WWII Movie Review: "Battle of Britain"

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few", are some of the most famous words spoken by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, in recognition of the monumental effort of the Royal Air Force in repelling the German Luftwaffe, which in turn prevented the German invasion of Britain.

The 1969 film "Battle of Britain" was the attempt to capture this effort and memorialize the brave men who fought in the battle. With an all-star cast featuring Michael Caine, Robert Shaw, Curt Jurgens, and Laurence Olivier, this film has the recipe to blow the audience away with epic performances.

German bombers begin to bomb British airfields on Eagle Day
 (screenshot)

Some interesting facts about this film are that nearly all of the planes used in this film are actual vintage planes (with the exception of the Junkers 87 Stukas, which were 1:2 scale RC models). Also, in filming this movie, the amount of (blank) ammunition used in all of the takes the director ordered exceeds the amount of ammunition that was used in the actual battle!

Nevertheless, there are some problems with this film. The brief romantic scenes in this movie, meant to show the personal strain the battle had between pilots and their wives and lovers, seemed to be thrown into the mix and not done very well, at times appearing to be an afterthought of the scriptwriters to make this picture something more than a pure war picture, and therefore drag down the picture as a whole. Also, some of the aerial combat scenes tended to be drawn out a bit too long.

Overall, though, this film is a staple for any World War II movie library, as it does a fantastic job in honoring the soldiers who lived and died in the skies above Britain on both sides. Until next time take care, and thanks for reading.

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