Battle of Britain

Stirring chest beater for those prepared to indulge.

You don't need me to give you a history lesson here, Battle Of Britain, much like 98% of all war movies is a glossed up extension of an historical event, if you want history then go read all the serious historian comments instead.

Wanna read about a film? OK, Battle Of Britain is something of a frustrating love of mine, I'm not one to be over enthused as regards jingoistic fervour, but there are a handful of films that really have me pounding my chest like some flag waving King Kong clone, Battle Of Britain, in spite of the obvious flaws is one such film. The plus points will always outweigh the bad for me, as a top array of acting talent line up to tell the tale of the British Air...

It's 1940 and the ebullient Reichsmarschall (Hein Riess) arrives in his powder blue uniform to inspire his invincible Luftwaffe in their imminent reduction of the RAF to a pile of bombed out aerodromes and blazing aircraft. Across the channel, Sir Hugh Dowding (Sir Laurence Olivier) is trying to organise His Majesty's forces - outnumbered by something like four to one, to thwart that ambition. The next couple of hours demonstrate just how the British - helped by a disparate collection of dispossessed European allies from Poland, Czechoslovakia and France as well as many from Commonwealth nations fought the eponymous battle. Rather than just follow an historical chronology, though, the narrative uses the lives and loves of a series of charac...