0:00:02 > 0:00:04The Cruel Sea, one of the most moving and gripping films ever made.
0:00:04 > 0:00:06It's the war.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09The whole, bloody war.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13The Dam Busters, one of the most exciting films ever made.
0:00:16 > 0:00:17It's gone!
0:00:17 > 0:00:21The Colditz Story, the mother of all POW films.
0:00:21 > 0:00:23There will be no escape unless you wish to die.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26Welcome to the 1950s British war film.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38For those of us who grew up in the 1960s and '70s,
0:00:38 > 0:00:41the British war film was a staple of the wet Sunday afternoon
0:00:41 > 0:00:43in front of the television.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47For that reason, it's easy to dismiss it as cheap entertainment.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50But this programme is about the massive cultural impact
0:00:50 > 0:00:53of these films and what they said about the state
0:00:53 > 0:00:57of the British mind in the 1950s when they were made.
0:00:58 > 0:00:59Full ahead!
0:01:02 > 0:01:03Ha-ha!
0:01:05 > 0:01:06Christmas daisies, where's my crib?
0:01:06 > 0:01:08I think you're crazy ones.
0:01:08 > 0:01:09Cocoa's just coming up, sir.
0:01:12 > 0:01:14Halt!
0:01:14 > 0:01:16French from head to toe.
0:01:16 > 0:01:17Splendid.
0:01:17 > 0:01:19Absolutely, old man.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23These films have been part of my life for as long as I can remember.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25They're in my DNA, they helped influence me
0:01:25 > 0:01:29and millions like me about what it meant to be British,
0:01:29 > 0:01:35displaying values such as courage, heroism, patriotism, and decency.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37Millions of people saw these films.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40This is how they liked to see themselves portrayed, indeed,
0:01:40 > 0:01:42it reshaped their memories of what they'd actually lived through
0:01:42 > 0:01:44to quite a high degree, probably.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48But how interesting. And if they thought this was as they were,
0:01:48 > 0:01:50there must have been something in it.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53The names of the films in which the cream of Britain's acting profession
0:01:53 > 0:01:56served, or rather, acted, in the 1950s,
0:01:56 > 0:02:00evoke, not just the war, but a very particular idea of the war.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04And while dozens of war films were made during these years,
0:02:04 > 0:02:08a handful have become particularly special to me, so it's these
0:02:08 > 0:02:11I want to look at, with the help of the men and women who made them.
0:02:11 > 0:02:13Did you do your own stunts, by the way?
0:02:13 > 0:02:15What do you call the stunts, now?
0:02:15 > 0:02:17- Forward rolls, parachute jumps, all that.- Oh, yes.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21Jack Hawkins dived in and brought me out.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25- But for Jack, I wouldn't be here today.- But it was all right?
0:02:25 > 0:02:26It was quite enjoyable.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31These films have shaped our understanding of modern Britain.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34They tell us not just about the war
0:02:34 > 0:02:37but about the 1950s world from which they emerged.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41They're also among the most ridiculed and most denigrated,
0:02:41 > 0:02:44attacked from the moment they were released for being cliched
0:02:44 > 0:02:46and stereotyped.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48This clot doesn't understand English.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50Sorry, old boy, but I had to make sure, and this clot had some
0:02:50 > 0:02:52difficulty understanding your Arabic.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56In 1957, the critic, Lindsay Anderson,
0:02:56 > 0:02:58later a director himself, led the charge
0:02:58 > 0:03:00against the British war picture.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04He castigated films which he claimed were produced only because,
0:03:04 > 0:03:07as he said, they were profitable, endorsed the class system,
0:03:07 > 0:03:11enabled the nation to wallow in the past, escaping the complex
0:03:11 > 0:03:14uncertainties of the present and the challenge of the future.
0:03:14 > 0:03:19Our '50s war films have been looked down upon and mocked ever since.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23We short-change ourselves if we casually ridicule these films
0:03:23 > 0:03:25and the stereotypes they seem to embody.
0:03:25 > 0:03:29We might, instead, reflect upon a time when we were,
0:03:29 > 0:03:33in many ways, a more serious nation, filled with people who,
0:03:33 > 0:03:35only a few years before,
0:03:35 > 0:03:37had been prepared to give their lives for their country.
0:03:37 > 0:03:42Britain in the early 1950s was still living in the shadow of the war.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46Many town centres were still in rubble, national service was
0:03:46 > 0:03:50mandatory, and uniformed men were common on the streets.
0:03:50 > 0:03:52Smog evokes the eerie aftermath of bombings.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55We were a nation still struggling to come to terms
0:03:55 > 0:03:59with the psychological and emotional impact of the war.
0:03:59 > 0:04:03So there never was a better time for an avalanche of war films.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07First of all, an experience of that magnitude takes a lot of absorbing.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10The particles take a long time to settle.
0:04:10 > 0:04:12The second thing was
0:04:12 > 0:04:14that it was still very fresh in the memory
0:04:14 > 0:04:17but it was the most remarkable collective effort
0:04:17 > 0:04:19that anybody could remember in their lifetime.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23And this awed people, I think, retrospectively,
0:04:23 > 0:04:25and made them feel very special.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29When, as in 1950, almost 1.5 billion cinema tickets
0:04:29 > 0:04:32were sold in Britain, films became a key way
0:04:32 > 0:04:35in which this collective experience was remembered.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39The first war film I want to look at is Angels One Five,
0:04:39 > 0:04:44released in March 1952, the month after George VI died.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46It was the first post-war attempt to capture
0:04:46 > 0:04:49the heroism of the Battle of Britain.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52The title sequence alone makes me want to stand to attention.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04It starred one of the very greatest figures of the 1950s cinema,
0:05:04 > 0:05:08Jack Hawkins, who, as a colonel in the Royal Engineers had,
0:05:08 > 0:05:12like many other actors of the time, seen war at first hand.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14We both serve the King, pull the same rope,
0:05:14 > 0:05:15on the same team, you understand?
0:05:15 > 0:05:17- Yes.- Cribs won't help us. Supposing I'm flying
0:05:17 > 0:05:20an aircraft, it gets into a spin, Christmas daisies, where's my crib?
0:05:20 > 0:05:23And before I can find the right pieces, St Peter tap-tapping on my
0:05:23 > 0:05:24fuselage, demanding my soul of me.
0:05:24 > 0:05:29Angels One Five simultaneously reinforces stereotypes
0:05:29 > 0:05:32of jolly japes among the officer class, while maintaining
0:05:32 > 0:05:36the British tone of, "Keep calm and carry on," whenever possible.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41Look out!
0:06:04 > 0:06:07Hello, old man. Dropped in for tea?
0:06:07 > 0:06:08There's...
0:06:08 > 0:06:11a great deal of understatement in all these films of the '50s,
0:06:11 > 0:06:12these war films,
0:06:12 > 0:06:17which seems to be a projection of the national character.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20How far do you think that was accurate in the '50s?
0:06:20 > 0:06:22I think, whatever your background,
0:06:22 > 0:06:26you were a member of a country that didn't blub or blab.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30You kept the secrets and you might have felt the emotion intensely,
0:06:30 > 0:06:32but you didn't actually collapse in public.
0:06:32 > 0:06:37However intensely you felt things, you let yourself down, your family,
0:06:37 > 0:06:41your group, your regiment, your platoon, your boat, whatever it was,
0:06:41 > 0:06:45if you...fell apart.
