The Dam Busters is a 1955 British epic docudrama war film starring Richard Todd and Michael Redgrave, and directed by Michael Anderson. Adapted by R. C. Sherriff from the books The Dam Busters (1951) by Paul Brickhill and Enemy Coast Ahead (1946) by Guy Gibson, the film depicts the true story of Operation Chastise in which the RAF's 617 Squadron attacked the Möhne, Eder, and Sorpe dams in Nazi Germany with Barnes Wallis's bouncing bomb.
The Dam Busters was acclaimed by critics, who praised its acting (especially that by Todd and Redgrave), Anderson's direction, its superlative special effects photography by Gilbert Taylor, and the soundtrack score by Eric Coates (especially the stirring The Dam Busters March theme tune). The film was Britain's biggest box-office success of 1955. A much-loved British classic, The Dam Busters has since been cited as one of the best British war films and one of the greatest films of the 20th century. In 1999, the British Film Institute voted The Dam Busters the 68th greatest British film of the 20th century.British Film Institute – Top 100 British Films (1999). Retrieved 27 August 2016
Plot
Aeronautical engineer Barnes Wallis is struggling to develop a means of attacking Germany's Ruhr Dams in the hope of crippling German heavy industry. Working for the Ministry of Aircraft Production, as well as his own job at Vickers, he works 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 while retaining contact with the wall, making the explosion far more destructive. Wallis calculates that the aircraft will have to fly extremely low () to enable the bombs to skip over the water correctly, but when he takes his conclusions to the Ministry, he is told that lack of production capacity means they cannot go ahead with his proposals. Frustrated, Wallis secures an interview with Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris, the head of RAF Bomber Command, who at first is reluctant to take the idea seriously. Eventually, however, he is convinced and takes the idea to the Prime Minister, who authorises the project.
Bomber Command forms a special squadron of Lancaster bombers, 617 Squadron, to be commanded by Wing Commander Guy Gibson, and tasked to fly the mission. He recruits experienced crews, especially those with low-altitude flight experience. While they train for the mission, Wallis continues his development of the bomb but has problems, such as the bomb breaking apart upon hitting the water. This requires the drop altitude to be reduced to . With only a few weeks to go, he is ultimately successful in fixing the problems as the deadline for the mission approaches.
On 16 May 1943, the bombers attack the Ruhr Dams. Eight Lancasters and 56 men are lost, but the Möhne and Edersee dams are breached, causing catastrophic flooding. Wallis is deeply affected by the loss of the crewmen, but Gibson stresses the squadron knew the risks they were facing but they went in nevertheless. Wallis asks if Gibson will get some sleep; Gibson says that he has to write letters first to the dead airmens' next of kin.
Cast
Uncredited
Cast notes
Sydney Hobday (28 January 1912 - 24 February 2000), the navigator of AJ-N, was involved with the castingSunday Mirror Sunday 14 February 1954, page 14 Elisabeth Gaunt, Barnes Wallis's daughter in real life, appears as a photographer in the test tank The film featured several actors who would go on to be stars of cinema and TV. Robert Shaw was featured as Gibson's engineer Flt Sgt Pulford. Anderson was struggling to find an actor who physically resembled Pulford until he went to lunch with Redgrave and Shaw, who was one of his theatre friends; Anderson was impressed by the resemblance and Redgrave confirmed to Anderson that Shaw was an actor. The film was Shaw's first major film role. George Baker played Flt Lt Maltby. Charles Foster, nephew of Dambuster pilot David Maltby, said his family formed a bond with Baker. Patrick McGoohan had a bit part as a security guard, standing guard outside the briefing room. He delivered the line—"Sorry, old boy, it's secret—you can't go in. Now, c'mon, hop it!", which was cut from some prints of the film. McGoohan and Nigel Stock, a co-star in the film, both played Number Six in The Prisoner (1967–1968). Richard Thorp played Sqn Ldr Maudslay.
