Will it get off the ground ?

Hello,

Did anybody see the final part of “Superstorm” on BBC 1 last night, I was surprised at the quality of the effects CGI etc. for a BBC production.

If they could use the same effects company and replace the CGI Weatherplane (Type?) with a lanc and the Storm effects with Flak etc. the results may not be too bad.

And hopefully the storyline would not be turned into a Soap opera, like the German T.V. production “Dresden”.

633

The Bomber Command prefference of David Putnam is certainly true – I was there when he said it on one of his PR talks – in my case at a special screening at the BFI.

n regards to “Memphis Belle”, I beleive David Putnam did want to make a film about bomber command ( There are some similarities in the Memphis Belle script to a Novel by Spencer Dunmore called “Bomb Run”) and I do remember him being interviewed at the time saying he could not find anybody willing to put up the finance until it was changed to an American story, to ensure box office success in America, particulary galling as this included (as the credits say) British Satellite Broadcasting amongst others!

As Moggy’s pointed out, there were also issues over a night-time story as against a day time story – not a single decisive factor, of course. Lack of Hollywood interest was a problem, until he teamed up with Catherine Wyler, daughter of William, and picked up the idea of a retelling a story she had access too. Not often realised today is that the film was temporarily titled ‘Southern Belle’ because permission to use ‘Memphis Belle’ was a bit wobbly at one stage.

Wot I said before:

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showpost.php?p=189313&postcount=41

The best way to portray it would be a la ‘Das Boot’, that is over several instalments.

I quite agree, did anyone actually see Das Boot in the cinema rather than watch the series on TV, or buy the classic DVD afterwards, which seems to have been a cross between the two.

I was also interested to see in the next but one paragraph that they are making a film of Brideshead Revisited, following on from the TV series, that would be a hard act to follow, how do you cram all of that into 2 hours, I seem to remember that the first 2 hour episode was mainly involved in the taciturn Charles Ryders unintentional WW2 trip to Brideshead, can’t remember seeing any Spitfires though, probably all tied up in making A Piece of Cake.

[QUOTE=633squad;1108983]Hello again,

In regards to “Memphis Belle”, I beleive David Putnam did want to make a film about bomber command ( There are some similarities in the Memphis Belle script to a Novel by Spencer Dunmore called “Bomb Run”)

How interesting! I remember reading “Bomb Run” in the early 70s. I recall it was similar to Len Deighton’s “Bomber”.

Colin

The best way to portray it would be a la ‘Das Boot’, that is over several instalments.

…the radio adaptation was good, heading towards excellent.

And we’d all better make sure we’ve enough popcorn and coke to last the film – the radio play was nearly four hours if I recall correctly.

Even a two hour film will have to “lose” quite a bit of the story.

Still, I wish them well.

just get the CGI right…

I’m with Daz on this one.

The book is superb, the radio adaptation was good, heading towards excellent.

How would the device of the narrator convert into cinema? And let’s be honest, a lone Lancaster on a seven hour mission in the dark isn’t terribly photogenic.

Still, better than making Lethal Weapon 28

Moggy

I think the Memphis Belle story has been discussed here before.

Would be interesting to see if “Bomber” makes it to development, though, but I feel a lot of the atmosphere might be lost from the story.

Hello again,

In regards to “Memphis Belle”, I beleive David Putnam did want to make a film about bomber command ( There are some similarities in the Memphis Belle script to a Novel by Spencer Dunmore called “Bomb Run”) and I do remember him being interviewed at the time saying he could not find anybody willing to put up the finance until it was changed to an American story, to ensure box office success in America, particulary galling as this included (as the credits say) British Satellite Broadcasting amongst others!

However times have changed and hopefully this will not turn out to be the case.

633

Well that is interesting news!

I read the other week that Stephen Fry has just completed the script for Peter Jackson’s new “Dambusters” movie.

I wonder if the rumoured remake of “633 Squadron” will ever materialise?

It ‘s odd that someone now wants to make “Bomber”. It was reported years ago that producer David Puttnam wanted to make a film about an RAF Lancaster squadron ,then found few Lancasters were available and that’s how he came to make “Memphis Belle” instead. (I wonder if that story is true?)

Colin

Hello,

Found out a bit more, seems that “Bomber” is a working title (probably due to different interpratations now days) and the title could be “Joe for King”
which was the name of one of the Lancasters in the novel.

Cheers

Phil H