0:06:45 > 0:06:49In the film, these British qualities of understatement
0:06:49 > 0:06:52and stiff upper lip determination are a necessary defence
0:06:52 > 0:06:54in a nerve wracking Battle of Britain.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01These attributes, the film suggests, helped pull us through.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04WOMEN SCREAM
0:07:13 > 0:07:17Tea, sir? It's a bit gritty, I'm afraid, sir.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25Foster, that's an inspiration.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27Remind me to have you promoted.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31Hawkins's towering performance is a masterclass of reserve.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35The losses of the British few against the Nazi many
0:07:35 > 0:07:37are etched in every line of his face.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41Hello, Septic. Hello, Septic. This is the Tiger answering.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49Oh, message received
0:07:49 > 0:07:51and understood.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57The public who watched the film in the early '50s had,
0:07:57 > 0:08:00like Hawkins, lived through the war.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02Angels One Five complimented them
0:08:02 > 0:08:05by showing the bravery of the British people during a battle
0:08:05 > 0:08:09for the existence of Britain and the future of civilisation.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15You're looking at the making of the Titfield Thunderbolt.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19It was kind of whimsical comedy that made Ealing Studios famous.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22It was produced the same year that they made another,
0:08:22 > 0:08:24quite different film, which blasted the Thunderbolt clean
0:08:24 > 0:08:28out of the water as far as the box office was concerned.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30The Cruel Sea, based on Nicholas Monsarrat's
0:08:30 > 0:08:32graphically realistic novel,
0:08:32 > 0:08:36is one of the titanic films of the British cinema.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40It's not just one of the great war films, it's one of our great films.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46The Cruel Sea is the story of the Compass Rose.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48It's a support vessel, initially engaged
0:08:48 > 0:08:50in the Battle Of The Atlantic.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52Her captain is played in another
0:08:52 > 0:08:54monumental performance by Jack Hawkins.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57Pass the word, we're going to turn beam on.
0:08:58 > 0:09:00In his first big screen role,
0:09:00 > 0:09:03Sir Donald Sinden played First Officer Lockhart.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06- Good morning, sir. - Morning, number one.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12You look as though you've been busy. What's the score down there?
0:09:12 > 0:09:16Two dead, one more to go, I think. 11 others, they'll be all right.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19Was there a great demand among people in the 1950s
0:09:19 > 0:09:21for films like this?
0:09:21 > 0:09:25Oh, yes. Cos they were all just recently come out of the services.
0:09:26 > 0:09:31I was not in the forces because of asthma.
0:09:31 > 0:09:33- Where did you film? - We stayed in Plymouth.
0:09:33 > 0:09:41And each morning we set off from Devonport in the Compass Rose,
0:09:41 > 0:09:44down the Tamar and out to sea.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47And when we were out of sight of land,
0:09:47 > 0:09:48that's when they started shooting.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52But the sea, damn it, wasn't rough enough.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55And they wanted it really sort of exciting.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58There's a thing called the Portland Race,
0:09:58 > 0:10:00- I don't know if you've heard of that...- I have.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03..where seven tides, I believe, all meet at this point.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07So the sea is rough at the best of times.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10And the British Navy are not allowed to go through it
0:10:10 > 0:10:12because it's not worth the risk.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14- Right.- But they took us through it.
0:10:16 > 0:10:20One of the film's main messages is that Britain doesn't prevail
0:10:20 > 0:10:24without a struggle, and the psychological consequences of that.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27When the Compass Rose discovers a U-boat, Hawkins must decide
0:10:27 > 0:10:29whether to destroy it.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32He knows that if he does, he'll kill the Allied sailors
0:10:32 > 0:10:34struggling in the sea above the submarine.
0:10:34 > 0:10:36There are some chaps in the water just there.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38Well, there's a U-boat just underneath them.
0:10:40 > 0:10:41It's an impossible decision.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44Bearing 191, range 300.
0:10:48 > 0:10:50Attacking, standby.
0:10:50 > 0:10:51Standby.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55It was a terrifying scene to do
0:10:55 > 0:11:01because we were all participants, we're on the ship, on the deck.
0:11:01 > 0:11:06And a stuntman, believe it or not, Frankie Howard,
0:11:06 > 0:11:11not the comedian, Frankie Howard was the stuntman.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14And he stayed in the water
0:11:14 > 0:11:18as the Compass Rose went straight for him.
0:11:20 > 0:11:21'And as the bow of the ship came,
0:11:21 > 0:11:25'he pushed himself off and he went over with the wave.'
0:11:31 > 0:11:36Aye-aye. I mean, a split second later, he'd have been dead.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44It's one of the pivotal scenes in all British cinema.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57EXPLOSION RUMBLES
0:12:01 > 0:12:04You don't see the men being blown up but you do see
0:12:04 > 0:12:08some of the crew looking at their bodies being blown into the air.
0:12:10 > 0:12:15Do you feel that any more explicit detail would have ruined
0:12:15 > 0:12:17the film, would have been impossible to get past the censors?
0:12:17 > 0:12:21- I don't think anything more explicit was necessary.- Right.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24As so many film-makers have discovered,
0:12:24 > 0:12:27it's what you don't see that is important.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30And the imagination does the work for you.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33Bloody murderer!
0:12:38 > 0:12:42Here, war is not glorious but agonisingly painful,
0:12:42 > 0:12:46and Hawkins's character is tormented by the consequences of his order.
0:12:46 > 0:12:52I identified it as a submarine. If anyone murdered those men, I did.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59No-one murdered them.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04It's the war.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07The whole, bloody war.
0:13:09 > 0:13:11The deadly struggle against the Nazi U-boats
0:13:11 > 0:13:15carries on for the Compass Rose, until she, too, is torpedoed.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18- Coxswain.- Sir.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21- Pipe "Abandon Ship".- Aye-aye, Sir.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24Abandon ship!
0:13:24 > 0:13:2890% of the film was shot at sea, but the sinking of the Compass Rose
0:13:28 > 0:13:31was filmed in the water tank at Denham Studios.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34It was a dangerous place for non-swimmer, Donald Sinden.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39There was steam escaping from the sinking ship, steam,
0:13:39 > 0:13:43an aeroplane propeller was blowing a spray of the sea
0:13:43 > 0:13:47and we could only just hear a whistle going, which was action...
0:13:47 > 0:13:49WHISTLES
0:13:49 > 0:13:51And we had to run to the other side of the ship
0:13:51 > 0:13:55and jump ten feet down into the sea.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59I jumped, I went...
0:13:59 > 0:14:01GURGLES
0:14:01 > 0:14:04And I was in 12 feet of water.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08Which was not funny when you can't swim. I went, "Christ!"
0:14:08 > 0:14:11And everyone in the company got out of the tank.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17The director suddenly said, "Donald? Where's Donald?"
0:14:17 > 0:14:20And there was I, still there...
0:14:21 > 0:14:26I was sinking and thank goodness Jack Hawkins dived in
0:14:26 > 0:14:28and brought me out.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32But for Jack, I wouldn't be here today. It was terrifying.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35The Cruel Sea was directed by Charles Frend,
0:14:35 > 0:14:38a veteran of the '40s British documentary movement.
0:14:38 > 0:14:40When the men are cast adrift in different life rafts,
0:14:40 > 0:14:44he brings an astonishing and searing realism to their struggle
0:14:44 > 0:14:45to survive in the cruel sea.
