Battle of Britain

Rating:
Summary: Good aircombat, but little else
Review: This movie has pretty good air combat scenes, but lacked a lot of historic detail, or that which it did have was poorly gone over. It seemed to me that every scene was accompanied by some theatrical music, which became quite annoying. Buy it if u want to see some nice combat shots, but if your looking for a good movie put your money elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: The Legend of The Few
Review: Battle of Britain established the legend of "The Few", those RAF pilots that earned Winston Churchill's famous praise. But as the movie shows, it wasn't just the pilots whose sacrifice was indeed, and obviously great. It was also British radar and spying and codebreaking plus the men and women who manned and operated the pioneering "control center" that Fighter Command established to monitor enemy aircraft and coordinate its own counterattacks. It was also the firefighters and medical workers and public servants and ordinary milkmen and newsboys who kept Britain alive during the battle.

While not 100% accurate, "Battle of Britain" is closer to the truth than say "Battle of the Bulge" with its burning, rolling petrol drums climactic scene.

The end, when German planes simply failed to appear one morning over the skies of Britain, was quite accurate. The Battle of Britain did not end with a flourish, say one big, lay-it-all-down fight. Instead, the Germans simply stopped, their attention diverted elsewhere. For a battle fought solely by air forces, neither the RAF nor the Luftwaffe were seriously crippled. In fact, later research proved their aircraft production was stable and actually increased during the battle, in spite of the bombing on Britain's industrial complexes. At the end of the battle, both air forces were intact and just as effective as before.

There was one scene where the Germans were discussing the most effective defense against the Spitfire, but unfortunately, little development was given to it. It was really just the matter of the British engines being carbureted (and therefore prone to stalling during dives) and the German engines being fuel injected, but I guess that explanation wasn't necessary from the filmmakers' POV. And yes, it was the less polished Hurricane that actually fought most of the Battle of Britain, not the Spitfire, which simply did not have the quantity at the time to claim the credit.

The "Secrets of War: Battle of Britain" DVD is recommended as companion to this title.

Rating:
Summary: It's finally here
Review: I too have been waiting for the DVD "Battle Of Britain" I still have reviews of the film from Air Power and Air Modeling mags discussing the making, accuracy, and errors of the film. Saw it twice in the theatre as a 13 yr old! On TV and VHS the small screen really hurt the "feel " of the movie. But now I here they've changed things in this release and didn't redo the sound track for DTS! Should I stick with my memories or get his modified version?

Rating:
Summary: Who's responsible for this?
Review: All of the problems noted by previous reviewers of the DVD are correct: the different opening titles, the changed subtitles, the substitution of the ineffective Walton end title music for Ron Goodwin's beautiful ending, the alternate Churchill quote, the omission of German losses in the tally at the end, etc., etc. Why? Where did this come from? Was it an early version? A British theatrical release that differed from the American release? I also missed the original UA opening logo, which has been replaced by the modern MGM one. Who makes these weird decisions? Did the producers of the DVD have a clue? Did they care? The image quality is good, and no scenes or shots have been cut, as far as I can tell. The aerial scenes are intact. Like others have said, keep your VHS and laserdisc copies. I waited and waited and waited for this DVD, and what a disappointment. Maybe in 10 years there will be another with all these problems corrected, and some extra features.

Rating:
Summary: A Disjointed Mess
Review: Its hard to believe that a film with such spectacular aerial photography could be so dang boring, but "Battle of Britain" succeeds at being one of the great all-time stinkers. Hello?! Is there an editor in the house? Must not have been when they slapped this thing together. This movie demonstrates without a doubt why so few British-made films are worth watching.

Rating:
Summary: Good entertainment; Great history.
Review: This movie is the precise opposite of "Pearl Harbor" in that this film first and foremost focuses on the great conflict between Germany and Britain immediately following the fall of France. The personal stories of the various protagonists are definitely in the background, and frankly are tangential to the real purpose of the film, which is to tell the story of the air war over Britain against the Germans. No sappy love story is allowed to get in the way of this tale, or distract from it. For this reason the film represents pretty good history.

A lot of care and more than a few dollars/pounds went into this production, and it shows. The aerial battle scenes are excellent, the special effects are such that the viewer truly feels transported into 1940s England, besieged by Luftwaffe bombers and fighters, defended by the outnumbered RAF. This is a very well done film.

As noted above, there isn't much of a storyline here other than the Battle of Britain itself. None is needed.

