I picked this up on DVD recently and had a watch.
Not too shabby a film, really. Decent performances, nice little storyline etc.
But what fascinated me was the footage of the Spitfires in the film. Fleeting though it is, we get some really good stuff! A real Mk.Ia was obviously used for ground shots (although the “Polish” Spitfire shot is a bit embarassing, as it’s clearly a Spit and nothing else!), but the footage of the dogfights/formations is fantastic. Sure, there must be plenty of newsreel stuff used, but all the same, it’s blinding!
It strikes me that films such as this, First of the Few, and even A Yank in the RAF have some truly stunning aerial sequences in them. Not forgetting some of the postwar stuff, either – Angels One-Five especially. We seldom seem to celebrate the fact, and yet so much of their footage ends up being recycled into other films and documentaries!
By: ozjag - 31st January 2012 at 02:08
I watched ‘Spitfire’ the other day. Although I am no Spit expert the scenes of the Schneider race seaplane assembly and close ups (ie launching it etc) as well as the first Spit manufacture appeared pretty good to me.
Paul
By: Snoopy7422 - 31st January 2012 at 01:29
They Got It Right…!
Years ago, like a lot of folks, I tended to dismiss some of the older B&W stuff. Strangely, much of the colour stuff shot later now seems more dated. A few years ago, I’d recently re-watched the original Dambusters. A few days later, I was watching the attacks on Baghdad, filmed by news-crews live, both with normal cameras and with Infra-Red. I was immediately struck by how superb some of the effects were in the Dambusterss, even allowing for it’s vintage….!!!
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January 29, 2012 at 10:33 am