The Dam Busters (film)

The Dam Busters (film)

The Dam Busters is a 1955 British epic war film starring Richard Todd and Michael Redgrave. The film recreates the true story of Operation Chastise when the RAF’s 617 Squadron attacked the Möhne, Eder, and Sorpe dams in Nazi Germany. It was widely praised and became the most popular motion picture at British cinemas in 1955. A remake has been in development since 2008, but has yet to be produced as of 2020.

About The Dam Busters (film) in brief

Summary The Dam Busters (film)The Dam Busters is a 1955 British epic war film starring Richard Todd and Michael Redgrave. The film recreates the true story of Operation Chastise when the RAF’s 617 Squadron attacked the Möhne, Eder, and Sorpe dams in Nazi Germany. It was widely praised and became the most popular motion picture at British cinemas in 1955. In 1999, the British Film Institute voted the film the 68th greatest British film of the 20th century. Its depiction of the raid, along with a similar sequence in the film 633 Squadron, provided the inspiration for the Death Star trench run in Star Wars: A New Hope. A remake has been in development since 2008, but has yet to be produced as of 2020. It is believed to have cost £5,000 on film rights in December 1952. In March 1952, Paul Brickhill wrote a treatment for the film based on the books The Dam Buster and Enemy Coast Ahead by Guy Gibson. After the Air Ministry agreed to make available four Lancaster bombers at a cheap price, Associated British decided to proceed with the film and agreed with Brickhill on the film rights for what would have been £5.000. After considering C.S. C. Williams, Emlyn Williams, Terence Rattigan, Leslie Forester, and Emlyn Arliss, C.R. Sherriff was selected as the screenwriter for the screen version of the film. In August 1952, production supervisor A.W. Whittaker and production supervisor Walter Mycroft, later accompanied by Brickhill, visited Barnes Wallis at his home.

Wallis was working feverishly to make practical his theory of a bouncing bomb which would skip over the water to avoid protective torpedo nets. When it hit the dam, backspin would make it sink whilst retaining contact with the wall, making the explosion far more destructive. In December 1952, Wallis returned to his home to write the script for the movie. He was accompanied by the production supervisor, Walter Wittaker, and later by the film’s director of production, A.B. Anderson. The movie was released on August 22, 1955, and was directed by Michael Anderson. It has been hailed as one of the greatest war films of all time and is still one of Britain’s most popular films to this day. It remains the most watched war film in the UK, with more than 1.5 million admissions in cinemas across the UK and the U.S., as well as a number of other European countries. It also remains the only British war film to have been made since the Second World War to be directed by a British director. It  is also the only film to be released in the United States, where it has been directed by Quentin Tarantino, who also directed The Godfather and The Matrix, among other films. The sequel to the film is due to be made in 2015. It will be released on Blu-ray and DVD.