Battle of Britain (1969)

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

So everyone else's comments, yes. But how about the funny bits? "Repeat please?" "Private polish chit chat", and "thanks awfully, old man", oh, and "get your hands up you Nazi bastard"Then there's the special effects. Obviously there's the explosions apparently achieved by scratching the negative. And of course the fishing line on the Stuka crashing into the chain home station. But my two favorites are the attack on the French airfield and the he 111 with the dangling string. In the airfield sequence, there's a strafing sequence when one Me comes straight at the camera, hurricane explodes, another me goes right to left, but the charges meant to show staging fire are reversed, so as the approaching me fires, the crossing charges fire, and so on.Then there's the he 111 with the tether. So they got a great shot of the large scale model 111 plunging into the channel, but the tether is still attached to the model for some reason? So they add in a shot of "control cables" snapping, to explain!

The usual problem with war movies (and television as well) that are supposed to be about air combat is that the action sequences you really tuned in to see routinely take a back seat a preponderance of typically hokey ground-based melodrama. If that kind of thing disappoints you, then THIS is the movie you want to watch.The makers of this film "got it", turning the usual paradigm around 180 degrees. In THE BATTLE OF Britain, the action comes FIRST, literally from the opening frame, and man, is there ever action. No one has ever come even remotely close to making a movie so packed with air combat action, and best of all, has done it so well. For viewers used to old 1940's vintage airwar movies with their usual panoply of obvious miniature models, soundstage rear-projection shots, and clearly artificial early special effects, you are in for a real treat. Never, not even in TORA, TORA, TORA (much less the comparatively sugar-coated MEMPHIS BELL), have such a collection of vintage aircraft been brought together to reenact aerial combat for video. Nothing else has really ever even come close. There is no CGI here, and whatever miniatures or animation were necessary in some spots the fact is that the innumerable aerial combat sequences are completely dominated by actual period aircraft in flight -- dozens and dozens of period aircraft in actual dogfights and other combat flight maneuvers. One gets the impression that half the film's budget could have spent on aviation fuel alone. And with that material to work with, neither do the cinematographers or the sound effects people or even the music department disappoint (and for my money, the British theme is the best piece of music ever composed to glorify flying). Not only is the movie jam-packed from end to end with essentially authentic aircraft in flight, but the photography makes the most out of it, with countless exciting, full-color shots of carefully choreographed combat sequences. Moreover, if you are already familiar with the storyline -- i.e., if you know your history of the early years of World War II -- then the narration is fairly brilliant in its rapid-paced, economical, nuanced approach to hitting all the high points of the war generally at that time and the Battle of Britain in particular. In that sense, I would give very high marks to the screenplay. Unfortunately, however, if you DON'T know your history of these events, no one but the quickest thinkers are likely to catch on to so much of what's going on here, and if the movie has a significant failing, that is it. The plot, such as it is, can be quite a muddle to the uninitiated. And while some reviewers were unimpressed with the ground-side melodrama here, I think that is at most a secondary complaint, and I personally did not find that oppressive in the least, but rather, appropriate to the subject matter and sufficiently subdued that it never threatens to dominate the movie. To the contrary, at least it gives the non-history buff something readily understandable and it also includes some humorous anecdotes as well. One thing I used to think about this movie is that nothing like this would ever be made again, and yet, here recently (as of January 2016) it has come out that some one is putting together a remake. God knows what it might look like. The original features such a great cast of English heroic actors (Sir Lawrence Olivier, Robert Shaw, Trevor Howard, Michael Caine, Kenneth More, etc., etc.) that it is hard to see how anyone can equal much less top that today, and one anticipates that whatever CGI they decide to use won't equal using real airplanes, either. Well, at least we still have a high-quality DVD of this. lol.

This is really a stirring and magnificent account of one of the most important events in history. Britain really was on her knees at the time and if the Battle of Britain had been lost then the Nazis may well have gone on to dominate the world.Filled with many of the top British actors of the time this film accurately portrays the events of summer 1940 when the RAF defeated the Luftwaffe and effectively stopped any hope the Nazis had of invading this country. The music is also fantastic and provides a superb backdrop to the dogfighting scenes. The Heinkel 111s and Bf 109s used by the "Luftwaffe" in the film may not have been accurate as they were not actually Heinkels or 109s and no other German bomber types except Stukas are shown but these are small details when compared to the epic nature and difficulty in re-enacting an event of nearly 30 years earlier at the time. It also shows the terror and horror for very young men with very few hours flying experience who had to face death on a daily basis.Of the stars only Michael Caine's character is killed although Christopher Plummer's ends up badly burned.I think this film is very important in that it shows a real and war changing event accurately and shows the true courage of the young men who fought so bravely to keep this country free.

There not much bad that can be said of all technical aspects involved in making such a film. The props ,costumes ,special effects ,The Planes and the combined lot take center stage in this brilliant UK produced spectacle!! The acting was well done there's zero Poorly spoken lines. Personally this movie was viewed by me twice it seems to follow historical correctness on a whole . I don't know how true all the various personal stories that weave there way throughout the entire movie are . However they are done tastefully and in Actual real life they are plausible . At the end of the movie when the credits are shown on screen the producers added statistics .Very Solemn moment. I don't know how your movie viewing goes , Thats in your hands . Personally I most always view credits from beginning to end .My movie experience becomes more fulfilling .