Favorite RAF Movies

[Cigarband]

I do an RAF reenacting impression and wanted to ask the members here assembled, what are your favorite movies about the RAF in WWII?

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

The only movie about the RAF during World War II that I can think of off the top of my head is Battle of Britain (1968).

 

[Smithy]

My top four are:

"Battle of Britain"

"Dark Blue World"

"The Dam Busters"

and the mini-series "Piece of Cake"

 

[Cigarband]

I was not aware of "Piece of Cake." Thanks for the heads-up.

 

[number6]

RAF movie

'Appointment in London' is great , well worth a watch . Lancaster heaven .


Paul.

 

[Marv]

Just a few of my favourites.....

Angels One Five,
Journey Together,
Way to the Stars,
First of the Few,
A Matter of Life and Death,
Dambusters,
Battle of Britain,

the list goes on.......

 

[KilroyCD]

Not in any particular order:
Battle of Britain
633 Squadron
Dambusters
Piece of Cake (mini-series)
Target For Tonight
Dark Blue World
First of the Few (known as "Spitfire" in the US)
One of Our Aircraft is Missing

I'm sure there are more that I just can't think of right now.

 

[dhermann1]

I would say all of the above, especially "The Battle of Britain" (that's required) and especially "633 Squadron".
There are also some nice RAF scenes in a couple of fanciful films by the Archers (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressberger). The first is "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" ("Colonel Blimp", for short), with good old Roger Livesey and a very young Deborah Kerr, and the other is "A Matter of Life and Death" (UK), ("Stairway to Heaven", US), with Livesey and David Niven. They both have some good color footage of the RAF during the war.

 

[H.Johnson]

The Sea Shall Not Have Them

 

[Spitfire]

Besides the above mentioned (my favourits being: Battle of Britain, Piece of Cake and Dark Blue World - in that order) there is a very good TV documentary from UK (BBC?) called: Their Finest Hour.
Should be on DVD.

fftopic: Like your avatar - for a moment I thought I'd started a thread without knowing it. (I've used the same pic among many others)

 

[thecardigankid]

I have to say Battle of Britain is one of my all time favorites, and Piece of Cake is very good, if you have an evening you can watch Piece of Cake in an entire sitting, it isnt that long. Definitely worth the watch.

Havent seen Squadron 633 gonna have to check that one out.

 

[Cigarband]

Thank you all, there's five new ones for me to see.

 

[Stearmen]

Spitfire

As a side note, while filming 633 Squadron in 1963, actor Cliff Robertson picked up a little souvenir in the form of an ex Belgian Spitfire IX! You can read about it here, very interesting story, to bad she is now grounded! http://www.jerrybilling.com/Jerry%20Billing%20Spitfire's/History%20of%20Spitfire%20MK923.htm

 

[Spitfire]

Interesting story - thanks for the headsup. :eusa_clap

 

[Ephraim Tutt]

Ye Gods chaps! How come no one mentioned "Reach for the Sky" - the Douglas Bader story?! Wonderful film with Kenneth More playing Sir Douglas.

For those of you who don't know of the British Spitfire and Hurricane ace - who continued to fly after losing both legs in a flying accident in 1931, and went on to become one of WWII's leading aces - see the article here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Bader

 

[Edward]

Ye Gods chaps! How come no one mentioned "Reach for the Sky" - the Douglas Bader story?! Wonderful film with Kenneth More playing Sir Douglas.

For those of you who don't know of the British Spitfire and Hurricane ace - who continued to fly after losing both legs in a flying accident in 1931, and went on to become one of WWII's leading aces - see the article here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Bader

His is quite a story. The biography (long out of print) of the same name is also worth a read if you can find a copy.

Definitely something from a bygone age.... I seriously doubt that (unless once more as desperate for recruits as they were right before Goering abandoned the Battle of Britain) nowadays they would let such a man fly again, regardless of ability. That said, I noticed a recent PR campaign by the British army which emphasises that nowadays they do keep such injured on board in various capacities. Which is, I feel, an important thing.... if someone ends up with that sort of disability through military service, it is encouraging to see the military not abandon him or his skills. All too many of the homeless here in london are ex-military. But hey, I'm veering fftopic: ...

Suffice it to say that Reach for the Sky is a great film, inspiring triumph of man over adversity, and also much more subtle than many of the films of the era. I felt it portrayed German people particularly well rather than as the two-dimensional Germany's WWII-era leaderships that they often were in Hollywood.

If ever you get a chance to see it on a rerun, there was an episode of British TV show This is your Life back in the early 80s which featured Bader. They had all kinds of incredible guests on, I'm sure now, like Bader himself, long gone, from the German hausfrau who hid him in the straw in her barn during one of his abortive escape attempts from POW camp, to the Luftwaffe pilot who had shot him down. The camaradarie and lack of bitterness between the two was a wonderful thing to see.

 

[Spitfire]

Ye Gods chaps! How come no one mentioned "Reach for the Sky" - the Douglas Bader story?! Wonderful film with Kenneth More playing Sir Douglas.

For those of you who don't know of the British Spitfire and Hurricane ace - who continued to fly after losing both legs in a flying accident in 1931, and went on to become one of WWII's leading aces - see the article here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Bader

...let's just say, I am not a great fan of Douglas Bader myself. Maybe that's why.
But that's a whole other story, and has nothing to do with the subject of this thread.
The movie is OK - and Kenneth More plays it rather well - like only Kenneth More can.
In fact he gives a much more human and nice picture of Sir Douglas than reality. Hey - I am rabling on now. Somebody stop me!!!

 

[Edward]

...let's just say, I am not a great fan of Douglas Bader myself. Maybe that's why.
But that's a whole other story, and has nothing to do with the subject of this thread.
The movie is OK - and Kenneth More plays it rather well - like only Kenneth More can.
In fact he gives a much more human and nice picture of Sir Douglas than reality. Hey - I am rabling on now. Somebody stop me!!!

Don't the movies always? I've seen more than a few films about 'great heroes' who in reality were racist or otherwise rather unpleasant people. Same reason we still see things like Churchill being voted "greatest Briton" - though the truth about him is now starting to come out, I suppose. I wish they'd just tell the real story, warts and all, myself; real people are always more interesting than flawless ciphers... but hey ho.

 

[Smithy]

...let's just say, I am not a great fan of Douglas Bader myself. Maybe that's why.
But that's a whole other story, and has nothing to do with the subject of this thread.
The movie is OK - and Kenneth More plays it rather well - like only Kenneth More can.
In fact he gives a much more human and nice picture of Sir Douglas than reality. Hey - I am rabling on now. Somebody stop me!!!

As I think you already know Søren, I feel exactly the same way.

 

[dhermann1]

Slightly OT. I've seen the film, which I enjoyed very much. (BTW, if you get a chance, see More's version of "The 39 Steps", do so, very creditable).
I've also read the book. Best moment in the book: he's lying in the hospital bed, after his crash, with both legs amputated. He's surprised he's not in very bad pain. Then he hears one nurse in the hallway whisper to another "Ssshh. There's a boy in there dying." When he hears this he starts kicking and thrashing till the pain comes back like *****usters. He knows then he's saved his own life. Amazing. And yes, I can imagine Bader beiing a bit of a horse's patooty in real life. The anecdote I remember about him from the filming of "The Battle of Britain", was that he incessantly went around to everybody saying "Make sure you tell them we won! Make sure you show that we won!"