0:14:46 > 0:14:51Finally, after a harrowing night, the two rafts meet in the morning.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54Hello, number one.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57Hello, sir.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00You were a young man during the war. Do you feel that
0:15:00 > 0:15:03that stiff upper lip that was conveyed in that film,
0:15:03 > 0:15:04particularly in that scene,
0:15:04 > 0:15:08was absolutely typical of British attitudes at the time?
0:15:08 > 0:15:13Totally, totally. There was nothing strange or tongue in the cheek
0:15:13 > 0:15:16about... We played it for real.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19It had clearly struck a chord with the British public
0:15:19 > 0:15:22and it catapulted Hawkins to stardom.
0:15:22 > 0:15:27The Cruel Sea was released in 1953, I wasn't even born, but it was
0:15:27 > 0:15:31a Britain I like to think was more pleasant and decent than today's.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34It was a golden moment for a boy in the early '50s,
0:15:34 > 0:15:37particularly the Coronation year.
0:15:37 > 0:15:41Because in '53, there was this beautiful, young Queen
0:15:41 > 0:15:43and the Coronation was extremely well done,
0:15:43 > 0:15:47exquisitely well done, even though there was not much money around.
0:15:47 > 0:15:49And it gave you a sense of immense tradition and stability
0:15:49 > 0:15:52in this country, which is very precious.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54And we hadn't gone under in the war, unlike so many other of our
0:15:54 > 0:15:57neighbours and it was all part of that.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00But you felt you belonged to a success story nation.
0:16:00 > 0:16:04Although the Coronation prompted a surge in television ownership,
0:16:04 > 0:16:06there's no doubt times were tough.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09It was the era of austerity, after all.
0:16:09 > 0:16:11Food rationing was still in force
0:16:11 > 0:16:13and you had to queue for your sugar and meat.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18Compared with Europe, Britain was in relative economic decline.
0:16:18 > 0:16:22So, even within this pleasant land, we needed cheering up.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26And what better way to do that than by putting one over on the Germans?
0:16:26 > 0:16:28And that was perhaps done best in the POW film.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34There were many thousands of British prisoners of war in World War II,
0:16:34 > 0:16:37many of the survivors would have been in the audience to see
0:16:37 > 0:16:41the prisoner of war film to end all prisoner of war films.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45It offered a chance to see the Germans at close quarters
0:16:45 > 0:16:47and had some rather good jokes.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51Starring another of the great actors in the story of British war films,
0:16:51 > 0:16:54that picture is The Colditz Story.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01- What's your name?- Reid, sir. - Reid, ah, yes. Yours?- McGill, sir.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04Both old boys, I think. Tell me, what's it like in here?
0:17:04 > 0:17:06I don't know, sir, we only came in last night.
0:17:06 > 0:17:08We were picked up on the Swiss frontier.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12Pity. Still, it's goodbye to all that now, isn't it?
0:17:12 > 0:17:13Goodbye to all that, sir?
0:17:13 > 0:17:15You heard what the Kommandant said,
0:17:15 > 0:17:17he said escaping's verboten, didn't he?
0:17:20 > 0:17:24- Silly old woman ought to be repatriated.- Who'd want him?
0:17:24 > 0:17:27I bet he lives in a Bath chair in Cheltenham.
0:17:27 > 0:17:29He said escaping is verboten, didn't he?
0:17:30 > 0:17:34- I don't know what verboten means, do you?- Haven't a clue.
0:17:35 > 0:17:39Sir John Mills plays the lead role of escapee, Pat Reid,
0:17:39 > 0:17:41on whose memoir the film is based.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45Mills was an indispensable figure in the 1950s war film.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49His everyman qualities lapped up by all those who saw him
0:17:49 > 0:17:50on the big screen.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54He could play Cockneys, he could play generals, as he did.
0:17:56 > 0:18:01And he's a superb human being and great fun to work with.
0:18:06 > 0:18:08..zweiundviewzig...funfundvierzig.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16Colditz was an exceptionally interesting story for me
0:18:16 > 0:18:21because it was the most distinguished
0:18:21 > 0:18:24POW camp in the whole war.
0:18:24 > 0:18:29The Germans had this wonderful idea of taking all the naughty boys
0:18:29 > 0:18:33and putting them in one place where they would be watched
0:18:33 > 0:18:35and they couldn't escape from.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39And, of course, it wasn't long before they realised that it was
0:18:39 > 0:18:41the greatest mistake they'd ever made,
0:18:41 > 0:18:47because you're now putting 400 or 500 men of different nationalities
0:18:47 > 0:18:50whose absolute ambition is to escape.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53There was a strange disjunction at the time between films
0:18:53 > 0:18:57in which war is a psychologically catastrophic experience,
0:18:57 > 0:19:00such as The Cruel Sea, and others, such as The Colditz Story,
0:19:00 > 0:19:02that seemed, at times, archly comic.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04CALLS OUT
0:19:04 > 0:19:06Moi, je suis volontaire.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09'There's a knockabout feel to this scene, in which the Germans
0:19:09 > 0:19:12'have asked for volunteers to help in the Nazi war effort
0:19:12 > 0:19:14'in return for special privileges.'
0:19:16 > 0:19:20Je prefere m'occuper de vingt allemands plutot que d'un seul francais.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23He says he'd rather work for 20 Germans than one Frenchman.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26Ich arbeite lieber fur zwanzig Deutsche als fur einen Franzosen.
0:19:28 > 0:19:29Was ist Ihr Beruf?
0:19:29 > 0:19:31- Occupation?- Croque-mort.
0:19:31 > 0:19:33LAUGHTER
0:19:33 > 0:19:35He says he's an undertaker.
0:19:35 > 0:19:36INDISTINCT FRENCH
0:19:37 > 0:19:40LAUGHTER AND WOLF-WHISTLES
0:19:42 > 0:19:45The film was one of the biggest successes of 1955.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49Audiences savoured the adventures of John Mills and Eric Portman,
0:19:49 > 0:19:51who played the senior British officer in Colditz,
0:19:51 > 0:19:53Colonel Richmond.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57Earlier POW films like The Wooden Horse and Albert R.N.
0:19:57 > 0:19:59had also set the box office alight.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02The public, it seemed, couldn't get enough of the genre.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06The Colditz Story offered the audience a war film without
0:20:06 > 0:20:07too much war in it.
0:20:07 > 0:20:12It was also one where the prisoners were treated reasonably well.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15The film is fascinating in its depiction of the Germans,
0:20:15 > 0:20:19not least of the Kommandant, who is, fundamentally, a good man.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22We see that here when Richmond tells him
0:20:22 > 0:20:26that a Polish prisoner is about be killed by his comrades.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29You realise the prisoner whom we speak has been condemned to death?
0:20:31 > 0:20:34Condemned to death? By whom?
0:20:34 > 0:20:35His own people.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37Sentence will be carried out tonight.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49He will be transferred forthwith.
