Who Needs Special Effects?
This film was exciting when I saw it in 1956 in Holland, and it is just as exciting now. How can one miss with the superb talent of Michael Redgrave, the stirring music of Eric Coates, and a gripping yarn that happens to be true? Much of the fascination of this film stems from its depiction of Barnes Wallis's process of planning and perfecting the bouncing bomb, and persuading Whitehall to go along with his eccentric idea. Equally interesting are the various makeshift devices, such as the range-finding lights and the home-made bombsight.

"The Dam Busters" tells the story of ingenuity and courage during wartime. In the wrong hands, such a topic might be heavy handed, but one of the things that British filmmakers of the 1950s did so well was to deliver their patriotic messages with a touch of wry humor mixed with just the right amount of pathos. The camera may not focus on exploding planes or dwell on the devastating effects for the inhabitants of the Ruhr valley, but in leaving such details to the collective imagination of the audience, the director has developed cinematic understatement into a fine art.

Beyond praise
Five decades after it was made, this movie still remains as enthralling and evocative as ever: the true sign of a great classic.

The story of the Dams Raid of 1942 is a step back into a time-warp: Britain as she used to be, a great Imperial power, at her very, very best, ablaze with patriotism and heroics. An amazing cast representative of that period: moustachioed RAF brass, bowler-hatted officials with incredibly stiff upper lips, handsome, daredevil pilots with cut-glass Oxford accents, the outrageously eccentric boffin Barnes Wallis ... not to mention the glorious Lancs (the roar of those Merlins!) and the beautiful Nigger, Gibson's labrador, sadly run over on the night of the raid. The photography and special effects were brilliant for the 50s, the attack scenes nail-bitingly tense and utterly realistic. To cap it all, there is Eric Coates's iconic Dam Buster's March.

In the mid-fifties, every boy was running about with arms outstretched making machine-gun noises and pretending to be a Lanc: and probably chanting the March tune at the same time! The film took the country by storm.

The raid cost the lives of 56 fliers. It failed to bring the war to a quick end as was hoped; but at a dark time when any success was priceless, its heroism and technological achievment scored a stunning propaganda victory, lifting British hearts sky-high with hope and admiration.

The definate War Movie
There can be few people who have never seen this superb war film recounting the design of the Bouncing bomb which was itself designed to burst the dams of the Rhur valley in Germany.

Wing Commander Guy Gibson awarded the VC for his command of 617 squadron played really well by Richard Todd.

Recently on reading Guy Gibsons early 60s paperback autobiography about Bomber Command the enactment of scenes in the film are very true to life.

The tension,huge loss of life with eight Lancasters with the eight crew failing to return and the now famous Dambusters March.

Possibly the special effects now well over 50 years old appear dated,nothing detracts from making the Dambusters one of the most convincing and accurate depictions of true wartime events.

You might be interested to know that behind the visitor centre just outside Rhayader in Mid Wales Elan Valley is the actual remains of Barnes Wallaces coffer dam used to test the neccessary explosive charge needed to breach the Rhur dams.

Derwent Water in the Peak District was the main test area for the Lancasters.The squadron was the only one officially allowed to fly under a hundred feet whilst in testing.Throughout the war nobody knew why the Lancasters flew so low,even other squadrons not connected to 617 were left in the dark.

Guy Gibson did own a black labrador that he called "Nigger" and yes he was unfortunately killed just outside the airbase, so the film is as close to the real events of the war that we are likely to get.

Nothing in the film has been added to improve the story unlike vertually every other war film to date.The film keeps to the known facts and uses them to its advantage.
Nothing in the film has been added to improve the story,everything right down to the genuine archive film along Chesill beach on the south coast is factually accurate which goes to make it possibly the greatest war film to come out of a British studio.

Still watchable after all these years....
This film is still very watchable after all these years. Could it be that the actors and actresses either had first hand experience of the war, or knew someone who did, and that makes it all the more real? Or was it the Director and producer? Whatever, it is one of the truly great movies. Yes the special effects are a bit disappointing by comparison with today's standards, but the atmosphere the movie generates counters that wonderfully. Relatives of mine who lived through the war all rated it highly, saying how realistic it was. Especially as it does not glamourise war and does make the point very well that war involves death and sadness for those left alive. A re-make will never be this powerful.Besides which just where would they get the aircraft from?

"Down a bit ... steady ... steady ..."
This is a film which belongs exclusively to the classical generation (those born before 1945). It portrays the quintessential Englishness from the Air Ministry to the Officers' Mess at RAF Scampton and everywhere in between. Coupled with Roy Chadwick's beautiful design, which became the "Lanc" (Avro Lancaster), and the stirring "Dam Buster's March" by Eric Coates, this is a true classic of the British cinema. More than that it highlights (as so many films of the genre) the sacrifice made by young men to preserve a nation's freedom.

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