Filming The Dam Busters

by Jonathan Falconer, Richard Todd (Foreword by)

The daring raid on the great dams of western Germany by Lancaster bombers of 617 Squadron in May 1943 is probably one of the best known and most widely told stories of the Second World War. In 1955 the raid was immortalized on film by director Michael Anderson in The Dam Busters, starring Michael Redgrave and Richard Todd. It became Britain's top grossing film of 1955 and in the half-century that has followed, thanks to its almost annual airing on the small screen, it has become a film classic. It is also a firm favorite with aviation enthusiasts due in no small measure to the breathtaking flying sequences featuring the Avro Lancaster. Tucked away in the Pinewood Studios archives are hundreds of rarely seen 'still' photographs from the making of the film. Including everything from storyboarding to location shots, and from the stars and personalities to the aircraft themselves, it is estimated that only about 10 per cent of these high quality pictures have ever been published before. In this book they are supplemented by stunning and previously unpublished air-to-air photographs, taken by the aircrews who flew the Lancasters on camera. Drawing on eyewitness accounts and interviews with film unit and flying personnel, Filming the Dam Busters evokes the optimistic outlook of the new postwar Elizabethan Age, when British cinema had a force and reach not equalled before or since.

160 pages, Hardcover

First published April 28, 2005

Reviews

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A coffee table book that is surprising insightful about this iconic 1950s British film. The stills are beautifully reproduced, and include some fascinating BTS shots that have not been seen previously.. Falconer, who is an aviation historian, evenhandedly discusses the accuracy of the film and provides an excellent context for both the raid itself and the film. All in all, this is a pleasant surprise of a book, and is well worth it for the film fanatic.