Dunkirk (1958)
Country: GB
Technical: bw 135m
Director: Leslie Norman
Cast: John Mills, Richard Attenborough, Bernard Lee
Synopsis:
1940: a small platoon of soldiers is separated from the main column and makes its way across country towards Dunkirk; meanwhile, two civilian boat owners are among those who volunteer to pilot their commandeered vessels across the Channel in cooperation with the Royal Navy.
Review:
Concentrating on the common man's experience as opposed to the bigger picture, and celebrating the coming together of a nation, military and civilian, in the face of adversity, this typically human Ealing production also looks ruefully at the lessons which were only too painfully learnt by the 'less than modern' army that the B.E.F. represented and, more to the point, by its old-fashioned commanders. Modern audiences may wince at the patently English countryside, the use of a studio tank for all but the nautical long shots, and the underwhelming Stuka bomb impacts, but the essence of the film is the responses of the men to their predicament, and the performances of the solid cast members more than do these justice. Malcolm Arnold contributes a stirring score, which is such a rehash of material from his music the previous year for Bridge on the River Kwai, one wonders he had the face to turn it in.
Country: GB
Technical: bw 135m
Director: Leslie Norman
Cast: John Mills, Richard Attenborough, Bernard Lee
Synopsis:
1940: a small platoon of soldiers is separated from the main column and makes its way across country towards Dunkirk; meanwhile, two civilian boat owners are among those who volunteer to pilot their commandeered vessels across the Channel in cooperation with the Royal Navy.
Review:
Concentrating on the common man's experience as opposed to the bigger picture, and celebrating the coming together of a nation, military and civilian, in the face of adversity, this typically human Ealing production also looks ruefully at the lessons which were only too painfully learnt by the 'less than modern' army that the B.E.F. represented and, more to the point, by its old-fashioned commanders. Modern audiences may wince at the patently English countryside, the use of a studio tank for all but the nautical long shots, and the underwhelming Stuka bomb impacts, but the essence of the film is the responses of the men to their predicament, and the performances of the solid cast members more than do these justice. Malcolm Arnold contributes a stirring score, which is such a rehash of material from his music the previous year for Bridge on the River Kwai, one wonders he had the face to turn it in.
Country: GB
Technical: bw 135m
Director: Leslie Norman
Cast: John Mills, Richard Attenborough, Bernard Lee
Synopsis:
1940: a small platoon of soldiers is separated from the main column and makes its way across country towards Dunkirk; meanwhile, two civilian boat owners are among those who volunteer to pilot their commandeered vessels across the Channel in cooperation with the Royal Navy.
Review:
Concentrating on the common man's experience as opposed to the bigger picture, and celebrating the coming together of a nation, military and civilian, in the face of adversity, this typically human Ealing production also looks ruefully at the lessons which were only too painfully learnt by the 'less than modern' army that the B.E.F. represented and, more to the point, by its old-fashioned commanders. Modern audiences may wince at the patently English countryside, the use of a studio tank for all but the nautical long shots, and the underwhelming Stuka bomb impacts, but the essence of the film is the responses of the men to their predicament, and the performances of the solid cast members more than do these justice. Malcolm Arnold contributes a stirring score, which is such a rehash of material from his music the previous year for Bridge on the River Kwai, one wonders he had the face to turn it in.