Battle of Britain (1969) Review

An all-star cast fills in-between beautiful scenes of aerial combat in this recounting of the famous World War II battle over Great Britain’s skies. While the fictional characters are nothing to write home about, the real drama comes from the unfolding nightmare that really did happen. Glorious cinematography will make you want to see it on a big screen – the bigger the better. UPDATED August 2014 for a full rewrite, Blu-ray details, and HD screen captures.

From August 12 to October of 1940, a fierce bombing campaign by Germany took place in preparation for an eventual amphibious invasion of Great Britain. Badly outnumbered and riven by arguments over strategy, the British very nearly lost this critical battle during the early stages of the Second World War. Any attempt to portray this complicated history was bound to be flawed in one way or another, so it was perhaps too big a story to tell in one movie.

Three main focuses are interweaved throughout: the factual RAF Fighter Command struggle to form an effective strategy (based on book The Narrow Margin), depictions of the air war itself, and drama around fictional fighter pilots.  Most of the focus is on the second and features the best aerial footage I’ve seen in any movie not named The Blue Max. With the noted James Bond film series director Guy Hamilton helming the movie, great action was guaranteed.

Battle of Britain begins with a Hurricane flying through the blue sky and follows it doing a victory roll over a column comprised of retreating soldiers escorting civilian refugees. It is France and the German blitzkrieg has the Allies on the run toward the coast. After landing, the young pilot is chewed out for stunting over the airfield by his CO, Harvey (Christopher Plummer). They have too few machines in flying condition even with reinforcements landing, one of them being his old friend Skipper (Robert Shaw).

We are also introduced to most of the pilots we’ll be following, but they don’t have long on screen – the Germans are coming. Frantic efforts to get the still flyable fighters off the ground are followed by attempts by the ground crew to torch the “wounded ducks.”  Even that goes poorly thanks to the Luftwaffe and we haven’t gotten to the title screen yet.

The famous retreat and evacuation at Dunkirk is briefly touched on in an effectively sobering shot and then the victorious German’s make their appearance. One thing I love about older war movies is that they had the real languages spoken with subtitles, rather than foreign accented English. Here it is put to great use as we get to see the other side of the story with a terrific German cast every bit the equal of the British actors.

Also entering the picture is Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding (Lawrence Olivier), the man tasked with organizing the defense of the skies over Britain. Pressured by a minister for good news to take to Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the very reserved officer offers nothing of comfort. The Royal Air Force is badly outnumbered, was defeated over France, and the nation stands alone. That’s simply the way it is.

The Luftwaffe also knows this and expects a quick victory when the time comes. General Hans Jeschonnek (Karl-Otto Alberty) is confident in their superiority, both in numbers and skill. Essentially Dowding’s counterpart as Chief of Staff, he is the epitome of Nazi arrogance providing a stark contrast to the dour Brit. While it isn’t gone into in the movie, he was the big proponent of bombing residential London to inflict maximum terror.

The setting briefly changes to neutral Switzerland for a superbly acted scene where Baron von Richter (Curt Jurgens) relays a message to his friend, Sir David Kelly (Ralph Richardson) from Adolph Hitler.  It’s a peace offering by a leader who regularly broke his word, so it isn’t well received. There are few things more bitter than friends ending up on opposite sides and you won’t see a better depiction of someone with supreme self control starting to lose it. Despite Sir Kelly’s angry bravado, it is all too obvious that England is not ready for what is to come.

With the “Phony War” stretching out, the British pilots start getting impatient, much to the frustration of their commanding officers. It’s a good look at what life was like for the pilots and may seem like a familiar story to anyone who knows military aviation history. The young ones champ at the bit, led by youthful faux immortality, while the older ones who’ve seen combat fret over their younger charges. Illusions meet reality in the harshest way possible in short order serving as a preview of things to come.

Forcefully inserted into the story is a subplot to provide romance and something for the women to be interested in. Squadron Leader Colin Harvey (Christopher Plummer) and his wife Section Officer Maggie Harvey (Susannah York) spar their way through their marriage while showing no chemistry on screen at all. I have to wonder which producer thought this was a good idea, but their scenes take up a lot of time, so get used to them.

I will admit, he has a snazzy roadster, so there is one positive to the character appearing. One.

