Battle of Britain (film)
Battle of Britain (Original title: Battle of Britain ) is a British war film of multiple James Bond - director Guy Hamilton and producer Harry Saltzman for rental United Artists . This film depicts the British fight for air supremacy in World War II . The main roles are played by Michael Caine , Barry Foster and Trevor Howard , while Curd Juergens played the greatest German role. The film received a nomination in 1970 for the British Society of Film and Television Arts Award for Best Sound (Best Sound) for Teddy Mason and Jim Shields. In 1969 the film "Stukas über London" was also released, with a different production, but with a similar theme.
action
After the victory over France in the summer of 1940, the Wehrmacht prepared to invade Great Britain. In preparation for this, the German Air Force is trying to gain air supremacy over the British Isles. But the German pilots encounter a resolute defensive opponent: The Royal Air Force, under the leadership of Air Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, tries to avert a German victory. On the German side, Hermann Göring took over the leadership of the air strikes against England at the height of the battle. In terms of numbers, the Royal Air Force is inferior to the German Air Force, so it begins recruiting Canadian, Polish and Czech pilots.
The English pilots fight with great effort against the German bomber units in the course of the action, but suffer considerable losses in the process. The Air Force, in turn, is attacking the military airfields in southern England and trying to destroy as many British fighter planes as possible on the ground. After a British air raid on Berlin, Adolf Hitler announced massive retaliation, causing London to be targeted by German bombers. The civilian population there suffers heavy losses in these attacks. But behind this surrender of the capital is a sophisticated plan of the British leadership: The pressure to attack is taken from the important military airfields. With this the turning point of the battle was reached, the losses of the Germans quickly reached critical proportions. In the end, the Luftwaffe fails to take control of England and has to break off attacks on British territory.
At the end of the film, a list is faded in showing the casualties of the Royal Air Force and the German Air Force during the Battle of Britain.
Filming
Filming locations in London included St Katharine Docks , where several older houses were being demolished at the time of filming, and Aldwych underground station . Aerial photographs were also taken in Spain near Seville . Historic RAF air bases in England also served as film locations.
The film required a large number of historic aircraft. In September 1965, producers Harry Saltzman and S. Benjamin Fisz contacted former Group Captain TG 'Hamish' Mahaddie of the RAF Bomber Command Group to find the aircraft they needed and arrange their use. In the end, 100 aircraft were deployed, jokingly referred to as the "35th largest air force in the world". With Mahaddie's help, 109 Spitfires were tracked in the UK, 27 of which were available, 12 of which were airworthy. Mahaddie negotiated the use of six Hawker Hurricanes, three of which were airworthy.
For the shooting, aircraft from the Spanish Air Force were lent or purchased ( HA-1112 , CASA 2.111 ).
The producers benefited from the fact that the Spanish Air Force wanted to switch to more modern jet aircraft and that the obsolete propeller-driven aircraft were still in airworthy condition.
The HA-1112 is a further development of the Bf 109 G-2, which was built under license in Spain and was used in the film to depict the Bf 109 E-4 used by the Air Force in 1940 . For this purpose, dummy weapons and horizontal stabilizer struts were retrofitted. In addition, the paintwork was based on the Luftwaffe camouflage scheme. The production company (Spitfire Productions) bought 27 HA-1112s from the Spanish Air Force. One of these machines was restored in recent years and has been airworthy again since May 19, 2006. The aircraft with production number 223 was built in 1959 by Hispano Aviación in Seville . Painted as "Red 7", she was involved in the film. It is currently painted in the color scheme of a fictional Bf 109 E "Yellow 10", as it was also used in the film. The majority of the Bf 109s still airworthy today come from the film inventory and were z. Some of them were later equipped with the original German DB-605 engines.
To represent the German bomber fleet, 32 twin-engine CASA 2.111s were used. From 2000 to 2009 one of the He 111 H-16s (CASA 2.111B), built under license in Spain and last used during the filming, was restored in the aircraft yard of the Deutsches Museum in Oberschleißheim near Munich .
On the side of the defenders, Supermarine Spitfires and Hawker Hurricanes were in action, with the small number of available Hurricanes being supplemented by appropriately repainted HA-1112 in the crowd scenes. One advantage of the production company was that almost all machines were equipped with the British Rolls Royce Merlin .
Two CASA 352s were seen in supporting roles and British model builders were hired to make remote-controlled models of the Junkers Ju-87 for filming.
A North American B-25 was converted as a camera plane , the numerous former arms of which allowed the installation of various cameras.
HA-1112-M1L Buchón C.4K-102 (Real Airplane Company)
HA-1112-M1L Buchón C.4K-102 (Real Airplane Company)
criticism
"The seemingly realistic, monumental widescreen film lacks above all an authentic representation and artistic expression, so that the background and context of the war and the political actions remain unclear."
“An English film that goes to great lengths to ensure documentary authenticity, but the number of people and the flood of stories leave the viewer at a strangely cool distance. Suitable for interested adults and older adolescents, for various reasons less so for younger ages. "
useful information
In the English version, "Ace High March" composed by Ron Goodwin especially for the film is used as the title music, in the German version this piece has been replaced by the " Badenweiler-Marsch " and the trio of " Preussens Gloria ".
Technical and military advisers to the German side of the film were Lieutenant General Adolf Galland , Colonel Hans Brustellin and Major Franz Frodel .
Web links
- Battle of Britain in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Battle of Britain atRotten Tomatoes(English)
- Movie poster
- History of the shooting
Individual evidence
- ^ Website of the Flugwerft of the Deutsches Museum in Schleissheim
- ↑ Battle of Britain. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .