MovieChat Forums > The Way to the Stars (1945) Discussion > RAF BOMBER COMMAND FILMS

RAF BOMBER COMMAND FILMS

posted 16 years ago by ib011f9545i
11 replies | jump to latest

Our American cousins have made several films about the USAAF bombing campaign in Europe,I have no problem with the great films saluting these heroes but I am British.

I can't think of many British films that feature RAF BOMBER COMMAND,THE WAY TO THE STARS is one,THE DAMBUSTERS is another but there are not many.

Can anyone tell me about other British bomber films? why do we think that there are so few?
I think that post World War 11 Britain was wrongly ashamed of bombing the hell out of Germany and did not celebrate the heroes of bomber command enough,eg no campaign medal,no kinghthood for Arthur Harris.

If anyone reading this has millions of pounds to spend (the BBC perhaps?)can we please have a film version of Len Deighton's novel BOMBER which is wonderful.

[–] eandtslattery 16 years ago

Arthur Harris was created a Baronet in the early(I think) 50s.I fully agree with you Re Len Deighton's 'Bomber'although it would take several million £s to do the novel justice.

[–] alfa-16 15 years ago

Len Deighton's Bomber was dramatised by the BBC for radio in 1995 and broadcast in episodes in real time throughout a single day. More people were listening to the final episode, which went out after midnight, than the preceding parts as the audience built by word of mouth throughout the day. It's very good and available from BBC http://www.bbcshop.com/History/Bomber/invt/9780563523550

Appointment in London is an excellent film with a lot of actual footage and explains why RAF nightime bombing was often more accurate than American daylight raids.

633 Squadron has lots of Mossies, WW2 best aircraft, bombing Norway.

[–] silverfox2512 15 years ago

There is also Target For Tonight which was made during the war and is about a Wellington crew. Also Mosquito Squadron, loosely based on the Amiens Prison raid (better than 633 Squadron) - and you can always watch Memphis Belle and remember that the original script was about a Lancaster crew

[–] yoo 14 years ago

I like movies about war time Britain, but I don't know why I would especially request movies which celebrate systematic bombing of civilians, whether that happened in Guernica or in Dresden.

If you want to read a story about these times, try Payback by Gert Ledig.

[–] ib011f9545i 13 years ago

Well I don't know why you would make such a request but I made such a request because I am British and my parents were both bombed by the Germans.
They did not die in the war but their health was damaged for the rest of their lives by their wartime service.
I also have a great general interest in World War 11.

The idea that there were innocent civilians on either side in world war 11 does not stand up to inspection.
It was total war,a war not just of the people in the armed forces but also between civilians on the industrial front.
Of course old people and kids were killed as well but land warfare also kills lots of civilians.

Even people working on farms or in bars were helping their nations war effort.
Area bombing was not accurate but if a German tank factory worker got killed in an air raid he did not get up and make more tanks the next day

If you think that bombing Dresden was an awful thing and not justified by its importance as a target you should check out Taylor's book called DRESEDN.
It shows that the city did not just make china but actually made radio and radar equipment and fuses for shells amaong other war equipment.

People go on about Dresden and Hamburg because the German airforce never managed to do strategic bombing as well as the allies did,and frankly I am glad we won world war 11.

[–] nagmashdriver 12 years ago

Shame on you. To make a moral equivalence of the bombings of Guernica with that of Dresden is morally reprehensible.

Would I be guessing correctly that you are a political Leftist?? And that you never served in the military??? I've never met you before, but I bet my hunches are correct.

The bombing of Guernica was nothing more than a terrorist tactic in a civil war, designed to test out new theories of waging war on civilians in order to bring about a political change through force.

The bombing of German civilian targets was strictly to end a terrible war that THEY had started, and to avenge German bombing of civilian British cities. The bombing of Japanese civilian targets was for the same reason, and also because almost all military targets had been bombed into oblivion by early 1945.

[–] The_Dying_Flutchman 14 years ago

OP, if yer still around and still care "Piece of Cake" from your own Weekend TV was/is a superb RAF drama. On this side of the pond and to my mind, the best ever made!

A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.

[–] atapj 14 years ago

You might look for the following book through your library, or available at abebooks.com starting about $12. Totally agree with you about "Bomber" being due a film treatment...it would have to be CGI at this point since the number of flyable Lanc's is negligible.
Falconer, Jonathan Raf Bomber Command in Fact, Film and Fiction
(ISBN: 0750912944 / 0-7509-1294-4 )

[–] jkholman 12 years ago

Another movie of Bomber Command is a Tyrone Power film called A Yank in the RAF.
It is corny in parts, but with successive viewings, it gets better.

[–] ib011f9545i 9 years ago

To answer my own post APPOINTMENT IN LONDON (British title)is a great film about bomber command,there is more flying and aircraft but it is not as well known as THE WAY TO THE STARS.

[–] lansdownehouse 8 years ago

Of course there's plenty of Hollywood war films.

Aren't you aware that the United States has fought almost every war of the 20th century, and a substantial proportion of the 21st, virtually single handedly? I don't think any other nation had much involvement at all!

Plus Americans have a virtual monopoly on heroism, sacrifice and comradeship. In fact, had it not been for the incredible race of North American ubermensch we would all be living under the jackboots of totalitarianism. God bless the seppos eh?