Both the RAF pilots and Luftwaffe are portrayed as aggressive and cocky, but it is clear which side has the advantage. The Germans are building up their invasion force as both sides can eyeball each other through high power binoculars across the English Channel. The go ahead for Eagle Day commences and the Battle of Britain begins in earnest with Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers attacking radar installations on the coast.

A slight detour here, for I am a military aviation enthusiast and something needs to be written about the aircraft used in the production. Interestingly, all the fighters and the Heinkel bombers used to make the movie had the Rolls Royce Merlin engine used in Hurricanes and Spitfires installed. The Messerschmitt Bf-109’s are actually Spanish license built HA 1112 Buchons manufactured after the war. Likewise, the Heinkel He-111s are really CASA 2.111s rebuilt with Merlin engines. Those were flown by Spanish Air Force crews since they were still in service as target tugs and training aircraft.

Although the Supermarine Spitfire is the star of the show, in reality the slower Hawker Hurricane fought the bulk of the battle. They were available in more numbers and because of the way their wing guns were clustered together they packed a bigger punch against bombers. Never getting the glory, there were fewer flyable Hurricane’s preserved by the late 60’s so the Spit got the most usage in filming. Look carefully and you will see Buchon’s painted up like Hurricane’s late in the film to augment their numbers.

All the Stuka’s were remote controlled miniatures and they appear a bit dodgy during the dive bombing sequence. But they blow up nicely and look better than the superimposed effects on the real Spitfires and Buchons.

Back to the story!

Though they had ample warning and time to prepare, the Royal Air Force is not ready for the Luftwaffe concentrating on their airfields. Expecting to be hit elsewhere, they are taken completely by surprised. Dowding’s concern that they must shoot down four attackers for each defender they lose quickly becomes a nightmare of lost pilots, lost fighters, and not enough replacements for them.

As time goes by, things get more dire for the Brits and more frustrating for the German air crews flying bombers. With fighters only being able to spend ten minutes protecting the slower twin engine planes laden with bombs, the toll begins to take effect on the squadrons. However, the Luftwaffe still has more planes and pilots to throw at the island nation.

The accidental bombing of London by a weary and wind blown Luftwaffe bomber crew lost in the darkness of night is memorable. That event changed the direction of the war when a retaliatory raid hit Berlin. An enraged Hitler ordered London and other cities to be flattened in return, thereby sparing the critically depleted RAF and their airfields.

But what got to me was the adoring women and female Hitler youth members at the rally. It is an unnerving scene of blind loyalty and devotion that creeped me out, for a lack of better words. This of course, is historical fact for Adolph was popular with the ladies and beloved by many Germans at the time.

Certain other scenes and subplots stood out to me.  One of the better ones involves the vengeful Polish pilots who aren’t trusted to fight despite being actual veterans of the air war in 1939. Watching a training flight of Hurricanes getting a chance to take out Heinkel He-111 bombers is a rare moment of exuberance amidst the carnage late in the movie. The contributions of foreign pilots during the battle were not minor and went beyond helping relieve the shortage of qualified pilots.

The London Blitz is very well portrayed and captures little slices of life under the bombing. I don’t know how many people outside of the UK understand what a horrific pounding London took so I think the movie will give a good idea of what it was like to the uninitiated. The imagery is eerie, with the undersides of bombers bathed in the orange red glow of the burning fires beneath.

Around the two hour mark, the film has a five minute montage of nonstop combat that depicts the desperate final clashes between the RAF and Luftwaffe. the resulting human loss and suffering depicted becomes numbing after awhile.  Which is the reaction I think the film makers were going for, since that is how the pilots on both sides have become after months of intense aerial warfare.

 

Briefly touched on is the argument over Leigh-Mallory’s “big wing” theory, which is still being debated today. Something to note is that Dowding was sacked after the Battle of Britain ended, rather than rewarded. Unfortunately, the movie only scratches the surface on the command decisions and politics involved. Those alone could fill a movie.

Thoughts

Battle of Britain was a box office loser, with an estimated loss of $11 million worldwide. It isn’t a bad movie for the most part, but it is rather depressing and tried to fit too much into one film. You don’t come out of watching this feeling uplifted or inspired.

The film seems calculated to wear you down over time just as much as the characters are. Stunning aerial battles always come at a high human cost on both sides and the growing trauma to the combatants is reflected in the dramatic subplots. War is not portrayed as anything glamorous, indeed it is shown to be a human meat grinder depicting established characters suffer horrible fates.

The Achilles’ heel of the production is the interweaving of far too many characters along with their individual travails. They come and go in blips making it hard to develop any real attachment to them. This greatly reduced the impact that the dramatic parts might have had. So don’t expect to feel much for many of the characters despite a stellar cast acting their hearts out.

While the fictionalized drama feels shoehorned in at times, it occasionally can be rather subtle and powerful. From the numerous fictional characters, a handful emerge to dominate the story:

Robert Shaw commands attention every moment he’s on screen as Skipper, a squadron leader who is hard as nails yet cares greatly for his men. The character is fictional and a steady, if impatient, presence throughout the film. He’s the kind of man you want leading others into battle or for a best friend.

A young Ian McShane (Lovejoy, Deadwood) plays Sgt. Pilot Andy, an enlisted man flier and friend of Shaw’s. Given what appears to be an odd amount of attention in early parts of the film, his story eventually brings home the cost of the war in a heartbreaking way.

If the movie had concentrated on these two characters while cutting others completely out, Battle of Britain would have been a much better film.

Michael Caine once again plays an upper class officer, Canfield, in what feels like an extended cameo. His fictional character is representative of the wealthy old boys club that dominated the RAF during the early years of the war. It’s a terrific performance that is simply wasted due to a lack of screen time.

Christopher Plummer is the romantic lead and his character, Squadron Leader Harvey, represents Canada’s volunteers in the RAF. His rocky relationship with his English wife is the chief source of melodrama. Susannah York plays Harvey’s wife, Maggie. An officer herself, her refusal to transfer closer to her husband becomes a source of great friction between the two. Section Officer Harvey’s experiences are meant to reflect what the WRAF’s went through during the battle.

Unfortunately, the pair are utterly unlikeable with him being something of a bully and her shallow. Harvey’s sharp tongue and constant haranguing of his wife is grating, if not outright abusive. Remove the two and the story would have flowed much better.

In the end, the best performances belong to the actors portraying real people:

Sir Lawrence Olivier plays Air Chief Marshall Sir Hugh Dowding. It is a somber performance reflecting the stuffiness and deliberate manner of the real man who had to run the defense of Britain. The weight of the world seems to rest on his shoulders.

Sir Ralph Richardson has a marvelously acted cameo as Sir David Kelly, the UK’s representative in Switzerland. His scene is one of the most memorable in the movie and the barely restrained rage he conveys is palpable.

Hein Riess simply becomes Hermann Göring in an amazing performance. People might think it over the top, however the real man was even more of caricature. There are times fiction simply can’t compete with reality for weirdness.

Rounding out the excellent depictions of real historical figures are Trevor Howard as Air Vice Marshal Keith Park, Michael Redgrave as Air Marshal Evill, and Patrick Wymark as Air Vice Marshal Leigh-Mallory the proponent of the “big wing” doctrine.

While rated G, it has copious amonts of death, mild gore, disturbing imagery, and mild profanity. Parents should also be aware there is a very prominent nude pinup painting in the ready room of one airbase, Mrs. Harvey running around a hotel room in her bloomers, plus schoolboys skinny dipping in the Thames. I’d say it fits the modern definition of PG. Kids at the upper end of single digits and older should be able to handle the content with parental supervision.

Even with all its flaws, I consider Battle of Britain a neglected classic and was surprised to find it on DVD in well remastered glory. Even more surprising was finding it out on Blu-ray years later in an even better transfer.

I recommend the film to history buffs, military aviation enthusiasts, and war movie fans. Despite the inclusion of a romance, this is a guy’s movie so I don’t advise it for a stay at home date.

Technical

MGM’s 2003 release is a no frills DVD. The menu is basic and the only extra is the theatrical trailer which has more spoilers in it than this review. The Blu-ray release from 2008 fares slightly better, but has no bonus content aside from additional audio options.

The video is presented in 16:9 letterbox with the theatrical release 2.35:1 aspect maintained. Oddly, there is a black bar at the far left in the letterboxing. There is no sign of that on the BD edition and it may have been taken from a different print.

The cinematography is superb and always beautiful, especially in the air to air shots. Many vintage warbirds were assembled for filming this extravagant project and the roar of the Rolls Royce Merlin engine is constantly heard. The transfer on the DVD is very good, with only a few scratches and hairs to annoy.

However, the Blu-ray reveals how much variance in quality there was in the original footage. Many of the scenes filmed in Spain suffer from soft focus and appears to be an issue with the camera work done there. It is most apparent in the early scenes during the tour of the Luftwaffe bomber base in occupied France.

Despite that, the video transfer for the Blu-ray is quite good with a few scratches and slight haloing around the edges from over sharpening. It is well worth the upgrade for the dramatic increase in detail. Color saturation is superb and contrast excellent.

I’m impressed by that, since this is a single layer 25 GB Blu-ray and MPEG-2 was used rather than a newer codec at a higher bitrate.

The sound on the DVD is nice and clear English Dolby Digital mono, so don’t expect great things on home theater setups. Subtitles are provided in English, French, and Spanish.

Audio is an entirely different beast on the Blu-ray. Not only is the Dolby Digital monoaural track available, but three others including the lost original score!

First up is the default English DTS-HD Master Audio featuring a new 5.1 surround sound mix. There is nothing quite like the sound of a Merlin engine and you’ll hear that unique growl swooping all over the place. Full use of the subwoofer makes for window rattling explosions. Dialogue is never drowned out and while I’m not a huge fan of modern remixes of older films, this one is very good.

The second option is a fascinating choice due to the fact it has Sir William Walton’s full score that was rejected by the filmmakers. Stately and a little detached, it is sparse leaving long sections of the movie unaccompanied by music. At times it is inappropriately upbeat and I personally believe replacing it was a wise move.

Ron Goodwin’s replacement score is more melodramatic and would have been better if it were a little more sparingly used. Somewhere between the two lies the ideal, which simply wasn’t going to happen with this production.

Rounding out the sound options is a French 5.1 Dolby Digital dub. Subtitles are an odd lot, with English, Spanish, Cantonese, and Korean as options.

Beware! Here Be Spoilers!!!

 

 

 

Alright, I can’t resist one last attack on the so called romance in the movie. The hotel scene is annoying thanks to Harvey being a jerk to his wife and her odd behavior under stress. There was no reason for her to be wandering around in her underwear other than they wanted to show off York’s legs. And Plummer’s hairy chest, for that matter. I know the audience was supposed to root for them as a couple, so why was I rooting for one of them to get killed, both to get killed, or to get a divorce?

When she meets the badly burned friend of her husband, the foreshadowing is way too ham fisted. By the way, that isn’t makeup, the actor playing Evans really was badly burned in a bomber crash during WWII.

So the big twist that Harvey ends up burning in his Spitfire comes as no surprise for the audience or for that matter, Maggie. Then there is how long his burning scene goes on for… but enough ranting about the character.

In marked contrast is the blow to the gut received when Pilot Andy gets leave to see his family in London. Throughout the film, he’s been a likeable presence and his fundamental decency shows in how he treats his sons and wife. It also shows when he volunteers to help dig out a family in a still dangerous bombed neighborhood.

When I first watched it, I thought he was dead man going to his fate. So when it cut to his smiling while leading a rescued boy down a street, I breathed a sigh of relief. Then I reacted with about the same shock as Andy when he saw the church he’d left his family in reduced to burning rubble.

Really, he and Skipper should have been the main focus, not the Harveys. The short, nearly dialogue free scene at Skipper’s house later in the movie rang with authenticity in that losses do not spare you from combat when your land is under siege. It also showed the warm parental side of the squadron commander.

It wasn’t peaches and cream for the Luftwaffe either as the air war dragged on. One of the more effective scenes depicts a Heinkel limping home on one engine and the aftermath of its crashing. German air crew losses were staggering compared to the British once the Big Wing idea was properly employed.

Göring’s buffoonery makes for almost surreal moments in the film. He goes from gloating in over confidence to raging at his officers for failing to hold up to all he promised Hitler. Prone to tantrums, the man child’s offer of whatever they wanted in equipment was met with “A squadron of Spitfires!” much to his anger. That’s a real quote, Adolph Galland was the actual officer who said it and he was employed as a consultant on the production.

One of the better touches was depicting the formerly cocky pilots of both sides near the end of the film. Gone is their bravado, replaced with silent weariness as the German’s eat dinner and jangled nerves for the RAF aviators waiting for the next attack. This is not a happy movie by any measure and the ending comes as a relief.