# Battle Of britain (1969) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 5, 2006, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-britain-1969/338546 "2006-01-05T07:25:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-britain-1969/338546/1 "2006-01-05T07:25:26Z")
I have _Battle Of Britain_ playing on the DVD now. It’s one of my favourite films. Spitfires, man! Hurricanes! I happened by IMDB and found this review: > [@](#): > > Battle of Britain or more appropriately titled Battle of Boredom is the worst WWII “movie” ever. I use the term “movie” lightly because BoB is more of an ambivalent documentary (without narration) than it is an entertaining film. I say this because there is no plot to the film… \ The only redeeming quality in this movie is that the aerial shots are notable. \ …[T]he technology used in this film pales in comparison to more modern films such as Pearl Harbor, but the fact that they had to use real planes and not special effects is impressive. Good lord. ‘No plot’? Uh… You see, it’s an historical drama. The story is about the Bad Guys trying to defeat the Good Guys. The story follows the course of actual events. But this yobbo dares to compare the aerial scenes in _Battle Of Britain_ with those of _Pearl Harbor_? I’ve got news for him. The latter’s special effects were crap. They looked like computer-generated airplanes – which they were. The former’s aerial sequences looked as if they had _real_ airplanes and were much more believable. Oh, that’s right. they _were_ real airplanes! :smack: (And _Tora! Tora! Tora!_ beats _Pearl Harbor_ for story and aerial sequences as well.) Okay, now that that’s out of the way, again I say this is one of my faves. Yes, the love story is hokey. But not nearly as bad as the one in _Pearl Harbor_. The stars of the show are the aircraft. There’s nothing like a Spitfire in flight. The radio-controlled Stukas were convincing. The Hispano-Suizas are as close as you can get to ME-109s without finding a Messerschmitt, and I (personally) can’t see the difference between the Casas and a real Heinkel. (I’ll have to take a closer look at the engines to see if they’re Merlins.) The scenes of Hurricanes being burned and Spitfires being bombed are frightening to an airplane lover. The mock-ups were very, very good for the most part. The shots are set up typically for their time. But that’s okay. The more wide shots, the more airplanes! Some of the shots are a little tired though. How many times have you seen an airplane run into a fuel truck? Or one that busts into flames upon rolling over a small bomb crater? I suppose they were exciting 40 years ago. It really is a movie of its time. Dated cinematography and sometimes uneven ground scenes aside, this is a ‘must-see’ for any fan of aviation or war cinema. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-britain-1969/338546/2 "2006-01-05T07:33:00Z")
“Battle of Britain” wasn’t a great movie, really, but to suggest it was anything less than a hundred times better than “Pearl Harbor” is simply insane. I mean, “Serenity” wasn’t a super sci-fi movie, but it’s still a thousand times better than “Battlefield Earth.” “You’ve Got Mail” was not a very inspired romantic comedy but it’s still genius compared to “Gigli.” “Battle of Britain” was not hugely different, in many ways, from other spot-the-star WWII movies like “A Bridge Too Far” - they were simply big budget efforts to put a famous battle on screen and ended up being pretty by-the-numbers narrations, without a whole lot of inspiration or originality. Still they were better than the “Pearl Harbor” abortion (with the notable exception of “Midway,” which in its own way was just as awful as “Pearl Harbor.”) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-britain-1969/338546/3 "2006-01-05T15:47:38Z")
[QUOTE=RickJay"Battle of Britain" was not hugely different, in many ways, from other spot-the-star WWII movies like “A Bridge Too Far”[/QUOTE] True enough. That’s partly what I meant by its being ‘of its time’. Although I mentioned the style of the cinematography and the direction, ‘of its time’ also covers the period’s propensity for All Star Casts. Certainly it was no _The Longest Day_, nor did it have the power of George C. Scott’s performance in _Patton_. _Battle Of Britain_ may be mostly eye candy for aviation buffs like me. But it’s miles ahead of, say, _633 Squadron_. (Sorry, **633squadron**.) The only reason I own the latter is because it has Mosquitos in it – even if they used the same shots over and over. I thought the acting in _Battle Of Britain_ was better, the story was better, and the cinematography and direction – in spite of being ‘of its time’ – was better. That, and the Spits and other aircraft get it on the One Of My Favourite Films list. I agree with you on _Midway_. I really liked _Tora! Tora! Tora!_. We saw it with one of the pilots who flew in it. So I was excited when _Midway_ was released. But it was obviously an attempt to capitalise on the success of _Tora! Tora! Tora!_ and the cheesy love story sucked. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-britain-1969/338546/4 "2006-01-05T17:30:45Z")
I’ve been watching some of the World War II. I really enjoyed _Battle of Britain_. I know nothing about airplanes and air combat, but I thought the movie was well done and enjoyed that there wasn’t a political agenda behind the movie. Plus, I enjoy a movie like this with good special effects, yet without the harrowing realism of a _Saving Private Ryan_. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-britain-1969/338546/5 "2006-01-05T18:01:48Z")
Those Stukas were radio-controlled? That explains it; I didn’t think there were any Stukas left flying (in 1969). ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-britain-1969/338546/6 "2006-01-05T18:02:21Z")
I’d say the same for _Sink the Bismark_. I love _Battle of Britain_ pretty much for the same reasons you gave. It’s the difference between making a movie to tell a story, and producing an epic to make you proud of yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-britain-1969/338546/7 "2006-01-05T18:07:36Z")
most of the Stuka shots were model work. There was a converted Percival Procter [http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?mode=hybrid&t=36253](http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?mode=hybrid&t=36253) built, but not ultimately used for the flying sequences ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-britain-1969/338546/8 "2006-01-05T18:22:37Z")
> [@Rocketeer](#): > > Those Stukas were radio-controlled? That explains it; I didn’t think there were any Stukas left flying (in 1969). It was getting late last night. In retrospect, I think they were not flying models. I’ll have to look more closely. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-britain-1969/338546/9 "2006-01-05T21:12:30Z")