0:20:51 > 0:20:52Thank you, sir.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57Ultimately, this is a film about British triumph.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02# I belong to Colditz Dear old Colditz Schloss
0:21:02 > 0:21:04# There's something the matter with Colditz
0:21:04 > 0:21:06# If someone's just come by bus
0:21:06 > 0:21:09# It's only a dirty old prison camp
0:21:09 > 0:21:12# As the Kommandant knows quite well
0:21:12 > 0:21:14# If I get to a coast
0:21:14 > 0:21:16# I will post you a letter
0:21:16 > 0:21:19# And Colditz can go to hell. #
0:21:19 > 0:21:22While our boys staged a diverting pantomime for their hosts,
0:21:22 > 0:21:26Reid pulls off a daring escape, disguised as a German officer.
0:21:26 > 0:21:28When the other prisoners become unruly
0:21:28 > 0:21:32and the Germans show their incompetence, the Kommandant appeals
0:21:32 > 0:21:36to the officer values he shares with Richmond to restore order.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40Colonel, call your men to order or there will be bloodshed.
0:21:40 > 0:21:41MEN SINGING
0:21:43 > 0:21:45'I think he respects Richmond.'
0:21:47 > 0:21:49The war goes on, you'll still be trying to escape,
0:21:49 > 0:21:54I will still try to do my best to stop you all.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58But I have to accept the fact that you run this goddamn place.
0:21:58 > 0:22:00If you please, Colonel.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03MEN SINGING
0:22:03 > 0:22:04Parade!
0:22:10 > 0:22:14All that remains is for Richmond to read out a postcard from Reid.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17Wit and not brute force has brought about this triumph.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20"Dearest Guy, we are both very well
0:22:20 > 0:22:22"and enjoying the refreshing Swiss air.
0:22:22 > 0:22:27"How we wish you could be with us. Your loving aunts, Gert and Daisy."
0:22:27 > 0:22:30They're perhaps better known to you as Pat Reid and Jimmy Winslow.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33CHEERING
0:22:33 > 0:22:39I hadn't seen the picture for I think about 30 years or so.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43And I ran it and I confess that I quite enjoyed the picture.
0:22:43 > 0:22:45Parade!
0:22:47 > 0:22:49They have made our first home run.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53I have a feeling that it won't be the last. Good night. And thank you.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56Carry on, please, Lieutenant Cartwright.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59'When it got to the end, to my surprise,
0:22:59 > 0:23:01'I had a tear in my eye, because that's not really me.'
0:23:03 > 0:23:05I find it rather moving.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10Of course, it was good to be reminded we'd won the war,
0:23:10 > 0:23:14but when The Colditz Story was released, reality was that we
0:23:14 > 0:23:16were rapidly slipping down the economic league tables.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26Meanwhile, the Germany we'd defeated, had in scarcely ten years
0:23:26 > 0:23:30started to become an economic and industrial powerhouse.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34Rumbach, you'd never guess that only ten years ago,
0:23:34 > 0:23:37three quarters of this neat, little town was in ruins.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39Dusseldorf, further up the Rhine is probably the richest
0:23:39 > 0:23:43and most prosperous industrial city in Western Germany.
0:23:43 > 0:23:45I remember seeing it in ruins at the end of the war,
0:23:45 > 0:23:48you'd hardly recognise it today.
0:23:48 > 0:23:49So, if ever there was a time
0:23:49 > 0:23:54when we wanted to feel good about being British, this was it.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58And, luckily, a film came along that did just that.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02It's a film that's possibly entered our consciousness more than
0:24:02 > 0:24:05any other war film of the 1950s.
0:24:05 > 0:24:10And it featured a whole squadron of these magnificent Lancaster bombers.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14Ladies and gentlemen, the legendary, the incomparable,
0:24:14 > 0:24:16The Dam Busters.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23It's gone! Look! My God!
0:24:23 > 0:24:27The Dam Busters is the story of the daring low-flying raid
0:24:27 > 0:24:32in 1943 by the specially formed 617 Squadron of the RAF
0:24:32 > 0:24:35on three dams, deep in Germany's industrial heartland.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38It stars Michael Redgrave as Barnes Wallis,
0:24:38 > 0:24:40the inventor of the bouncing bomb, and Richard Todd
0:24:40 > 0:24:45as Wing Commander Guy Gibson, the 24-year-old who led the mission.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47I'm going in to attack.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50Standby to come in on your order when I tell you.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53The film was directed by Michael Anderson,
0:24:53 > 0:24:55who now lives on Canada's West Coast.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01The release of the film was a boost to British morale.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04Post-war Britain was waiting, I think,
0:25:04 > 0:25:10for something to excite them about the wartime exploits.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14And this film seemed to fire up
0:25:14 > 0:25:18A) the critics, and B) the public.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22I think there was a feeling of euphoria in terms of
0:25:22 > 0:25:29the feat that had been done on Britain's behalf.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33The film was an instant smash hit. It had two royal premieres,
0:25:33 > 0:25:36the first, 12 years to the day after the raid.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39One of the contributing factors to the film's deep appeal
0:25:39 > 0:25:42to our sense of Britishness is Eric Coates's
0:25:42 > 0:25:44stirring Dam Busters March.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47MUSIC: "The Dam Busters March" by Eric Coates
0:25:50 > 0:25:55Eric was sitting at a piano, slightly out of tune piano, I must say,
0:25:55 > 0:26:00and he started to play this rather sort of...it was the opening to
0:26:00 > 0:26:04the march, and it sounded very nice but not very impressive.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07And then suddenly, he stopped, and he started to play...
0:26:07 > 0:26:10# Da-da-da-da...# The march.
0:26:10 > 0:26:12I was electrified.
0:26:12 > 0:26:16Absolutely. I said, "Eric, that's it."
0:26:16 > 0:26:21At that moment, I made that decision and that was it for the movie.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23Aside from its magnificent theme,
0:26:23 > 0:26:26in Richard Todd's performance as Guy Gibson, The Dam Busters
0:26:26 > 0:26:30offered 1950s audiences a wonderfully restrained image of
0:26:30 > 0:26:34British heroism that remains undiluted by the passage of time.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37Well, the training's over.
0:26:38 > 0:26:40For obvious reasons,
0:26:40 > 0:26:43you've had to work without knowing your target or even your weapon.
0:26:43 > 0:26:45You've to put up with a good deal
0:26:45 > 0:26:47from other people who think you've been having a soft time.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52But tonight, you're going to have the chance to hit the enemy
0:26:52 > 0:26:58harder and more destructively than any small force has ever done before.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04You're going to attack the great dams of Western Germany.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09'There's yet another reason why the film struck such a chord
0:27:09 > 0:27:12'and that was the international make-up of 617 Squadron.'
0:27:12 > 0:27:15'The actors involved were Canadian, they were Australian,
0:27:15 > 0:27:18'they were New Zealanders, they were from all walks of life.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20'It was as though the British Empire had come back'
0:27:20 > 0:27:25and gotten together to do this great exploit,
0:27:25 > 0:27:30to rekindle the spirit that had made
0:27:30 > 0:27:32Britain great in the first place.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35And to say, we did it in the past, we can do it in the future,
0:27:35 > 0:27:39we can do it again, we can be together, we can conquer everything.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42We are England, we are Britain.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46The Dam Busters shows us the bravery of these young men
0:27:46 > 0:27:48who fought against Nazism.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52Bomber Command had a death rate of 44.4%.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55You had more chance of returning from the trenches in the Great War
0:27:55 > 0:27:59than you did of surviving as bomber crew.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02Until recently, Bomber Command had been largely overlooked
0:28:02 > 0:28:06when it came to medals and memorials, but no group of fighting
0:28:06 > 0:28:11men ever had a better tribute than these heroes did in The Dam Busters.
