Reviewed by Rhianna Pratchett
Stars Michael Redgrave, Basil Sydney, Richard Todd, Ernest Clark, Ursula Jeans, Colin Tapley
Written by R.C. Sheffif
UK certification U | UK RRP £12.99
DVD Region 2 | Runtime 124 minutes
Directed by Michael Anderson
While the recently re-released Billy Liar might be a slightly more off-the-wall slice of classic film making, The Dam Busters is truly one of the best examples of stiff-upper-lip, Boy’s Own Britishness to ever to grace celluloid.
During WWII, faced with the problem that dams are notoriously hard to bomb, (because explosions are almost always cushioned by the surrounding water) design engineer Dr Barnes Wallis (Redgrave) creates the famous "bouncing bomb" — a device which can literally bounce across the water and hits a dam in a shallow enough spot for it to detonate with a devastating impact. Of course there’s a fair bit of kafuffle (and it is, indeed, a kafuffle) getting the Air Force to take him seriously, allow him to build the bomb and allocate him a squadron to attack three dams in western Germany. Cue Richard Todd as Commander Guy Gibson, who leads the 617 Squadron and is a veritable little powerhouse with his beloved dog, whose name wouldn’t get him far on Big Brother. Despite the fact that the special effects and sound are rather dodgy, there’s no doubt that the raid on the dams is still edge of the seat stuff. The only slight downside to the tale is the fact that we never really get to know the squadron characters that well (outside of Gibson) and so elements of the ending, while still being moving, lack the emotional punch they could have had.
In the end, this is a story about bravery, about true grit, and you could certainly argue that such things transcend the need for deeper characterisation. It truly is an epic story that warms the cockles, wherever they might be, as well as being a classic piece of British film history.
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