MovieChat Forums > One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1943) Discussion > a good film but what about making a RAF ...

a good film but what about making a RAF story today.

posted 15 years ago by ib011f9545i
18 replies | jump to latest

I like this film,it is obviously dated but it was made by the right people at the right time.
Trendy people nowadays who say that bombing Germany was wrong for either moral or strategic reasons should think about the quote from the Dutch women about how they enjoyed the Germans running when they heard the British bombers.

The other films about Bomber Command such as The Dambusters and The Way To The Stars are fine,but I would love to see a story about bomber command made using modern filmmaking,a film version of Len Deighton epic novel "BOMBER" would be wonderful.

[–] Steve Crook 15 years ago

Well there's a remake of The Dam Busters being made, due for release next year. Hopefully it'll tell the story more accurately and won't get hung up on the dog's name.

The raid that the crew are on in this film was to Stuttgart but the raid that they witness from the ground, where we get that lovely quote from the Dutch woman, was a raid over the Netherlands of course. But it is a lovely quote:
[As RAF bombers approach.]
Jo de Vries: You see. That's what you're doing for us. Can you hear them running for shelter? Can you understand what that means to all the occupied countries? To enslaved people, having it drummed into their ears that the Germans are masters of the Earth. Seeing these masters running for shelter. Seeing them crouching under tables. And hearing that steady hum night after night. That noise which is oil for the burning fire in our hearts.

Len Deighton's "Bomber" might make for a good TV series. It'd be hard to adapt as a film. One of the biggest problems for bomber crews was having to risk their lives night after night for long periods. It'd be hard to get the effect of that repeated danger into a feature film.

This one might not be the most famous or the best Powell & Pressburger film, but it is a very good film.

Did you notice that there's no soundtrack music? There is some music heard in the film, but only what the characters would hear like the organ in the church and the records on the gramophone.

Steve

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Steve Crook 15 years ago

It's been a while since 1955, and since 1943, now everyone's more aware of how offensive the N word is to many people. It was never intended to cause offence, it was a commonly used name for black dogs and cats back in 1943. But ultimately the dog's name doesn't have any effect on the raid. It could have been called George or Henry or Digger and the story will work just as well.

People who insist on the correct name being used "for historical accuracy" are usually just trying to stir up trouble

Steve

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Steve Crook 15 years ago

Yes they do. The others might not get as agitated as the Americans, but it's considered an insult in most of the world

Steve

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Steve Crook 15 years ago

Oh yes it is. Try using it and you'll soon find out

Steve

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ib011f9545i 15 years ago

I think that people in Britain would only use this word to offend or to show that they are racist.
It is not a neutral term after all,indeed you could argue that it is not a very British term,at least when used about people,N***** BROWN was a colour of dye and shoe.
There are lots of english words,see TILL DEATH US DO PART.

We don't call disabled people cripples anymore,we don't call people spastics,we don't call gay people A*** B******.

We can't change what Gibson called his dog but we don't have to celebrate it either.

Even during World War 11 RAF Bomber Command had many commonwealth crews,they consisted of men from Australia,Canada,New Zealand,South Africa,Rhodesia and the West Indies.
I don't recall reading about air crew from India but I could be wrong.

Yes there were black heroes in the RAF,this is something not so far shown in films or tv dramas.

So lets have a Dambusters remake,or better still a film about bomber command which shows that how the mixed backgrounds of the men who flew against Germany.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] MerchantVenturer 15 years ago

The problem with making films of historical subjects is that they depict the values and even mode of speaking of the time the film was made rather than when it was set.

Look at some of the films set in WW II made in the 1950s. Invariably the women have hairstyles of the 50s and not the 40s.

I can imagine a film about WW II made nowadays would have British airmen talking of colleagues as 'guys' and using such banal phrases as 'tell me about it' when agreeing with a point made by someone else.

This film may have many faults and be far less glossy and slick than modern films; after all, it was not only made when film-making techniques were much less sophisticated than nowadays but also in the middle of a world war in a country (England) that was in the front line.

What it does give that no modern film could is the feel of the early 1940s, from the speech of the actors to the look of the countryside (a lot of East Anglia was used for the Netherlands). It was also filmed in monochrome which, rightly or wrongly, is how most people view WW II.

I'm dreading a remake of the Dambusters. I've yet to see any film remake as good as the original.

[–] Steve Crook 15 years ago

I can imagine a film about WW II made nowadays would have British airmen talking of colleagues as 'guys' and using such banal phrases as 'tell me about it' when agreeing with a point made by someone else.

That's why Ben Miller and Alexander Armstrong did their "RAF Airmen" sketches. Clever stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED_TxKd2o5E

Steve

[–] morrowmmm 15 years ago

But, Steve, your last paragraph in itself is offensive.
Guy Gibson's dog was called *beep* and you cannot be accurate only at certain times in the film. Possibly get them bombing The Hoover Dam?
Normal people accept the name because it was mentioned in the film in all innocence.
You make it sound dirty.

[–] Steve Crook 15 years ago

What does the presence or the absence of the dog have to do with the mission? Did the dog act as the navigator in one of the bombers?

Every film or book based on real events is selective about which incidents and people are included. That's totally different to changing facts and replacing one person or location with another one.

The name is offensive to many people and using it would cause arguments which would detract from the story.

Steve

[–] morrowmmm 15 years ago

You seem to be as hung up on this one as IMDB.
What they do with the new Dambusters is entirely up to them.I am in agreement with you.
My issue is with people who think deleting the scene in the original Dambusters appeases something in themselves. It's morally vacuous.

[–] MerchantVenturer 15 years ago

When I last saw the Dambusters shown on a British television channel the dog's name was deleted by removing a few frames of film (there was a slight jerk on screen noticeable).

The result was nonsensical.

Gibson's batman went to him and said, "s'dead sir, killed by a car."

Gibson immediately told his batman to bury the dog at midnight.

In reality a person would have said, "Who's dead?"

The word was also a code word that was to denote successful destruction of one of the dams. It was again deleted by removing a few frames with a result as fatuous as the earlier example.

[–] morrowmmm 15 years ago

Steve,
I didn't know if any sane person ever got hung up on the name but a lot of politically correct people did.
I'm uncertain whether the malevolence still makes weak TV companies edit the name.
I really am concerned about The Dambuster's remake. It was an excellent film and reflected a morality and etic which is sadly missing today.
Medecin, living standards and income have improved but not much else. At least in those days there was a certain trust in Governments.
I would like to see a film based upon Leonard Cheshire, a man who flew well over a hundred missions both as a pilot and a pathfinder and then went on to found the Cheshire homes.
A man of great courage, dignity and humanity.

[–] Steve Crook 15 years ago

I didn't know if any sane person ever got hung up on the name but a lot of politically correct people did.

It was the extremists in both directions that caused most fuss. The politically incorrect people were insisting that the name be retained exactly as it was because they knew the fuss that would cause.

Sensible people realise that the dog's name has no relevance to what those brave men did and that changing it (or missing out the dog completely) doesn't affect the story.

Steve