0:28:11 > 0:28:12- All set?- Yes, sir.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15Well, you've done a fine job with this team.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19- I couldn't have asked for a better one. Good luck.- Thank you, sir.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22The Dam Busters is also a film about the dependence
0:28:22 > 0:28:25of the art of warfare on science.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27Barnes Wallis, in his experiments,
0:28:27 > 0:28:30is doing every bit as much to defeat the enemy as the pilots.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33Three, two, one.
0:28:37 > 0:28:39140.
0:28:39 > 0:28:41We've been trying for months to find the rule by which
0:28:41 > 0:28:43we can fix the height of each bounce.
0:28:43 > 0:28:46You can see, if the bomb is released too soon, it won't reach the dam.
0:28:46 > 0:28:48If it's released too late, it'll bounce over it
0:28:48 > 0:28:50and explode directly under the aircraft, killing everyone.
0:28:50 > 0:28:54But now, we've got it. Just wait here a moment and I'll do that again.
0:28:55 > 0:28:59Wallis's dignity and the quiet heroism of the aircrews give the
0:28:59 > 0:29:03film a tone of powerful understatement.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06Look how the men react to the deaths of their comrades during the raid.
0:29:15 > 0:29:19It is in itself a heroic piece, and therefore,
0:29:19 > 0:29:22to emphasise the heroics seemed to me totally unnecessary.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26And I have to give great credit to the writer, who, of course,
0:29:26 > 0:29:30the screenwriter RC Sherriff. It was a masterpiece of understatement
0:29:30 > 0:29:34and I didn't want to do anything that would take away
0:29:34 > 0:29:37from the understatement that he had created in his writing
0:29:37 > 0:29:42by over-dramatising something which was dramatic enough in itself.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46The Dam Busters mythologises rather than romanticises war.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49In a country still populated by ex-servicemen,
0:29:49 > 0:29:53Britain did not want be patronised by overblown, triumphalist heroics.
0:29:53 > 0:29:57The last scene, where Barnes Wallis meets Gibson on his return,
0:29:57 > 0:30:00exemplifies the contrast between the civilians'
0:30:00 > 0:30:02and the airmen's conception of death.
0:30:02 > 0:30:05The flak was bad, worse than I expected.
0:30:06 > 0:30:0856 men.
0:30:09 > 0:30:13If I'd known it was going to be like this, I'd never have started.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16You mustn't think that way. If the fellows had known at the beginning
0:30:16 > 0:30:18they wouldn't come back, they'd have gone for it just the same.
0:30:18 > 0:30:20There isn't one of them would have dropped out.
0:30:20 > 0:30:22I knew them all, I know that's true.
0:30:24 > 0:30:27Look. You've had a worse night than any of us, why don't you go
0:30:27 > 0:30:30and find a doctor and ask for one of his sleeping pills?
0:30:31 > 0:30:33Aren't you going to turn in, Gibby?
0:30:33 > 0:30:34No, I...
0:30:34 > 0:30:36I have to write some letters, first.
0:30:37 > 0:30:43'The reaction on Wallis's face and Gibson's face tells a story,
0:30:43 > 0:30:47'especially when Gibson almost undercuts what he said by saying,
0:30:47 > 0:30:49"I have some letters to write."'
0:30:49 > 0:30:53And almost the sense of relief that he'd given to Wallis
0:30:53 > 0:30:55when he said, "These men would do it again,"
0:30:55 > 0:30:56is undercut again by saying,
0:30:56 > 0:31:00I have to go and tell their relatives that they're no longer with us.
0:31:00 > 0:31:01And...
0:31:01 > 0:31:06they played it with such dignity that to this day,
0:31:06 > 0:31:08I'm moved when I see it.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13To my mind, The Dam Busters tells us
0:31:13 > 0:31:17more than any other '50s war film what it means to be British.
0:31:17 > 0:31:21I would rate it as retaining the values
0:31:21 > 0:31:22that I think it started off with.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25You're going to attack the great dams.
0:31:25 > 0:31:32To glorify the heroism of those men and the raid that they undertook.
0:31:32 > 0:31:33You've done a fine job with this team.
0:31:33 > 0:31:35I couldn't have asked for a better one.
0:31:35 > 0:31:39The extraordinary valour and sacrifice that was made
0:31:39 > 0:31:43at a time in the war when the war badly needed turning around.
0:31:52 > 0:31:54Despite The Dam Busters' success,
0:31:54 > 0:31:58film audiences were in rapid decline from the mid-1950s.
0:31:58 > 0:32:03The big exhibitors, Rank and ABC, shut dozens of their cinemas.
0:32:03 > 0:32:08And in 1956, Ealing Studios was taken over by the BBC.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11In the last days of Ealing's operations as a film studio,
0:32:11 > 0:32:14Sir Michael Balcon, the long-standing head of the company,
0:32:14 > 0:32:17was asked what his greatest achievement had been.
0:32:17 > 0:32:19I think, perhaps, The Cruel Sea.
0:32:19 > 0:32:24Because when we saw that for the first time, we realised
0:32:24 > 0:32:26that we really had brought it off.
0:32:26 > 0:32:31It seemed to just gel and be absolutely right and
0:32:31 > 0:32:33sometimes you don't get that feeling.
0:32:33 > 0:32:38So why was the British film industry starting to struggle so much?
0:32:38 > 0:32:41The tingle you get when you brush with SR is much more than
0:32:41 > 0:32:44a nice taste, it's a tingle of health.
0:32:44 > 0:32:46It tells you something very important,
0:32:46 > 0:32:47that you're doing your gums good
0:32:47 > 0:32:50and toughening them to resist infection.
0:32:52 > 0:32:54Television audiences had grown rapidly,
0:32:54 > 0:32:57and with the arrival of ITV in 1955, there was suddenly
0:32:57 > 0:33:00plenty of entertainment free of charge at home.
0:33:00 > 0:33:02At the same time, we'd started to look to America
0:33:02 > 0:33:06for our cultural influences. So when we did go to the cinema,
0:33:06 > 0:33:10it wasn't quite the refined experience it had once been.
0:33:10 > 0:33:13The press really overheated on
0:33:13 > 0:33:16Teds jiving in the aisles, and pulling out those seats.
0:33:16 > 0:33:18It was almost the done thing to get up and jive
0:33:18 > 0:33:22and misbehave in the cinema, shout at the usherettes
0:33:22 > 0:33:25and the manager and rip out the odd seat or two.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28And Elvis, of course, the sound of Elvis,
0:33:28 > 0:33:32and that conspicuous sexuality, we'd seen nothing like it.
0:33:32 > 0:33:34# We're licking a stick of rock
0:33:34 > 0:33:36# We were lickin' a stick of rock
0:33:36 > 0:33:40# We're lickin' a stick of rock Beside the sea side. #
0:33:40 > 0:33:43Britain was becoming a very different place.
0:33:43 > 0:33:46Rationing had ended and teenagers were obsessed with Bill Haley,
0:33:46 > 0:33:48Elvis and rock 'n' roll.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51Our film producers adapted accordingly.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54For the makers of the mainstream war film, this meant they, too,
0:33:54 > 0:33:57needed some new ingredients, such as a working-class heroine.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10Contemporary critics of our 1950s war films
0:34:10 > 0:34:13accuse them of focusing on middle-class officers
0:34:13 > 0:34:15and indulging in cosy nationalism.