One thing that bugged me about Battle of Britain was how whenever the German guy in the bright white uniform walked through the foreground during some outdoor banquet scene, I couldn’t see the subtitles because they were the same color as his clothes :smack: Also, I don’t like that the DVD people went through the trouble of subtitling the French and Polish “chit-chat”, since in one scene it made a RAF pilot’s translating “for the benefit of the uneducated” (in reference to his friend standing next to him) redundant, and in the other scene (with the Polish pilots and their British instructor) I think the comedy was robbed from the scene by letting us know what the Poles were saying. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-britain-1969/338546/10 "2006-01-05T22:18:36Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > One thing that bugged me about Battle of Britain was how whenever the German guy in the bright white uniform walked through the foreground during some outdoor banquet scene, I couldn’t see the subtitles because they were the same color as his clothes :smack: Please eat some shitake mushrooms. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2006, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-britain-1969/338546/11 "2006-01-07T14:13:04Z")
::: Moderator cracks whip ::: **mobo95** , that comment is rude, abusive, personally insulting and a violation of the rules of this forum. You will now go and read the [Forum rules](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=343601), especially Post #3. In this forum, we discuss arts and entertainment. You may disagree with a particular point of view, but you may NOT insult another person for holding that point of view. People come to art/entertainment from different perspectives: someone who didn’t enjoy a movie because they just split up with their boyfried is entitled to that point of view, without ridicule or abuse. Someone who wept in a comedy because some humorous scene reminded them of their deceased mother is entitled to their point of view, without ridicule or abuse. Someone who didn’t enjoy a movie because the third reel was out of focus, or there were teenagers making noise behind him, is entitled to their point of view, again, without ridicule or abuse. **Raguleader** is entitled to complain that he couldn’t read the subtitles. You, however, are NOT entitled to abuse or ridicule or attack him on account of it. After all those posts, you should know better. Shame on you. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2006, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-britain-1969/338546/12 "2006-01-07T15:05:21Z")
My guess is that **mobo85** was making a little Monty Pythonish joke about what the German was really saying during the banquet scene, when his subtitles were illegible. Maybe quotation marks around it would have helped. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2006, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-britain-1969/338546/13 "2006-01-07T15:17:29Z")
I didn’t have any trouble reading the subtitles. First, there were very thin black outlines of each of the letters. Second, most of the text was within the letterbox bars. I didn’t realise Ian McShane was was in the film. I never really noticed him until _Deadwood_. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-britain-1969/338546/14 "2006-01-08T00:16:30Z")
> [@C K Dexter Haven\*\*mobo95\*\*(sic)](#): > > ([http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=343601](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=343601)), especially Post #3. I apologize. I was not insulting him. It was a reference to, and a direct quote from, a scene in _Austin Powers in Goldmember_ about illegible subtitles, which I thought fit the subject at hand (and I thought was one of the few funny scenes in the film). If you mouse over it, you will get the whole message. I realize that it seems degrading at first, but that was the gag in the scene. Maybe I should have opened it with “This reminds me of the scene in…” Sorry again. P.S. “I have a huge johnson…I wish.” ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-britain-1969/338546/15 "2006-01-08T00:20:07Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > I apologize. I was not insulting him. It was a reference to, and a direct quote from, a scene in _Austin Powers in Goldmember_ about illegible subtitles, which I thought fit the subject at hand (and I thought was one of the few funny scenes in the film). If you mouse over it, you will get the whole message. I realize that it seems degrading at first, but that was the gag in the scene. Maybe I should have opened it with “This reminds me of the scene in…” Sorry again. > > P.S. “I have a huge johnson…I wish.” Heh, I read the daily update for this thread that I got in my email, so I saw the whole post without any of it being whited out, so I was puzzled, but not offended. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-britain-1969/338546/16 "2006-01-08T02:00:31Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > P.S. “I have a huge johnson…I wish.” Now that I think about it, this should be “I have a huge rod…” since it plays on the statement “I have a huge rod[ent problem].” ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-britain-1969/338546/17 "2006-01-08T11:16:33Z")
I remember being taken to see the planes lined up on the old RAF airfield at Bovingdon, where they were exhibited in aid of Service charities for a few days before being sold. The Ju87 replicas were there. Didn’t mean a great deal at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-britain-1969/338546/18 "2006-01-08T13:07:17Z")
Parts of this film was made at the old Battle of Britain airfield of Duxford, just south of Cambridge. One scene in the film entailed the blowing-up a hanger. Duxford then became the air section of the Imperial War Museum ,and they had to spend a lot of money replacing this wrecked hanger to provide exhibition space. . ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-britain-1969/338546/19 "2006-01-08T13:17:10Z")
[This website](http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/place/gdg18/battleofbritain.shtml) tells the story of Duxford and its association with the film. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-britain-1969/338546/20 "2006-01-08T14:51:24Z")
OK, **mobo85** , I accept and believe you – you’ve got a very clean record and it seemed kinda bizarre, so I have no prob with your explanation. Thanks. Sorry for leaping to conclusions, but… well, you can see why. I’ll erase this from your record, no one will ever see it again. PS - It’s probably a good reminder to all of us to be careful about how jokes are expressed. I’m certainly not saying that we need smiley faces or anything, but a re-reading to see if it could be misunderstood is pro’lly a good idea. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-britain-1969/338546.md?page=2)