Development Director Howard Hawks had wanted to make a film about the raid and had hired Roald Dahl to write the script. Bomber Command and Barnes Wallis were reluctant to reveal secrets to a Hollywood studio and the script was disliked by them.
By the late 1940s, rumours were that Hollywood were developing a project on the Dam Busters raid and Sir Michael Balcon was in discussion to make a film of the raid with Ealing Studios; neither project came to fruition.
Following the success of the 1951 book The Dam Busters (an RAF-approved history of 617 Squadron), Robert Clark the head of production at Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC) approached its author Paul Brickhill about acquiring the film rights as a vehicle for Richard Todd. (Todd says this was suggested by Felix Gotfurt, an executive at Associated British.) The company's production manager was, however, of the opinion that, due to its numerous personnel and raids, it would not be able to film the book in its entirety. As a result, Clark requested that Brickhill provide a film treatment which described his vision for the film. Brickhill agreed to do it without payment in the hope of selling the film rights. To assist him, Clark teamed him up with Walter Mycroft who was the company's director of production.Dando-Collins. p. 237. Brickhill decided to concentrate the film treatment on Operation Chastise and ignore the later raids. The film also took inspiration from the account Enemy Coast Ahead by Guy Gibson.
After the Air Ministry agreed to make available four Lancaster bombers at a cheap price which helped make the production viable, Associated British decided to proceed with the film and agreed with Brickhill on the film rights in December 1952 for what is believed to have been £5,000.Dando-Collins. p. 241. After considering C. S. Forester, Terence Rattigan, as well as Emlyn Williams and Leslie Arliss, R. C. Sherriff was selected as the screenwriter with planned August delivery of the screenplay.Dando-Collins. p. 243. Sherriff agreed with Brickhill's opinion that the film needed to concentrate on Operation Chastise and exclude the later operations covered in the book.
In preparation for writing the script, Sherriff met with Barnes Wallis at his home, later returning accompanied by Brickhill, Walter Mycroft and production supervisor W.A. "Bill" Whittaker on 22 March 1952 to witness Wallis demonstrating his original home experiment. To Wallis's embarrassment he could not get it to work, no matter how many times he tried.Dando-Collins. p. 245.
Just prior to the film's scheduled release, Guy Gibson's widow Eve took legal action to prevent it, and Brickhill and Clark were mired in months of wrangling with her until references to her husband's book Enemy Coast Ahead were included.
Real-life participants advised Anderson on the events; the RAF gave their blessing to the production, and Group Captain Charles Whitworth became technical advisor and gave Anderson all the support he needed. Barnes Wallis read the script too and gave his full approval, wanting to ensure the film was as accurate as possible. Anderson cast actors who resembled their real-life counterparts. Richard Todd had a striking physical resemblance to Guy Gibson. Makeup was used to make Michael Redgrave resemble Barnes Wallis. Baker stated that he was chosen for the part due to his physical similarity to Maltby.
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Anderson made the choice to shoot the film in black and white to allow the integration of original footage of the bomb trials, to boast a "gritty" documentary-style reality.
The flight sequences of the film were shot using real Avro Lancaster bombers supplied by the RAF. The aircraft, four of the final production B.VIIs, had to be taken out of storage and specially modified by removing the mid-upper gun turrets to mimic 617 Squadron's special aircraft, and cost £130 per hour to run, which amounted to a tenth of the film's costs. A number of Avro Lincoln bombers were also used as "set dressing".Garbettt and Goulding 1971, pp. 142–143. (An American cut was made more dramatic by depicting an aircraft flying into a hill and exploding. This version used stock footage from Warner Bros. Pictures of a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, not a Lancaster.)
The German anti-aircraft personnel were played by the 247 (Ulster) LAA Regiment, part of the 3rd (Ulster) Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery, and was filmed at Stiffkey in north Norfolk.Belfast Telegraph Monday 3 May 1954, page 5
Weybridge railway station was filmed for scenes, as Wallis had lived nearby.Market Harborough Advertiser Thursday 6 October 1955, page 5