0:34:15 > 0:34:17In Carve Her Name With Pride,
0:34:17 > 0:34:19the leading character is not only working class,
0:34:19 > 0:34:21but a woman and half French.
0:34:25 > 0:34:29This is the memorial statue to Violette Szabo,
0:34:29 > 0:34:31the real-life heroine of the film.
0:34:31 > 0:34:33She was a shop assistant who, at 22,
0:34:33 > 0:34:35joined the Special Operations Executive,
0:34:35 > 0:34:41the organisation Churchill had charged to "set Europe ablaze",
0:34:41 > 0:34:45who, after a brief career of almost incomprehensible heroism,
0:34:45 > 0:34:46gave her life for her country.
0:34:50 > 0:34:53Szabo is superbly played by Virginia McKenna.
0:34:55 > 0:34:57How do I look?
0:34:57 > 0:34:59The perfect secretary.
0:34:59 > 0:35:01I hate this jacket.
0:35:01 > 0:35:03As worn this year in Rouen.
0:35:03 > 0:35:07You can't check the rest of me, but I assure you, it's all French.
0:35:07 > 0:35:11That's fair enough. Oh. One other thing.
0:35:15 > 0:35:17Your lethal pill, just in case of accidents.
0:35:17 > 0:35:19Keep it somewhere safe and handy.
0:35:23 > 0:35:25No, thanks.
0:35:25 > 0:35:27You had to train very hard for your role as Violette.
0:35:27 > 0:35:30Did you do your own stunts, by the way?
0:35:30 > 0:35:31What you call the stunts, now?
0:35:31 > 0:35:34- Forward rolls, parachute jumps, all that sort of thing.- Oh, yes.
0:35:34 > 0:35:37I didn't jump out of a plane, I have to admit that.
0:35:37 > 0:35:41But I went to Abingdon and I learnt to jump
0:35:41 > 0:35:44from a high platform on a harness
0:35:44 > 0:35:47and then they had this huge, great wind machine,
0:35:47 > 0:35:49which they turn on as you leap off,
0:35:49 > 0:35:52they turn it on and it guides you gently to the ground.
0:35:52 > 0:35:55And my trainer, Major Fernandez,
0:35:55 > 0:35:59he said the most important thing is the landing and how you fall,
0:35:59 > 0:36:03otherwise you could break your ankle or whatever.
0:36:03 > 0:36:07So the way you fall is deeply important and he also taught me
0:36:07 > 0:36:08how to shoot a Sten gun.
0:36:08 > 0:36:11So I used to go up to London to some barracks or other,
0:36:11 > 0:36:16I can't quite remember where, and learn how to shoot the Sten gun.
0:36:16 > 0:36:17Of course, it has a big kick
0:36:17 > 0:36:20and I had to get used to that so I didn't sort of faint
0:36:20 > 0:36:22when I was doing the film.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36One of the most moving scenes in the film is the poem.
0:36:36 > 0:36:38What do you remember about filming
0:36:38 > 0:36:40that scene when the poem first appears in the film?
0:36:42 > 0:36:49Well, the poem has always been very important in my own life, actually.
0:36:49 > 0:36:54Because of its economy and its simplicity,
0:36:54 > 0:36:57and the depth of what it's about.
0:36:57 > 0:37:01The life that I have is all that I have
0:37:01 > 0:37:04And the life that I have is yours
0:37:04 > 0:37:06The love that I have
0:37:06 > 0:37:08Of the life that I have
0:37:08 > 0:37:11Is yours and yours and yours
0:37:11 > 0:37:13A sleep I shall have
0:37:13 > 0:37:15A rest I shall have
0:37:15 > 0:37:18Yet death will be but a pause
0:37:18 > 0:37:19For the peace of my years
0:37:19 > 0:37:21In the long green grass
0:37:21 > 0:37:23Will be yours
0:37:23 > 0:37:25And yours and yours.
0:37:28 > 0:37:30That's all of it.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35Thank you, darling.
0:37:35 > 0:37:37It's beautiful.
0:37:38 > 0:37:41And it's become this fantastic little thread
0:37:41 > 0:37:45through the lives of so many people, many of whom I've never, ever met.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49And I still get these letters saying,
0:37:49 > 0:37:52"Could you send me a copy of the poem?"
0:37:52 > 0:37:56And of course I do, with the greatest pleasure, because
0:37:56 > 0:38:03it's wonderful that something so beautiful touches so many people.
0:38:03 > 0:38:08Director, Lewis Gilbert, serves up a story of astonishing self-sacrifice.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11Szabo undertakes her missions knowing it's unlikely she'll return
0:38:11 > 0:38:13to see the child she's left behind.
0:38:13 > 0:38:16Tragically, she's proved right.
0:38:16 > 0:38:20'When she's captured by the Germans, she won't accept defeat.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23'In her defiance, Szabo articulates all the feelings of the ordinary
0:38:23 > 0:38:27- 'Britain against the Nazi beast.' - Cigarette?
0:38:37 > 0:38:41Understatement was a particular feature of these films
0:38:41 > 0:38:44in the writing of the script and the acting.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47Was that because that's how the British are or
0:38:47 > 0:38:49do you think it was a deliberate decision
0:38:49 > 0:38:51to play everything down?
0:38:51 > 0:38:55I think it's English. Thank goodness.
0:38:55 > 0:38:57And I wish we had more of it now
0:38:57 > 0:39:01because I think we've gone so much the other way that I think,
0:39:01 > 0:39:04"Oh, don't say so much, you know, keep it back."
0:39:05 > 0:39:09Because you'll never bring people in, you're doing too much for them.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12The Gestapo torture scenes were filmed in a very understated way.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16So, too, was the execution scene at the very end of the film with you
0:39:16 > 0:39:19and the other two women in Ravensbruck.
0:39:19 > 0:39:21What do you remember about filming that?
0:39:21 > 0:39:24Was it a particularly harrowing and traumatic scene for you?
0:39:24 > 0:39:28Did it have a great effect on you, filming that scene?
0:39:28 > 0:39:32Because Lewis left that scene to the end,
0:39:32 > 0:39:33cos after you've done that scene,
0:39:33 > 0:39:37it would have been quite difficult to go backwards in the story.
0:39:37 > 0:39:42So, in his very sensitive way, he kept that to the end.
0:39:42 > 0:39:44And we'd had some pretty horrid scenes,
0:39:44 > 0:39:48you know, in the concentration camp and digging in the mud
0:39:48 > 0:39:50and all that horrible side of things.
0:39:50 > 0:39:54So we were all three of us, actually,
0:39:54 > 0:39:56quite immersed in the horror of it all.
0:40:10 > 0:40:13I do recall getting a message
0:40:13 > 0:40:16from someone very high up to say
0:40:16 > 0:40:20when my moment came to be shot,
0:40:20 > 0:40:22would I please smile?
0:40:23 > 0:40:27And I thought to myself,
0:40:27 > 0:40:32"I'd rather die than smile. I'm absolutely not going to do this."
0:40:32 > 0:40:35But I was just the actress and I didn't know what to do,
0:40:35 > 0:40:37so I went to Lewis and I said,
0:40:37 > 0:40:41"I've been asked to do this thing and smile,"
0:40:41 > 0:40:45and I said, "I absolutely can't, I absolutely can't do that."
