 1 year since the first club in England to win the european cup.MUFC.Great times they were.
Just look what 60 years of insidious globalist machinations can do to society.
One of the greatest openings for a ww2 movie
This movie has always made be proud to be British, it emphasizes the fighting spirit of people who remain brave longer than others
We've fallen a long way since then. And I weep as I watch our collapse.
I'm just glad I grew up in the late 60s and 70s .
No looney left or woke nonsense, no rainbow people taking priority over the majority of regular normal people .
I grew up doing things outdoors, playing football, climbing trees, making camps , etc.
Now we have immigrants getting flats, money , mobiles, etc, are they grateful, nope, they burn hotels and our government panders to them, when they should be fkd off out. :/
and like 1940 the British has left the continent again to stand alone against all odds...
@@Nik111333 Britain has left WHAT continent to stand alone ?
our continent is Europe..
What ate you on about ???
Total bollux - we have left the clutches of the EU and our exports to Europe have increased!!!!@@Nik111333
My all time favourite film, my dad took me to see it at the cinema as a boy, and lost count of how many times ive watched it since. 'Repeat please' !
It's actually a BEAUTIFUL movie to watch. Lovely colours. And as close to historical fact as could actually be achieved in a movie.
It's an awful film that thankfully flopped.
@@MarkHarrison733Bugger off and go watch your favourite movie Pearl Harbour!
The cast of this film was awesome. Even the Germans.
The stillness, the quietness of these films gave it an emotionally somber feeling which I find preferable to the ott scores that came later.
This intro really sets us up for a super film.
Love this film. Stuffy, Keith Park and their brave lads saved the world. 👏👏👏👏
Absolutely
Indeed.
One of my all-time favourite movies. I was in a boarding school when it came out, and I remember that I snuck out of school during school hours and took a bus to the movie theatre to watch this. If I'd been found out it would've been immediate expelling from school and probably a big disruption to my education. In hindsight it seems cute but it was risky. I just love Spitfires and to have not seen this movie would've been sacrilege. The growl of the Merlins is music to my ears. They don't make movies like this anymore except through CGI. As for Susannah York ... mmmm ... what a bomb.
That's the spirit, & I for one SY mmm ..
"you don't expect us to get into these ridiculous things, do you?" (but keep the stockings on though...my version)
I saw it being filmed.
You sneaked out of school. If you are British you should know that there is no such word as "snuck."
@@DieFlabbergast When did I say I was British? What made you assume that? I wouldn't want to be British for all the money in the world. By the way, snuck is the past tense of sneak when the verb is treated like an irregular verb.
That 109 was pretty darn close to that fence.
Ray Hanna?
No don't think so he was too busy flying for "Rothmans" or the Red Arrows if some one knows better please inform us
@@frostyfrost4094 You are right, when the film was shot RH was still in the RAF flying with, and leading, the Rad Arrows. Most of his competition and display flying occurred after he retired from the RAF in 1971.
The aerial photography remains still quite breathtaking. A genuine masterpiece of cinema heaven.
And the orchestral accompaniment to reflect the chatter of machine gun and canon is exquisite.
And no bloody computers anywhere in sight!
FUN FACT: The aerial photography was accomplished from a converted B25 twin-engined bomber. The same aircraft was used for filming "633 Squadron". The B25 can be briefly glimpsed in "633 Squadron", supposedly the aircraft which was used to transport George Chakiris back to Norway.;
The sound of the engines is incredible. No cgi in sight
Greatest flying movie ever made.
A masterclass in every aspect of movie making, "Battle of Britain" splendidly depicts the valor and heroic fervor of WWII's aerial combat, an absolute requisite for history aficionados.
This film was complete garbage, which is why it flopped so badly.
@@MarkHarrison733I bet you love the movie Pearl Harbour.
Saw the Battle of Britain film, with the school this was my last school summer holiday and the Isle of Wight Pop festival
That’s when Britain was TRULY British, and worth fighting for.
It still is. I love my country.
@@lyndoncmp5751 Me too, just not the tw@s that supposedly run it.
@@lyndoncmp5751 Respect 👍
Plus "fair play" to those who joined us in the fray that lit the candle for the preservation of world
freedom against a vile, still largely unkinown for its depravity, aggressive tyranny.
This movie at one point was in and of itself, the 35th largest air force on the planet.
Great Musical Score, Great Sound Effects, Really Engine Sounds, Real planes. Steller Cast!
I used to live in Essex, England not far from North Weald Airfield where most of the dogfight scenes were shot. I remember watching these incredible aircraft ‘fighting’ overhead of my school. Hardly got any school work done as we were always looking out of the window enjoying the show 🤩
Well that is my excuse for failing my exams😂 I bought the Blue Ray and still watch it every now and then. A truly great film of a crucial struggle for my country.👍🏻
Oh you lucky bu66er my father took me North Weald nothing they were at Duxford blowing up the hangar
Aged 10 I also saw weeks of filming as a kid in Bedfordshire, they flew from twinwoods & Thurleigh also weaving around the sky in mock battle.
I was in Ongar and saw them too !
@@bobwright-st5hd I was in Harlow, you probably had more than I did. You were virtually on the door step of the airfield👍🏻
@Russell Gray I distinctly recall a 109 over our house at maybe 200' Very exciting !
I watched the movie with my dad when i was young, we both liked it just as much.
