This post is not intented to be aggro or upset members, but what the hell is the obsession with the Battle of Britain movie?
Seldom a week goes by that somebody doesn’t post yet another thread about this film.
Which Spitfire…?
Which suspenders…? (Moggy, I don’t mind this issue)
What was the tyre tread…?
And so on and so on…
For heaven’s sake, what is it about this film that so obsesses so many of the British members of this forum? I have seen the movie a couple of times, back in the late 60’s when it was released and more recently as it does the circuit on television. As an aviation enthusiast, I appreciate the effort that went into the film, but see so many inaccuracies in aircraft types and variants that I cannot call this a “great” war film.
I know this will upset many, but for accuracy in relation to the military equipment used, and considering that the film was made during the 90’s, when access to much of the rarer equipment would have been more difficult, I consider that “Saving Private Ryan” is superior. I must stress that I am ONLY referring to the accuracy of the military equipment used, not the accuracy of the film. In SPR, the P-51’s are the correct models and are correctly depicted with invasion stripes, the Germans use Sdkpfw 234’s or similar, not White M-3’s with crosses, the Pzkpfw-38 based assault gun (I think it was that model) was the one that got me – where did they get that from? They certainly made the effort to have the equipment appear authentic for the time.
Back to aviation matters, ( which after all is what this forum is about), I can’t help but be less than impressed by the following in BofB:
Buchon’s – THEY DON’T LOOK LIKE 109’s!
CASA-111’s – the Merlins look wrong!
Spitfires of every mark available, which is particularly obvious through the use of four bladed props instead of 3, or perhaps even 2 and a number of low-back models. This particular discrepancy is glaringly obvious, even to the layman.
I realise that the movie had to make use of what was available, but that doesn’t explain the incredible interest so many members of the forum display over one movie.
So, why is it so?
Regards
Wombat (ducking for cover) :confused:
By: Septic - 18th March 2004 at 00:22
Thanks, Robbo
This PC was very near to take its first and last flight!!
Septic.
By: Septic - 18th March 2004 at 00:13
What no dog, Canfield!!
By: Hamtech - 17th March 2004 at 11:16
Originally posted by Septic
[QUOTE]Ultimate BOB film fact.The black Labrador was called Gypsy!
Septic.
mmmm…starting to understand the original posters contention 🙂
– Hamtech.
By: Melvyn Hiscock - 17th March 2004 at 10:04
Re: Thanks JDK…..!!!!!
Originally posted by BlueNoser352
[B The Region 1 DVD sold here in the colonies ,does not have any extras and looking forward to seeing this new region 2, with the documentary on the making of the film, same is true for the May 2004 release of the new region 2 double disc of “A Bridge Too Far “. This will have many extras , with a documentary about the making of the film. [/B]
Start searching the internet for references to decoding your DVD. It can be done easily and safely in almost all cases. It is usually a matter of punching in some codes on your remote and restarting to change the factory presets. We did this when ‘er indoors came back from the US with the Region 1 version of Finding Nemo (great film, even had some air scenes!) and now we have a DVD that can play all regions.
Melvyn Hiscock
By: DazDaMan - 17th March 2004 at 09:22
And the Buchon
By: DazDaMan - 17th March 2004 at 09:18
Here’s one of the Spitfire Vs, BM597
By: DazDaMan - 17th March 2004 at 09:16
All British Spitfires – MkVs AR501, BM597, EP120 and MV154 (MkVIII), plus the Planes of Fame Buchon which had a slight landing accident at the end of filming.
They actually planned on using MkXIVs and the David Price ‘109E originally!!! 😮
By: Dave Homewood - 17th March 2004 at 08:57
With all the talk of possible (wished) remakes of BofB and using CGI, I decided to take a look at Pearl Harbor’s BofB scene. Now that is one you are most welcome to pick holes in as far as I’m concerned. In noticed, just in this one viewing:
1) Ben Affleck was sitting, relaxing in a pub with a dirty face as if he’d just stepped out of his plane after an oil leak. No RAF officer would go to the pub without washing his face!