0:40:45 > 0:40:47He said, "No, of course you can't."
0:40:47 > 0:40:49"Of course you're not going to smile, absolutely quite wrong."
0:40:49 > 0:40:51So I thought, "Marvellous."
0:40:51 > 0:40:57So I didn't have to smile cos I thought it would wreck the film.
0:41:01 > 0:41:03Laden!
0:41:11 > 0:41:12Feuer!
0:41:18 > 0:41:22The setting up of the canal zone was agreed upon in 1936.
0:41:22 > 0:41:24Ismailia was to become the RAF headquarters
0:41:24 > 0:41:27while Fayid would become the Army base.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30That treaty has now been denounced by the Egyptians.
0:41:31 > 0:41:33By the second half of the 1950s,
0:41:33 > 0:41:36Britain had become a more cynical nation.
0:41:36 > 0:41:41And the 1956 Suez Crisis played a big part in this change of our mood.
0:41:42 > 0:41:44The Suez affair was the most almighty shock.
0:41:45 > 0:41:47Right across the piece, wherever you were
0:41:47 > 0:41:49in the political or social spectrum.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52And I felt it as a very young boy, I was nine,
0:41:52 > 0:41:55because having spent a lot of time in those cinemas,
0:41:55 > 0:41:58reliving the war through those films, and family chat, everybody used to
0:41:58 > 0:42:00talk in terms of before the war, during the war, and after the war.
0:42:00 > 0:42:02We were a country that didn't lose wars.
0:42:03 > 0:42:05Britain's impotence was laid bare.
0:42:05 > 0:42:09People took a less rosy view of the war and patriotism.
0:42:09 > 0:42:11And we were broke.
0:42:11 > 0:42:16The time was right for a cynical film of epic proportions.
0:42:16 > 0:42:19And Dunkirk was that film.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29It features ships as big as this but also,
0:42:29 > 0:42:32because, of course, this is Dunkirk,
0:42:32 > 0:42:35many hundreds of smaller vessels, too.
0:42:35 > 0:42:39The War Office were really reluctant to cooperate,
0:42:39 > 0:42:43the wounds in 1958 of their incompetence in 1940
0:42:43 > 0:42:45were still pretty raw.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48However, co-operate they did.
0:42:48 > 0:42:52And they helped produce one of the great and epic
0:42:52 > 0:42:56neglected masterpieces of the British cinema.
0:42:56 > 0:42:59Dunkirk takes the audience back to May, 1940
0:42:59 > 0:43:05when 335,000 soldiers were rescued from the beaches in Northern France.
0:43:10 > 0:43:12The film tells parallel stories.
0:43:12 > 0:43:14One is of the official bungling
0:43:14 > 0:43:17and the slow gathering of rescue vessels in Britain,
0:43:17 > 0:43:20and the other is of John Mills, who,
0:43:20 > 0:43:24as Tubby Bins, leads his men through enemy territory to Dunkirk.
0:43:24 > 0:43:28The people Tubby takes charge of are shown to be bolshy and defeatist.
0:43:28 > 0:43:32A heroic, romantic escapade this was most certainly not.
0:43:32 > 0:43:35Barlow, wake up, we're moving.
0:43:38 > 0:43:41- Come on, Miles, up on your feet. - What for?- On your feet!
0:43:41 > 0:43:42Ah, go chase yourself.
0:43:44 > 0:43:46What's the matter with you lot?
0:43:46 > 0:43:49If we don't move while it's dark, we may not be able to move at all.
0:43:49 > 0:43:50That suits me.
0:43:50 > 0:43:53Me, too. I'm fed up with the Army anyway.
0:43:53 > 0:43:56The film is unsparing in its realism from the start,
0:43:56 > 0:43:59even about the lack of solidarity among the civilian population.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04Richard Attenborough's self-satisfied businessman
0:44:04 > 0:44:06is about to aggrieve a merchant seaman,
0:44:06 > 0:44:08his hand bandaged from frostbite,
0:44:08 > 0:44:11a veteran of the Battle Of The Atlantic.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14- War's a blasted phoney, anyway. - I'm a bit tired of that.
0:44:16 > 0:44:19- Tired of what?- This phoney war business.- Well, isn't it?
0:44:19 > 0:44:22No, it's not. I've just come out of hospital after ten days
0:44:22 > 0:44:24in an open boat off of the Faroes and I'm sick and tired
0:44:24 > 0:44:26of blokes like you with soft jobs ashore.
0:44:26 > 0:44:28- Come outside.- Don't be silly.
0:44:28 > 0:44:31I've lost two fingers off that hand but I'm going to take you outside
0:44:31 > 0:44:32and knock your block off with my right.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36But whereas The Cruel Sea implied but didn't show,
0:44:36 > 0:44:39Dunkirk was remorseless in illustrating war's horrors.
0:44:40 > 0:44:45Defenceless refugees are attacked, a woman lies twitching, dying.
0:44:47 > 0:44:50And the audience are reminded that the horrors of war could not
0:44:50 > 0:44:53be escaped, no matter what your age.
0:44:53 > 0:44:56CHILD CRIES
0:44:56 > 0:44:59Dunkirk was criticised for its dullness,
0:44:59 > 0:45:02in fact, set piece follows thrilling set piece
0:45:02 > 0:45:04while its cynicism grows deeper.
0:45:04 > 0:45:07It doesn't shy from dishing out blame on all sides
0:45:07 > 0:45:10and leaves the audience in no doubt that this was
0:45:10 > 0:45:12one massive military debacle.
0:45:12 > 0:45:14I never thought I'd see a sight like this.
0:45:14 > 0:45:17Us neither, sir.
0:45:18 > 0:45:20What a mess.
0:45:20 > 0:45:23What a shambles we've made of this whole rotten affair.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26In these films, as in the war itself,
0:45:26 > 0:45:29Britain usually does come out on top.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32But usually only after a struggle.
0:45:32 > 0:45:36There's nothing remotely revisionist about the film of Dunkirk.
0:45:36 > 0:45:40It reinforces the myth of victory in defeat,
0:45:40 > 0:45:45getting those 335,000 soldiers back to Blighty.
0:45:45 > 0:45:50And it never fails to remind the audience that the enemy were beasts.
0:45:50 > 0:45:52ALL: Forgive us our trespasses
0:45:52 > 0:45:56As we forgive them that trespass against us
0:45:56 > 0:45:58ALL: As we forgive them that trespass against us
0:45:58 > 0:46:01Lead us not into temptation
0:46:01 > 0:46:03ALL: Lead us not into temptation
0:46:03 > 0:46:05But deliver us from evil
0:46:05 > 0:46:07ALL: But deliver us from evil
0:46:07 > 0:46:08For thine is the kingdom...
0:46:08 > 0:46:14AEROPLANE ENGINES
0:46:14 > 0:46:20BOMBS EXPLODING
0:46:24 > 0:46:28In the real world, social norms were shifting.
0:46:28 > 0:46:31The traditional, coherent culture celebrated in these films
0:46:31 > 0:46:34was under assault and the principal legacy of the war now
0:46:34 > 0:46:37was the determination not to fight another one.
0:46:37 > 0:46:39Yet there was still time for the black and white British war film
0:46:39 > 0:46:42to have one last great hurrah.
0:46:42 > 0:46:46It gave us sand, spies, sex, and, inevitably, John Mills.