Voices who sound a bit boxy because of the old microphones, Camera's who tilt too much when a (real) plane crashes into the Channel, Ketchup splatters on the goggles and the cockpit. etc... but it was all real! Hurricanes and Spitfires, Spanish Me's 109's. even the Heinkels were real, but often multiplied when in formation.
The Final battle was a masterpiece, with only music audible (Scramble / Battle in the air)
I do still watch the movie, once a year probably. It brings back the feeling of old times . brings back the days of having a dad and a good friend.
who bought me a Spitfire compass and propeller blade.
Listen closely to 0:17 second mark. You can hear the sputter of the engine during the victory roll as the gravity dependent carb starves briefly for fuel while inverted. The Germans had fuel injection in their planes and did not have this problem. The Merlin 66, in 1943, received fuel injection from a Bendix Stromberg Pressure Carburetor as a fix.
This sort of information is always appreciated.
Until "The Battle of Britain" everything went Hitler's way. The pilots, airmen, and airwomen of the RAF from many nations gave him his first bloody nose. This film captures the spirit of the time so well. Though my service was much later I am very proud to have worn RAF blue. Per Ardua ad Astra!!
Not quite, the RN sank half of his Kreigsmarine destroyer force in Norway in April 1940.
And he lost the Graf Spee in December 1939 off Montevideo. @@kevinlynott309
Fantastic sounds from those 109’s
Laurence Olivier, as Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding, lays it out. German pilots had only a short time to do their worst. For many RAF airmen, it was a matter of defending the sky above their own backyards.
The following year, German fighters started to use drop tanks but by then they were primarily focused on Barbarossa. Drop tanks in 1940 would have allowed them to stay longer over England.
I'm building a model of an me 109 , it has a single drop tank on fuselage under the pilot .
I thought it was supposed to be a bomb until I read the leaflet that came with the instructions.
I love the spitfires, but the me or bf 109 is my 2nd favourite fighter of WW2 .
Dowding's husbanding of resources allied to tactics, rescue services in situ, and the continual development of spotters/radar/"chain home" etc to say nothing of the integration of different nationalities plus the tighter turning Hurricane and Spitfires ......is the reason I am alive today.
@@iansimpson4911 I'm lucky to be alive, both my grandparents homes were bombed during the blitz, east London and in north London.
My granma was pregnant with my mother when her house was bombed , she used to hide under the stairs during air raids,
The night her house was hit my granda was on leave and took her & my aunts to the underground.
If he wasn't on leave my gran wouldve been killed my mother wouldn't have been born ..
A lot of us are lucky to be here today ..
The Spit got the lion’s share of publicity but it’s the Hurricane that saved Britain
Actually it was the RN.
@@johnburns4017 As The Movie was about the Battle of Britain I was referring to the fighter aircraft in the movie.
@@JeepWrangler1957 wrote:
_"it’s the Hurricane that saved Britain"_
The RN was too big and too powerful for any German invasion to succeed. The Battle of Britain saving Britain is a myth.
I never get tired seeing the movie many times
This and Zulu are my favourite films I must have watched them hundreds of times
When this film came out I was 10 and I loved it! Loved the cinema as we only had black and white tv at home.
Just a reminder of how long Ian McShane has been in the business
Somehow the remake will never come close to this film..No remake will be better than this film, the atmosphere, the aircraft, the actual pilots who were in the real battle on hand to advise for the film. Even Dowding himself was allowed to be in the same room and asked after a particular take was that accurate? You can’t beat this.
That was Dowding's actual desk that Olivier sat behind.
remember going to see this at a cinema as a birthday treat ( wont say how old I was).. so many famous faces now
If you want to know what the WWII Battle Of Britain was all about historically this is as close to a documentary as it's possible to get in a couple of hours of movie. Utterly incomparably brilliant.
The sound of those aero engines is a true thing of beauty..... I love the sound still........
Edit: the actors are/ were some of the greatest to ply their trade.. todays crop can only hope to be a fraction as good...
Even with today’s special affects capabilities I can’’t imagine a better version of this film ever being made.
They could make it better today but they won't. Too much effort.
When Luftwaffe and RAF were busy replenishing their ranks after the Battle of Britain, both my grandpas found themselves in a cockpit all of a sudden.
Good thing that they never met each other back then or I would have never heard their stories 😁.
Both of my grandfathers went to join up together. My mothers dad was already married at that point, my fathers dad met my grandmother (or at least saw her) on the SS Queen Mary when it was used as a troopship. After they were separated at the recruiting station, they never saw each other again. My fathers dad died when my father was 14. Later, when he met my mother, he was given a tour around places to meet people who had known his father by my mothers parents!
My favourite movie of all time! I remember my old man taking me to see it in the cinema when it was released, bought the CD some years back. The level of cinematography and air fight sequences were brilliant.. Still makes me think of him.
Good call. Zulu runs it close though.
Great memories and I have the same of my dad taking me too.
@@markstarmer3677 The Welsh soldiers out singing the Zulu's fair stirs the soul.
@@larryjenkinson4789 it certainly does Larry. Also the roll call at the end brings a lump to the throat.
@@markstarmer3677 Even the music is magical and well timed.
Hard to believe that this movie was depicting events that happened less than 30 years earlier.
Yep and at that time there were only three Hawker Hurricanes active in the world
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My father a Canadian WW2 veteran took me to see this movie.