2) Yes, the last point may have been a bit tongue in cheek, BUT his English mate is drinking at the pub with his Mae West over his shoulder. What were Bruckheimer and Bay thinking? Did they think pilots had to carry them at all times like a gas mask???? I mean, yes, have it handy while on the station and on duty, but they didn’t take the bloody thing to the pub!
3) This might be picky, but given their huge budget, it annoys me that they have Hurricanes and Spitfires together in the same dispersal with all different codes. OK, maybe this did happen, but it just looks a little unprofessional on the filmamker’s part not to do a little cosmetics.
4) Here, HERE, is your mixture of three and four bladed props! (not that this really bothers me, but it is so much more blatant than the one fleeting scene in BofB that has been mentioned.)
5) That nerk Affleck saying crap on the intercom like “Hammer Down” for no reason, what rot!
6) Pilots not wearing their mask or goggles in combat, yet hearing each other perfectly (saying “Hammer Down!!” repeatedly it seems) despite the intercom microphone being nowhere near their mouths.
7) Affleck’s wingman who is there to protect him simply sits back and then says that there’s fighters all over his tail. Oh, good work mate.
8) After Ben shoots holes in the canopy it is seen totally intact again
And that was just the tiny Battle of Britain part. We all know much of the film is full of descepancies. Imagine if they’d set out to actually remake BofB though rather than Tora, Tora, Tora. Oh God!
Where were the Pearl Harbor BofB scenes filmed? Was that actually done in Britain? I mean it looked like british Spits and Hurricanes, but with US-based Heinkel and I don’t know where the Bf109e came from. Was it mostly CGI? Or were they US-based Spits and it was all in California? Most of the combat seems completely computer generated. Pause the DVD and often the planes are simply blurs and streaks. I do have to say I liked the fact that when the guns fired you saw the tracer and the cordite smoke. That’s about all though.
By: Moggy C - 17th March 2004 at 07:14
Re: Thanks JDK…..!!!!!
Originally posted by BlueNoser352
Thanks again for the welcome, however my guys from Bodney were know to the Luftwaffe as “The BlueNose *******s of Bodney”, a name given to them by none other than Herman Goring !
Is that verifiable?
It is always held locally that this is the name they gave themselves, rather than had bestowed on them.
Moggy
By: BlueNoser352 - 17th March 2004 at 02:27
Thanks JDK…..!!!!!
JDK, thanks for the welcome…a long time reader of FlyPast and have been reading this board for sometime now. I got a laugh out of your telling me about the Aussie “Slang” translation of Blue
Noser. Yes a different lot here, most airmen could bend the elbow with the best of them . In fact the night before the August 1944 mission , on which Maj George E. Preddy Jr shot down 6 ME-109’s and became the groups top scorer , saw them get pretty well lit up in a high stakes poker game at Bodney. There was to be no mission on that day, but events changed and with only several hours of sleep , they got the call to fly !!!! Maj Preddy took out his hangover on The Luftwaffe on that August Day in 1944! I hope one day to see the production company in Flordia , market its DVD documentary on the 352nd Fighter Group. It is perhaps on of the finest programs I have ever seen on a World War II fighter group. I can post you the address here in the states if you wish. The cost of region free dvd players has really come down and I had to get one to play all the military dvd titles I have bought in the UK over the last several years! The Region 1 DVD sold here in the colonies ,does not have any extras and looking forward to seeing this new region 2, with the documentary on the making of the film, same is true for the May 2004 release of the new region 2 double disc of “A Bridge Too Far “. This will have many extras , with a documentary about the making of the film. I saw this back on tv here in the states in 1980 and have been trying to locate a copy since. This is an outstanding forum and loaded with so much information and history here, those who post here really know their history. Thanks again for the welcome, however my guys from Bodney were know to the Luftwaffe as “The BlueNose *******s of Bodney”, a name given to them by none other than Herman Goring !
