Does anybody know why the crew of Battle of Britain decided to paint three Buchons as Hurricanes?
I know there were not enough Hurricanes to go round for aerial shots, just three, but when you consider these factors –
1) The expense of painting three aircraft when the film was already over budget seems wasteful
2) They only appear fleetingly (I assume more shots were filmed with them but never used)
3) In other scenes the editors were doing a very creditable job with matting other types such as Stukas, Heinkels and Bf109s to make it look like dozens in the air, so why not simply matt the three Hurricanes making six of them? In the short time they were on screen for the Polish scenes no one would have noticed matting I’m sure
4) the shot where the aircraft are seen, they look markedly different to the Hurricanes, and though on the first few viewings of the film you may not notice because they’re in the background, once you do they stick out like sore thumbs.
It just seems odd to me with the moneymen breathing down their necks, the film makers disguised the Buchons rather than using the tried and trusted editing process to artifically create the extra Hurricanes. Does anyone know if tehre was a specific reason behind this idea?
By: RadarArchive - 1st October 2004 at 07:21
The book was written 9 years before the film was made?
A quick check on abebooks.com reveal the first edition was published in 1969, so we can put away theories of time travel or clairvoyance in the writing of the book. 😉
By: Dave Homewood - 1st October 2004 at 07:20
Cheers Tim, great story.
So I guess really it was indeed simply down to the technicalities of the day. These days the scene could be done six times with one aircraft and all put together to look like six.
I shall look out for you playing Barry Foster next time I watch the film. 🙂
By: Tim Mills - 1st October 2004 at 06:55
If I remember right, the Bouchons dressed as Hurricanes were only used in the Polish sequence to make up numbers. In that sequence the leading Hurricane flown by the stiff upper lip English squadron commander (Barry Foster?) goes straight on while the other 2+3 peel off to join the fray. Having seen his troops all disobey his orders, he follows them. So it would have been difficult to reproduce the five convincingly, with the leader flying straight and level in the foreground.
I was leading that particular formation shot, flying the part of the squadron commander, so had to go straight on while the rest enjoyed themselves! Then I was allowed to do a smart peel off myself.
I think that scene was shot after the ‘sky full of aeroplanes’ bits had been done, so I’m not sure if the three Bouchons had to be repainted back to their original colours. A lot of repainting, mainly of squadron letters and so on, was going on all the time, so I don’t think it came as any surprise to us suddenly to find RAF coloured Bouchons, flown by Spanish pilots in our formation! We all enjoyed ourselves.
By: Mark12 - 30th September 2004 at 17:42
The book was written 9 years before the film was made?
Wrong thread?
You perhaps want:-
“Alternative Battle of Britain Film Quotes.”
Mark
By: John Boyle - 30th September 2004 at 17:06
Hi Dave,
I have the book written about making of BoB and I’ll skim thro it to see what they say.
The Book is called
The Battle of Britian the making of the film, By Leonard Mosley published by STEIN AND DAY 1960 ISBN 8128 1239-5
Cheers Crazymainer
The book was written 9 years before the film was made?
By: crazymainer - 29th September 2004 at 23:23
Hi Dave,
I have the book written about making of BoB and I’ll skim thro it to see what they say.
The Book is called
The Battle of Britian the making of the film, By Leonard Mosley published by STEIN AND DAY 1960 ISBN 8128 1239-5
Great book there are some great storys about the CAF guys Connie would sing Cowboy songs over the RC.
Cheers Crazymainer
By: tonyd - 29th September 2004 at 23:06
The painted up Buchons were also used to supplement the small no of Hurris in the Polish Squadron scene (repeat please etc)
By: Dave Homewood - 29th September 2004 at 13:24
Yeah, I guess it does seem logical, but surely they could still have layered two shots over each other of the three peeling off individually, if you know what I mean. Perhaps they were not confident that the technology would stand up in those days as the planes were so close into the shot.
The decision to use the Buchons must have been made fairly early on in the story board phase I guess, rather than later into the production – unless they trialled matting and it didn’t look right.
It’d be interesting to find out the full story.
By: DazDaMan - 29th September 2004 at 13:07
Yes, that seems logical to me.
I thought the “spinning” aircraft were models?
By: Blue Leader - 29th September 2004 at 13:05
I will try & find out for you, I can only think though that the need for individual aircraft, rather than mirror image (for want of another word) would have been for each aircraft to break individualy (repeat please-break etc. etc.)
One of these Buchons was used for the ‘spinning’ scene & masquerades as Christopher Plummer’s aircraft when he gets shot down.
Steve
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September 29, 2004 at 12:27 pm