Memphis Belle (film)

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Movie
German title Memphis Belle
Original title Memphis Belle
Country of production Great Britain
original language English
Publishing year 1990
length 103 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Michael Caton-Jones
script Monte Merrick
production David Puttnam ,
Catherine Wyler
music George Fenton
camera David Watkin
cut Jim Clark
occupation
Right front of the B-17 used in the film with the pin-up picture of George Petty known as Memphis Belle

Memphis Belle is a British war film from the year 1990 , which the events immediately before and during the 25 enemy flight of a bomber of the 8th Air Force , a Boeing B-17 F Flying Fortress , reflects to Germany in 1943. The film story is based on the story of the real Memphis Belle .

action

May 16, 1943, Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire in north-east London, base of the 91st Bombardment Group of the 8th Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces in World War II . Numerous crew members of the bombers stationed on the military airfield , mostly young men in their early twenties at most, enjoy a pleasant early summer day with sport and relaxation, in the evening dancing is the order of the day. But the reality of the war takes her right out of her leisure, when a squadron machine, just returning from a mission, breaks on landing and explodes. The crew burns to death in their aircraft.

For the men of one of the bombers, the Memphis Belle , the coming day is a special one. They will fly their 25th mission against the enemy and have fulfilled their quota. Then it goes back home. And because the Memphis Belle will also be the first American aircraft to have completed these 25 enemy flights over the European theater of war, a big farewell party is already being prepared at the base for the next day - which, however, challenges the opposition of the commanding officer , because First of all, the mission must be survived.

The following morning, the crew members of the Memphis Belle under their commandant Captain Dennis Dearborn get ready for the flight. The goal is an aircraft factory in Bremen , a strongly defended industrial city in northern Germany. It will not be safe to use.

After a few hours of flight, the bomber formation over the North Sea is attacked by the first German fighter planes. Several aircraft were killed in the fighters' attacks, including the commander's B-17. The Memphis Belle must now assume the command of the more than 300 remaining bombers and thus the responsibility for navigating to the target and carrying out the attack.

Shortly before Bremen, the association encounters a dense cloud cover and heavy barrage from the anti-aircraft defense , the first approach to the target fails. While the Memphis Belle leads its squadrons into the hell of anti-aircraft fire for a second approach , the German fighters attack again. Copilot Luke Sinclair went to the rear gunner's place under a pretext to be able to say of himself that he had killed a German fighter. He actually succeeds in shooting down an attacker. Tragically, however, the crashing plane rams another B-17, the Mother and Country , whose men had become friends the night before. It breaks apart in the air and also falls. Only a few parachutes can be seen, so most of the occupants could not leave the plane alive.

Now the second target approach takes place and this time the bombs are dropped . The relay teams turn on their home course. But the German fighter squadrons are not giving up yet, their attacks are getting more violent. The Memphis Belle is now also hit, a piece shot out of the tail unit . When an engine starts to burn, the pilot steers the machine into a dive to extinguish the fire with the airstream. Dearborn and Sinclair manage to intercept the machine, but it is severely damaged. The radio operator Danny Daly is seriously injured by bullets and threatens to bleed to death. His comrades cannot take care of him adequately and fear that he will die if he does not get to a hospital as soon as possible . They are therefore even considering throwing him out of the plane with the parachute so that he could end up in German captivity on the ground, hoping that he will soon receive medical treatment.

The Memphis Belle , whose engines are now gradually failing, dragged itself towards England with the last of its strength. With the last running engine and despite damaged controls and chassis hydraulics , Dearborn succeeds in landing on his home airfield at the end of the film.

background

script

The 1944 documentary The Memphis Belle - A Story of a Flying Fortress (German: Die Schöne aus Memphis - Eine Geschichte einer Flying Fortress)

The last flight of the real Memphis Belle was accompanied by William Wyler , an American film director, on behalf of the US Army Air Forces in 1943 . From the recordings and numerous other material from other flights, he cut a 42-minute documentary by the beginning of 1944 : The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress . Monte Merrick based his script for Memphis Belle on this documentary film , where he condensed the story for dramaturgical reasons and enriched it with genre-typical plot elements. Wyler's documentation is included in the extras in the Blu-Ray edition of the feature films.

Locations

The shooting took place on location in London, the Imperial War Museum in Duxford , Cambridgeshire and the RAF -Stützpunkt Binbrook , Lincolnshire instead, England.

Theatrical releases

Great Britain September 7, 1990
United States October 12, 1990
Germany January 17, 1992 ( video )

Remarks

The original Memphis Belle on her return flight home in June 1943
  • One of the producers, Catherine Wyler, is the daughter of William Wyler , who made the documentary about the last appearance of the real Memphis Belle in 1944 . She came up with the idea for the remake.
  • A total of five B-17 original aircraft were used during the shooting, one of which was destroyed in an - unintentional - crash. The crew members got away with their lives.
  • The original aircraft, which was parked outdoors for a long time after its celebrated return to the United States and was very exposed to the elements, has been restored and has been on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force since 2018 . The movie plane converted to the Memphis Belle can be seen in the air at US air shows.

Reviews

Günter H. Jekubzik considers the film to be "out of date [...] with its collection of familiar aviator films". The production “distracts from the question of the meaning of such war games and films that Stanley Kubrick wrote in his Dr. Strange ... definitely answered in 1963 ". However, Jekubzik emphasizes the "elaborate, stylishly photographed and in the finale very exciting staging".

Martin Grochholski conceded a “proper look into the life of the B-17 'Flying Fortress' crews at the time. But "unfortunately the film hardly ever uses the chance to really go into depth" and in the end you "never really get the feeling that you were really dealing with an anti-war or at least a war film".

Grochholski concluded: “In the end, there isn't much more left than an aviation drama, the only intention of which is to be found in full-length entertainment (which is undoubtedly very good!). Simply too superficial, dealing with all the issues that have been touched on. Anyone who expects an enlightening discussion of the topic of "Air War in World War II" is likely to run the risk of being disappointed. "

Awards

The film received several nominations:

  • Cinematographer David Watkin for the Best Cinematography Award 1990 from the British Society of Cinematographers (BSC)
  • Composer George Fenton for Best Original Film Score at the 1991 BAFTA Awards
  • Director Michael Caton-Jones for the International Fantasy Film Award at the Festival Internacional de Cinema do Porto 1991 (Fantasporto).

The following was awarded:

  • Cinematographer David Watkin (Best Technical / Artistic Achievement) at the Evening Standard British Film Awards.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Internet Archive: Here is the complete documentary to see accessed on 12 March 2007
  2. ↑ a b according to Cinema.de
  3. ↑ B-17F Memphis Belle to be placed on permanent display. National Museum of the United States Air Force, May 17, 2018, accessed June 14, 2019 .
  4. ↑ in the online film magazine filmtabs
  5. ↑ a b in a review in the online magazine DVD Center ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive )