Dambusters Remake Latest

Brickhill, whose book told the story and on which the film was based has The Dam Busters. He might have coined the description because I don’t recall either Gibson in the text or Harris in his foreword use the term in Enemy Coast Ahead.

Well if you go to the start of the WONZ thread mentioned earlier, the film’s publicity in NZ had “The Dam Busters”
http://rnzaf.proboards.com/thread/23144/dam-busters-movie

So that is the film’s title, what the RAF says now is another matter.

I would go with the RAF it was their raid after all.

About that name……… no, not the dog.

My question is …. is it ‘Dam Busters’ or ‘Dambusters’?

The original film went with the two-word title ‘The Dam Busters’ – but the official RAF website calls 617 Sqn ‘The Dambusters’.

Which is it ??

Ken

My main concern is, following some correspondence quite a while ago about being an extra if any filming happened at Scampton, I am getting to old !

My feeling about this is less whether or not it should be made, about which I have no strong feelings either way, but more whether it is or would be commercially viable. No one will invest in a multi-million dollar WW2 film unless they are reasonably confident they will get a return on the investment.

Even if principal photography started tomorrow, which it won’t, it would probably be late 2018 before release, or even later. So the next decade is more likely, As each year passes WW2 and its memories fade for the greater population and for the big cinema audiences so I reckon they are bold men or foolish men who eventually run with it.

Alot of films are good if there is no alternative at the time but they soon become dated.It is a snap shot at the period of time it was filmed but nowadays it deserves to be remade in an honest gritty way with all the GOOD filming techniques available now.

Completely right. A remake doesn’t reduce any existing historical 1950s value at all. Im 35, I watched it about a decade ago and thought it was quite rubbish. The acting is horrible.

Meanwhile there is much in what Otis says.

It doesn’t reduce the existing film’s value as a snapshot of how Britain saw itself and its recent past in the 1950s, in fact I think it undervalues it hugely. But that said, there is room for another look.

Moggy

I rather think that otis has hit the nail on the head. Whilst I’m not generally fond of remakes, perhaps it would be no bad thing to bring some of the modern film making skills to the story. We do tend to view the original Dambusters film through rose tinted specs; just wondering what it would be like with 3D specs?

Gary that was brilliant :D:D:D, nice one.

Rob

Caught a bit of the old Dambusters movie on TV a few months back. I got quite excited about it, but after watching it for a while, my other half announced it was rubbish ! It was black and white, the acting and dialogue was wooden, and the effects were awful. I wanted to defend it, but even though the effects were oscar-nominated at the time, they are poor by modern standards. Lots of wooden model plans over model lakes. Plenty of badly overlayed/painted bomb splashes. It was hard to take the painted on flak flashes as a serious threat to the lives of our heroes. They also badly spliced wartime film and newsreel clips into the film in rather obvious ways. Then when the finale of the dams bursting comes we get a montage of all of these cheesy effects in one go, which does ruin that !

I wonder if anyone below a certain age would bear to watch this film anymore ?

I can not think of another Bomber Command film made in the last 50 / 60 years ? Many are made of Fighter Command, but not the bombers. Ok there is a huge modern guilt trip around the bombing of civillian targets and of course, fighter planes are more exciting ? Though there are some amazing stories of bravery in bomber crews that have never been told in film ( unless it happened in a B17 ).

So as I see it, they should make a new film and get new generations interested and proud of our airmen, aircraft and inventors. Otherwise their only cinematic epitath is a old b&w film that is fondly remembered by an ever-dwindling group of grumpy old men.

Peter Jackson loves his historic planes, so will get that part right. He also does follow-ons, so who knows what could follow after a sucessful Dambusters remake, if he has an airfield full of Lancaster bits lying about ?

geedee must be an insider!

I think that film could have potential 🙂

‘and thus ends our bedtime story for tonight kiddies’

Here’s the plot for the new film….

A major new Hollywood film…

DAM BUSTERS II or WHO YOU GONNA BOMB?

Hollywood’s authentic story of the Six-Seventeenth Eagle Bomb Squadron Of the Royal British Air Corps.

THE INTRO….
It is 1941. Hitler has invaded Europe and England alone fights back Aided by a handful of international volunteers, including GI Gibson (Tom Cruise)an American pilot who had already had a key role in winning the Battle Of Britain.
Intelligence has identified that the destruction of a giant dam in central Germany is the key to Allied victory.

THE FIRST RAID….
A raid on the dam by the British Lan-Casters of the 6-17th is ordered, to be led by its war-weary cockney CO (Michael Caine). The crews are filmed boarding the Confederate Air Force’s Liberator.
A background of sun-drenched Texan prairie substitutes for Scamppington Air Force Base and the East Anglian Fens in January. Colour-enhanced black and white library shots are then used for the Raid – DC-6 engine start, taxiing Halifaxes, Spitfire mass take-off, formation of B24s, Lan-caster at night, bombs dropping from a Mitchell, a B-17 and Focke-Wulf Condor being shot down, the FAA’s Boeing 707 crashing in flames. As with all US aviation films since the invention of “talkies”, the aircraft soundtrack consists only of the roar of Pratt & Whitney radial engines, specially recorded during a Harvard mass flypast at the annual Oshkosh air show.

But the raid is a failure, and only GI and his crew survive to try again. Danny De Vito plays the part of the bomb aimer.

THE WEAPON….

After the disastrous first dam raid, it is obvious a new type of weapon Is needed. By chance Barn S. Wallace (Morgan Freeman), the leading US scientist And aviation expert, is in London explaining his invention of the jet engine to an unknown British engineer, Frank V. Tel. Thinking back to his childhood, Barn remembers skimming rocks across a Lake in native New Hampshire, and quickly comes up with a design for a Bouncing bomb – but it is too large for any British aircraft to carry.

THE AIRCRAFT….

Fortunately, Wallace has brought with him to England the only example of his latest bomber design, the B-29. Cut to the CAF’s B-29, painted gloss caramel and vivid green with French roundels, being pulled from its Hangar at Midland, TX, so that GI and his crew can test fly the new bouncing munition over the neighbouring Scotland, and prepare for the raid.

THE RAID….

Shots of Cruise and gang boarding the B-29, plus take-off shots over The American Midwest. Then computer-generated images for outbound flight, the final – and successful – bombing run using the last remaining weapon on board, and the dogfights on the return leg.

Throughout, the standard CGI conventions are used. All WW2 single-seat fighters fly at a minimum Mach 0.9 in +7g manoeuvres, while any multi-engine aeroplane drones along straight and level at 130 kt.

THE COMMAND CENTER….

In a map-encrusted bunker, Barn waits tensely for the results of the raid.
Although the news is of success, he starts to become saddened by the loss of aircrew involved. But, just at that moment, a well-spoken Home Counties WAAF officer (Catherine Zeta Jones) in a starched Virginia McKenna military blouse appears, bearing a tray of Starbucks mugs. She utters that immortal line – “Cocoa Latte, Sir?” – and all is well.
Information comes in that the flooding from the broken dam has flooded Hitler’s bunker (clip fromChaplin as the Great Dictator), thwarting the launch of a new V3 rocket aimed at the Summit Conference being held in buckingham Palace, London, England.
The water also slows the Russian advance, allowing Patton (Harrison
Ford) to capture Berlin and Eastern Germany for the Allies.

THE LANDFALL….

Meanwhile, with three engines blazing and feathered, Gibson and the surviving crew nurse the crippled B-29 back across the Channel. They just manage to climb over the White Cliffs of Dover to see in the Near distance the welcoming runway lights of their Lincolnshire airfield. Having studied brain surgery before joining up, the B-29’s chirpy Australian assistant cook (Kylie Minogue) saves the lives of injured crew members as the bomber belly-lands onto its home base. It slides to a halt a few Feet from the control tower, where Winston Churchill (Dan Ackroyd) watches proudly.

Also in the scene, in a technology enhancement, is Ronnie Reagan on his horse Trigger.

THE FINALE….

GI stands framed by the blazing wreckage of a redundant Fokker Friendship airliner bought especially for this scene. Since a wholesome happy ending is mandatory in today’s commercial cinema, in a final shot he is joined by “Native-African-American”, his loyal dog. Despite the pair of Artificial legs and prosthetic tail fitted after being injured in three major road accidents on the Great North Road during his master’s absence, the Labrador bounds joyfully into the sunset with some dame called Vera Lynn singing about the White Cliffs

You’re most welcome, Roger.

Here it is, although I’m wrong…it’s not a fuselage but an almost-complete airframe (doesn’t appear to have exhaust stacks). You can clearly see it behind the 88mm cannon on the left of frame: http://fofcollection.com.php54-2.dfw1-1.websitetestlink.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Rigged-Snipe.jpg

I thought PJ was only acting as a producer on the film, not directing?

At the start of the project he was. Christian Rivers – something of a protege of PJ – was to direct, but as time passed I believe he went on to other projects. The current director is anybody’s guess.

Thanks K5054NZ
Roger Smith.

You’re quite right. There’s a photo of Stephen Fry and Mark Carwardine visiting a Weta/Jackson facility with Sir PJ, standing in front of a complete Lancaster with a Wellington visible to the side. I think there was a Mosquito in the background? I’ll try find it.

EDIT: Here we are! Take a look in the crook of Stephen Fry’s arm, I think that’s a Mosquito bomber nose. Wellington behind PJ. http://dambustersblog.com/2012/12/30/jacksons-model-lancaster-in-close-up/

And here’s the link to the program, interview with PJ starts around 19.20″

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrmi5UV6-wk

Looks Lanc to me after zooming in