Always liked thie film
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — General Discussion
huwdj — 4 months ago(November 08, 2025 09:53 PM)
and find it much more watchable than the furiously busy Nolan version. It has time to tell the different stories and a good cast, especially Bernard Lee, do it well. I also think the special effects work better in this black and white film than the CGI used so excessively these days.
I have always depended on the kindness of Strangers - and the bastards let me down! -
huwdj — 4 months ago(November 09, 2025 09:24 AM)
That's good to hear. I think British war films of this period have a particular post-war quality that was abruptly lost in the 60s.
I have always depended on the kindness of Strangers - and the bastards let me down! -
PygmyLion — 4 months ago(November 09, 2025 10:29 PM)
There was some mention by one of the British soldiers on the beach, as to why their airplanes, weren't there to defend them. One soldier replies that there were only 3 air fields close enough to get to Dunkirk. I believe the real reason was that the British had lost quite a few planes in Belgium and their leaders felt that they needed to reserve their remaining fighters (and pilots) for defending Britain.
This dialog seems a little after the fact
Corporal 'Tubby' Binns: What about all of this?
Charles Foreman: Stupidity. Everybody saying that war was so terrible it couldn't happen again. And shoving our heads in the sand, like a lot of ostriches. Well, the Germans didn't think that way. To them, war meant guns or butter. They chose guns. We chose butter. No, you can't blame the Army. They had what we gave them -
last war weapons, last war methods.
This is the result.
Certainly, the Germans had stolen a march on the British in terms of methods with their "Blitzkrieg" warfare, but the British had been upgrading their weapons. For example, if we watch the British production:
Piece of Cake
(1988), we get to see the British Spitfire fighters at this period - which were one of the best early war fighters. The problem was that the British didn't have enough of them and enough pilots. -