By: JDK - 17th March 2004 at 00:28
Hi Blue Noser,
Welcome. Lovely scheme for a ‘Stang, but I bet you didn’t know that a Blue Noser is a tetotal killjoy in Aussie slang – still can’t be the same boys eh?:D
Your trivia test on BoBF starts here…
Cheers!
By: BlueNoser352 - 17th March 2004 at 00:08
BOB……the start of something good !
Without question one of the best things that came out of the making of this fine film, the warbird movement got a huge boost and started many thinking about war bird preservation. This has carried over to great places like Duxford, for this Yank, I must go their each time I come to the UK. Its great to now have it on DVD here in the states, however I could not believe it was not released in the UK first ! Without question it should have been, sorry about U-571, horrible rewritting of history indeed by the duds in Hollywood ! Seeing it back in the 60’s got me hooked on WWII aviation history and intrest in the history of The Battle of Britain. Can’t wait to get my Region 2 DVD edition of BOB and with extras,like the making of the film aired on Uk television back in 1968 or 69 ! This is a great topic and much discussed on another fine UK aviation site www.AVI8.com and now someone has started a site on Yahoo to discussed the film and its merits!
Others have stated here , great story, super air photography, seeing real Spits and Hurricanes in action …what more can one ask for in a film about a critical time in world history! Thanks heavens for the invention of DVD !!!!!!
A Salute from :
BlueNoser352!
By: Septic - 16th March 2004 at 23:10
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Hamtech
Thank goodness there was no black labby as the squadron dog.
Ultimate BOB film fact.
The black Labrador was called Gypsy!
Septic.
By: Septic - 16th March 2004 at 22:44
Re: Well, what have I started?
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Wombat
Movies are made for profit and BofB achieved its objectives at a time when there was no video fallback. That’s certainly true.
If BofB were to be made today, I would say that there is much which could be done do to increase the accuracy, but would it have the same impact and profitability of the original?
I do not have all the figures to hand, but
the film Battle of Britain barely covered its production costs.
The then Defence Secretary Dennis Healey, came to an agreement with the films producers where a large sum was waived for the use of MOD aircraft, airfields and aircrew.
Without the goverments help the film would have been a financial disaster.
By: Hatton - 16th March 2004 at 18:43
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Moggy C
Started off as the pirate captain in the TV series “The Buccaneers”, went on to become James Bond’s opponent in “From Rush Hour with Love” and numerous other roles.
Robert Shaw aka ‘Skipper’ loosely based on A G Malan
Moggy [/QUOTE
aka Flight Sgt. J. Pulford, DFM in the The Dam Busters
By: Melvyn Hiscock - 16th March 2004 at 13:01
Originally posted by Moggy C
Started off as the pirate captain in the TV series “The Buccaneers”, went on to become James Bond’s opponent in “From Rush Hour with Love” and numerous other roles.Robert Shaw aka ‘Skipper’ loosely based on A G Malan
Moggy
Oh, of course, that’s him. Having a permanent domestic with wasserface as well. Got burned on the gloves as I remember.
MH
By: Moggy C - 16th March 2004 at 12:55
Started off as the pirate captain in the TV series “The Buccaneers”, went on to become James Bond’s opponent in “From Rush Hour with Love” and numerous other roles.
Robert Shaw aka ‘Skipper’ loosely based on A G Malan
Moggy
By: DazDaMan - 16th March 2004 at 12:38
Thingie = Quint, the sharkhunter 😉
By: Melvyn Hiscock - 16th March 2004 at 12:29
Disregarding all the stuff about “wrong” type Spitfires in BOB, the most annoying part for me is when thingie and Lovejoy emerge from the cottage and there is a plastic doorbell on the frame.
By the way, there was not Labrador, you only think there was . . .
(Oh but the chaps spoil her so . . )
Oh well, back to work.
MH
By: Moggy C - 16th March 2004 at 11:28
Originally posted by DazDaMan
Ah, so Moggy wasn’t having a thing with Mrs Fitzgerald after all?! 😀
Certainly not old fruit.
Just looking after a chum’s wife whilst he was away. Sort of thing any decent chap would do.
Moggy
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March 15, 2004 at 7:21 am