Rating:
Summary: Terribly Disappointed
Review: I had high hopes for this movie. I found it to be disjointed and the charactors didn't really develop. I felt nothing in the end.

Try "Twelve O'clock High" or "Dark Blue World". Both of these films from different eras are fantastic.

Rating:
Summary: Don't throw out your VHS copy just yet
Review: The Battle of Britain is one of my favorite films. Great cast, classic flying scenes and a fascinating perspective on historical events.

However, I was disappointed with the DVD version. The image quality is great, but the DVD differs from the VHS version in some important ways.

First, the DVD version has different subtitles. Some are modified and some are added. If you read all of the newly added (and mostly unnecessary) subtitles, you can't keep up with the video in some scenes. I don't speak German, so I can't say whether the modified subtitles are more accurate, but I feel that some of the translations lost their dramatic edge in this release. The DVD producers also chose to overlap subtitles with the picture, when, at 2.35:1, there's plenty of room below the video for the subtitles.

Secondly, on VHS, the movie's final scene is boosted by Ron Goodwin's beautiful soundtrack. The DVD version drops the Ron Goodwin track and replaces it with a lifeless piece that saps the life out of the final scene. This was a major disappointment.

Lastly, just before the end credits, Winston Churchill's famous quote is replaced with a less notable one.

Overall, it's still a great movie, but the VHS version was nearly perfect. After waiting years for the DVD version, I'm now left hoping there will be a Special Edition version with the VHS subtitles and soundtrack restored.

Rating:
Summary: Battle of Britain - DVD version
Review: I was eagerly looking forward do the DVD version of this movie. I have had the old RCA disk version that dates back to the early 80's, the VHS, and laserdisc version. The laser disc version is in widescreen. When I received the DVD, my enthusiasm decreased when I started watching the film. I could not believe what had been done to this version of the film. The following items are what I have found to be faults with the DVD version:

1) This version does not include any references to the location or the time frame that the scenes are occuring (e.g. the opening shot takes place May 1940 in France, the scene with Sir Ralph Richardson and Curt Jurgens is at the British Embassy in Switzerland, the first scene with Goering is at Pas de Calis).

2) The opening credits are completely changed especially "The Battle of Britain" instead of "Battle of Britain".

3) No credit is given to Maurice Binder for Main Titles and Ron Goodwin for music. It is Ron Goodwin's music that is used for most of the movie.

4) The English subtitles were inaccurate at least on one occasion. The scene near the beginning that talks about Churchill refering to the battle of France is over. Churchill's quote says "[w]hat General Weygand called the battle of France...", but the subtitle says de Gaulle instead of Weygand.

5) Battle of Britain March by Sir William Walton was substituted at the end. This music was not appropriate because the end of the film paid tribute to those involved in the campaign.

6) The film used a quote that did not capture the essence of the battle. I think that his "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few" sentiments are much more appropriate.

7) I also believe that the DVD left out the number of German planes, casualties, and missing.

I was looking forward to seeing this film finally on DVD. I can only rate it 3 stars based on the deficiencies that I have listed. If you have a VHS copy, hang on to it and compare it with the DVD version. I am fortunate that I still have the laserdisc version.

Rating:
Summary: Battle of Britain - A MUST for Widescreen!
Review: I first saw this movie at the Hollywood Theater in 1969, and its original rating was GP for adult language and mild violence. The GP rating (now PG) has been reduced to G in the US and Canada, yet remains PG in the UK.

Having owned the VHS version of this for several years, I eagerly awaited the arrival on DVD. I even emailed MGM-UA on a number of occasions, urging its release. Now, after seeing it in its proper aspect, it is a film for which Widescreen is a must. This should be on the same shelf as Patton, and Saving Private Ryan.

Guy Hamilton directed an Oscar winning cast, as well as military piloted aircraft through the retelling of events from July through September of 1940. The aerial scenes are choreographed to fill the screen from left to right, and set to classical music as the combat ensues.

Both sides of the conflict are represented through vignettes portrayed by the actors, and unlike contemporary film making, the good guys are buying the farm with the bad. It is a testament to the adage, "War is Hell." In the end, their backs to a wall, against 4-1 odds, the RAF is victorious, and Europe remains divided between allied and axis forces. "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

The only thing missing is a DTS or Dolby 5.1 soundtrack, but they didn't have those in the day of its original release.