Cockleshell Heroes – agreeing with Andy in Beds

“The sea shall not have them”??? Been a while since I last saw it mind

That was on Yesterday and the first time I have seen it.
Some interesting views of Sunderlands and a Seagull? (Walrus with Radial).

“The sea shall not have them”??? Been a while since I last saw it mind

i shall be watching 12 o’clock High this pm always enjoy it,also my favorite pongo films the Way Ahead with David Niven-and Dunkirk.Wet wise the Yangtse incident.

regards
jack…

Melvyn,

You’ll be pleased to hear that both the documentary and “The Wooden Horse” are available on Iplayer for a few days.

I missed the documentary last night, safe in the knowledge that the BBC repeat almost everything on BBC4. Afterwards they showed The Wooden Horse and I missed that too, I saw it years ago and would like to see it again as some years ago I was lucky enough to go flying (through Project Propellor) with Aubrey Niner who was in Stalag Luft 3. He had been shot down over the centre of Lille in a Boston and landed right outside the German barracks. There are photos of him being arrested. I asked him if he was involved in ‘the big one’ and he told me there were three camps at Sagan. Sagan North was where the Great Escape too place, Sagan Central was for the Americans and Sagan East, where he was, was only famous for the Wooden Horse. I asked him if he vaulted the box and he said ‘I was not very athletic, I more sort of collided with it’. He did walk around dropping sand.

He was a lot of fun and a lovely guy and told me that I was always welcome to beat up his house and so on a couple of occasions I overflew and he was in the garden waving.

It was directed/acted (RJ) by Leslie Howard…his last film before being shot down in a DC2 over the bay of biscay,this film also was very inaccurate in places but quite interesting none the less.
It also did utilise some real RAF pilots (118 sqn ?) /footage so prob worth it just for that !

rgds baz

118 and 501 Squadron, I think.

It’s very inaccurate, but I like it. The last fifteen minutes or so is Spitfire pornography, and I’ve read somewhere that the film is the only source of any footage of the S.4 in flight.

I do quite like the little war film Dangerous Moonlight, but that’s just a fluffy little wartime drama/love story, with some good Spitfire footage towards the end.

Exactly so, as I had mentioned in another thread. However I will not be holding my breath as I wait for TV producers to use presenters and writers of his calibre, instead of the dross usually served up.

But then, it was presented by the incomparable Simon Heffer. A very distinguished journalist and gentleman. Let us hope that we see more of him.

Excellent programme – an example of how a factual programme should be written and presented.

When I first saw Cockeshell Heroes as a kid I noticed the use of a Bedford RL Truck that put me right off. Surely there were enough QL’s about then!

The Cruel Sea however was in my opinion probably the best WW11 film made and I thought Jack Hawkins superb as the Captain of the “Compass Rose”

And lots and lots of Duxford too 🙂

Moggy

Well that was a great programme. Simon Heffer clearly a big fan of the Dambusters. great to hear from the films director, Michael Anderson, explaining the reasons for why the film is so understated.

Followers of this thread might like to take a look at UK BBC4 tonight, 1st Jan, where there is to be an hour-long review of post-war British movies dealing with the conflict.

Moggy

Me too. But mostly to do with Tara Fitzgerald and her two soft spots :diablo:

Moggy

Sounds like Moggy’s losing his soft spot!

:diablo:

If you have time to nit pick a film then it’s probably a boring film anyway. Cockleshell heroes is just a not very well written, boring film.
If I had to pick my favorite war film then it would be a choice between the Cruel Sea or Sea of Sand. For some reason they both seem more realistic than the rest and don’t have any annoying 1950’s era special effects.

Films like Battle of the Bulge, Bridge too far, Battle of Britain, Dambusters etc. were good when you were a kid, still have some good bits in them and defintely watchable. But overall they are boring and littered with mistakes, while Dambusters is just plain wrong!. Not to mention some pretty painful special effects and script lines.

However I still prefer an old warfilm to the tripe being released today. Red Tails is so very painful I actually turned it off before the end. The Laurence Fishburn version being much, much better.

The First of the Few (1942) acted and directed by Trevor Howard and acted by David Niven.

It was directed/acted (RJ) by Leslie Howard…his last film before being shot down in a DC2 over the bay of biscay,this film also was very inaccurate in places but quite interesting none the less.
It also did utilise some real RAF pilots (118 sqn ?) /footage so prob worth it just for that !

rgds baz

I must admit to a soft spot for Dark Blue World.

Me too. But mostly to do with Tara Fitzgerald and her two soft spots :diablo:

Moggy

I certainly enjoyed reading The Cruel Sea at age 12, I remember seeing the movie on TV too. The other movies listed above I have seen as well, but quite some time ago. Can’t remember much of them although they were all moving and enthralling and some I have seen on TV as well. I also remember Paul Brickhalls historical books too – The Dambusters, Reach For the Sky and The Great Escape, all turned into movies.

I watched an old pre-war movie last night – well it was made in 1942 – and was an historical movie of R. J. Mitchell – the Supermarine designer of the Spitfire and the story of his adult life – passing at age 42 (June 1937) of cancer just after there was an approval for Vickers to build 310 Spitfires – his final desire achieved. Seemed quite factual with the Schneider Trophy races but ignored his work on a lot of his other designs for bombers and flying boats.

His life here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._J._Mitchell

The First of the Few (1942) acted and directed by Trevor Howard and acted by David Niven.

I found it on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1ijTSenYJ-s

BUT I have never seen 12 O’Clock High, so what do I know….

It’s been on Film4 a couple of times recently. Look out for it.

My favourite WWII films are (In no particular order) ….”A Bridge Too Far” ,
“Dunkirk”, “Dam Busters”, “Battle of Britain”, “Battle of The River Plate”.

For starters

I believe there is a documentary on tv (New Years Day perhaps) about 50’s British war films – worth watching.

The books written and films made about the war in the 40’s – 60’s will always be my favourites. Whether about aircraft, submarines, land battles it doesn’t matter to me. What does it for me is that some of the actors, some of the crew and usually the author of the book on which they were based were actually [I]there[I] when the real events occurred. Makes all the difference.

I must admit to a soft spot for Dark Blue World. Good story, well acted, and possibly the best depiction of the beauty and solitude of flight I have seen.

BUT I have never seen 12 O’Clock High, so what do I know….