"The Dam Busters" 17 May 2018

What a wonderful touch to its 75th anniversary
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/18/britains-last-surviving-dambuster-flies-raf-lancaster/

Well, at Staines Vue we got:
Half an hour of the film.
Picture went. Sound only for a few more minutes.
Blank.
Switch to link at RAH – view of orchestra but no sound for a few minutes.
Sound too!
A while from RAH.
Blank.
Film re-started.

?

Still, the film was great.

A VERY dissapointing evening

My email to the Showcase, Coventry if anyone wants to see how my evening went –

Dear Sir/Madam,
My partner and I were unfortunate enough to be among the audience at Showcase Coventry last night (17th May) expecting to ‘take part’ in the commemoration marking the 75th anniversary of the RAF’s raid on the German dams by No. 617 Squadron. I do not really need to tell you that all the expectant audience got was a showing of “The Dam Busters” film. This I could have sat comfortably at home and watched it (as I have it on DVD).
The following melee with angry scenes by what had been an enthusiastic audience was to be expected (I didn’t hear anyone shouting). Your ‘Manager’ who, we were told, was the highest level of manager present (and thus in overall charge?) seemed ill-equipped to deal with the crowd of very disappointed customers and was, at one time, in tears.
I was not alone in being aware that you screen a whole series of live events – giving you absolutely no excuse for the ****-up we were the victims of last night. Last night should have been recognised by Showcase as being different from the broadcasts you screen of a live opera or ballet or West End drama or musical. I was expecting that there might be someone to give us (at Coventry) a brief introduction to the proceedings and that a Manager was on hand to check things were going right.
It was a one-off event – the film we can see again but not so the proceedings at the Royal Albert Hall with the orchestra, historians and people who were attached to the raid or members of No. 617 Squadron. The atmosphere created within the RAH must have been wonderful and I believe the audience at Coventry Showcase (and other cinemas around the country) wanted to capture/experience a little of that. However the time has gone, the opportunity lost.
Most of the audience were upset. One lady, who has a close relative who was ex 617 Squadron, couldn’t get a ticket to the actual event at the RAH so booked at Showcase Coventry – mistake! A gentleman I spoke to have traveled to Coventry from Newark and booked accommodation in an hotel – mistake! My partner had traveled up from work in London and, because time was tight, we had to go and eat at a restaurant beforehand – mistake!
We were given our money back and tickets for a future showing of an event (should we want to risk it) but is that considered adequate recompense for travelling, food, the hopes for a wonderful evening dashed?
I await your response at your earliest convenience,

an angry Roger Smith.

Watched The Dambusters and Royal Albert Hall intro at my local cinema in Reading.
I too thought the Glen Miller band a little off topic but liked it anyway. A little piece of nostalgia.
The professor with the tennis balls, was he drunk?
First time I’ve watched a Black and White movie on the big screen. Interesting how the larger scale allows you to see
things not seen before or perhaps cut from the dvd versions. Namely the DH Vampire. The Canberra and the scene where Wallis is wading out to sea.
Still enjoyed it though which is a testament to how good the film was.
Pity someone can’t do a version where some of the effects are upgraded.
Well worth a watch. Enjoyed it.

Went to the Albert Hall, awesome to see it on the big screen. The sound of the lancs flying was awesome. Never noticed the Lanc doing the practice runs at Derwent flying with the cockpit side windows open before.

Glad I went to see the film last night.
Shame the preview event turned into a comedy show. They could have said and done much more.
One question, did anybody think the Glenn Miller band and music appropriate. Surely an RAF band would have been more suitable ?

Well, went to see it last night. Marvellous! Big screen really made a difference……. a fifteen foot high Richard Todd… gosh!
I am sure I am not the first on this place to say this but the huge size of the images enabled me to see a thing I had never noticed before : the Canberra visible through the car window in the scene where the civil servants are moaning about the time they have wasted on the project!

Yes, I was concerned that the PC guys may have got at this showing, let’s hope not then. Still a few seats available at the RAH.

Ticket has been booked for a couple of weeks now; I must admit that, at the age of 58, I have never seen it on a big screen. First time I saw it was at the age of ten when, thanks to a truly enlightened school headmaster, we had a special screening in the assembly hall.

I watched the film in the cinema a couple of years ago and it is a fantastic film on the big screen, there were no cuts or edits and the dog has the proper name this was the version later released on Blu Ray.

If you get a chance it is far better on the big screen than a bank holiday TV.

Curlyboy

You hope that no one will do it, and then somebody does. Always.

Yay! A dog joke in a Dambusters thread! :eagerness:

I heard that there was a major hold up casting the dog.:D

This is the latest from a keen follower of the project, the world of film has its own sense of time compared to much modern activity ..https://dambustersblog.com/category/peter-jackson/

What ever happened to the re-make that was supposed to be happing a few years ago ? They even had full scale mock-ups built in New Zealand I heard.

Mixed feelings on this, yes the chance to see clear views of the actual film aircraft making the mock attacks is welcome,but…the special effects are awful in comparison to what we see nowadays. So for those who are really keen, have fun but look away at certain times. My enjoyment of the film has been ruined by soundtrack torture. During my time in base accomodation at RAF Aberporth the air cadet summer and Easter camp attendees were shown the film in an adjoining hut many many times, the volume was set on high….

See also:

https://www.picturehouses.com/film/the-dam-busters-at-75-live-from-the-albert-hall?_m_utk=1682fbf8a314336d1288ea3bafc54a61