0:46:46 > 0:46:48It was Ice Cold In Alex.
0:46:52 > 0:46:54God!
0:46:59 > 0:47:01Directed by J Lee Thompson,
0:47:01 > 0:47:04Ice Cold In Alex is the gritty and thrilling story
0:47:04 > 0:47:07of a group of army personnel who take an ambulance through
0:47:07 > 0:47:10the German-occupied Egyptian desert.
0:47:10 > 0:47:13John Mills plays an officer with a drink problem,
0:47:13 > 0:47:15Anthony Quayle, a German spy,
0:47:15 > 0:47:18and the ravishing Sylvia Syms is Sister Murdoch.
0:47:18 > 0:47:22- What's this? A party? - No, just one for the road.
0:47:24 > 0:47:27I thought the first part of the road was through a minefield.
0:47:27 > 0:47:29Is that the usual kind of training?
0:47:30 > 0:47:34This was a very different role for a woman,
0:47:34 > 0:47:36compared with many of the women's roles in films
0:47:36 > 0:47:39in the '50s about the war.
0:47:39 > 0:47:43Normally, they're just Wrens pushing things around in ops rooms.
0:47:43 > 0:47:46Do you feel that women were under-appreciated in the
0:47:46 > 0:47:50British cinema in the '50s and do you feel that there should have
0:47:50 > 0:47:53been more credible roles written for them in films of this genre?
0:47:53 > 0:47:55Most of the women
0:47:55 > 0:47:59looked too smart in their uniforms. Nobody ever looked that smart.
0:48:00 > 0:48:03Or they said, "Goodbye, darling, I'll see you soon."
0:48:03 > 0:48:06You know, I think, at the time, I thought I was jolly lucky
0:48:06 > 0:48:10to have a fairly well-rounded character to play.
0:48:10 > 0:48:15I was always determined that I wouldn't become one of those nice,
0:48:15 > 0:48:19middle-class ladies who had awful things happen to them
0:48:19 > 0:48:21but never changed the tone of voice.
0:48:21 > 0:48:23I have to get some more dressings.
0:48:24 > 0:48:27Will you stay with her?
0:48:27 > 0:48:29Is there anything I should do?
0:48:29 > 0:48:33No. No, just be near.
0:48:35 > 0:48:37Like Carve Her Name With Pride,
0:48:37 > 0:48:41Ice Cold In Alex reminds us that women won the war, too.
0:48:41 > 0:48:44It's an extraordinarily physical film.
0:48:44 > 0:48:46Actors like John Mills and Anthony Quayle,
0:48:46 > 0:48:47who'd fought in the war,
0:48:47 > 0:48:50brought an all-in-it-together attitude to the film.
0:48:51 > 0:48:53Their characters fight as much against the elements
0:48:53 > 0:48:56as they do against Rommel's forces.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59Here, Quayle's spy is in danger of drowning in mud.
0:49:03 > 0:49:06'There seem to be scenes in the film where the actors look as if
0:49:06 > 0:49:08'they're in some physical danger.'
0:49:08 > 0:49:11One is Anthony Quayle almost drowning in the mud.
0:49:11 > 0:49:13How was that filmed?
0:49:13 > 0:49:16Well, in fact, the latter part of it was done in the studio.
0:49:17 > 0:49:22And I don't think anybody, including Lee, the director,
0:49:22 > 0:49:25thought he would go as far as he did.
0:49:25 > 0:49:27- Hold on, hold on.- 'But Tony Quayle was that sort of person.'
0:49:27 > 0:49:30Throw it to me, man.
0:49:30 > 0:49:34Throw it to me. Hurry. I'm being sucked under.
0:49:34 > 0:49:38'They made a great, big tank of the most revolting stuff.'
0:49:38 > 0:49:42But he never stopped doing what he was requested to do.
0:49:42 > 0:49:45And eventually he went right under.
0:49:49 > 0:49:53And, of course, it got in up his nose, in his ears, in his mouth,
0:49:53 > 0:49:55it was quite incredible.
0:49:55 > 0:49:59And so when you see Johnny squeezing it out of his nose,
0:49:59 > 0:50:02it was like that. It was truly tough.
0:50:10 > 0:50:14But you have to realise Anthony Quayle was a war hero.
0:50:14 > 0:50:18They weren't baby boys, they weren't lads out of drama schools,
0:50:18 > 0:50:21he'd been through the war, it's a different generation.
0:50:23 > 0:50:25Ice Cold In Alex was a startling picture.
0:50:25 > 0:50:27As well as gruelling physical challenges,
0:50:27 > 0:50:31it showed that the people at the front had sexual urges.
0:50:31 > 0:50:35A love scene between John Mills and Sylvia Syms had to be recut.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38The censor's scissors were twitchy from the amount of cleavage
0:50:38 > 0:50:40on display the first time round.
0:50:41 > 0:50:43What about this rather steamy scene
0:50:43 > 0:50:46where you had too many buttons on your blouse undone?
0:50:46 > 0:50:47What was that like?
0:50:48 > 0:50:50Quite pleasant, as I remember.
0:50:50 > 0:50:55Bit sandy, I remember the sand got down my bra. The...
0:50:55 > 0:50:57Yeah, what can I say?
0:50:57 > 0:50:59I had to kiss... Johnny Mills had to kiss me,
0:50:59 > 0:51:04and I had to reveal the fact that I had rather a good pair of...
0:51:04 > 0:51:05The...
0:51:05 > 0:51:10But the truth is, it was so mild compared to what you see nowadays.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13It's just, I think, buttons came undone
0:51:13 > 0:51:16and a bit of bosom came out and whatever.
0:51:16 > 0:51:18So a lot of it was cut.
0:51:18 > 0:51:20I think Lee was a bit disappointed.
0:51:20 > 0:51:23He was a sexy beast, Lee.
0:51:23 > 0:51:24And it was all right?
0:51:24 > 0:51:26It was quite enjoyable.
0:51:31 > 0:51:33Do you always know what you want?
0:51:33 > 0:51:34Always.
0:51:38 > 0:51:40The scene of that film, which has
0:51:40 > 0:51:42passed into the national consciousness,
0:51:42 > 0:51:44is the scene in the bar at the end.
0:51:44 > 0:51:46- Was it real beer? Did he really drink?- Oh, Johnny.
0:51:46 > 0:51:48Did he really drink six beers?
0:51:48 > 0:51:52They couldn't get the colour right. Coca-Cola was too dark,
0:51:52 > 0:51:55and so eventually they had Carlsberg.
0:52:02 > 0:52:04Tony couldn't glug-glug-glug.
0:52:04 > 0:52:06Harry couldn't glug-glug-glug.
0:52:06 > 0:52:08And Johnny could.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19It's such a good take. Being Lee, he has to do another one.
0:52:19 > 0:52:22And then he does another one from another angle.
0:52:22 > 0:52:26And Johnny got off this tall stool and literally went...
0:52:27 > 0:52:28It was so funny.
0:52:28 > 0:52:32So we had a bit of a pause because everyone was laughing so much.
0:52:44 > 0:52:45Worth waiting for.
0:52:45 > 0:52:48'That scene was popularised in a beer commercial.'
0:52:48 > 0:52:51But it can only be used because it was already firmly
0:52:51 > 0:52:54rooted in the British folk memory.
0:52:54 > 0:52:59Ice Cold In Alex and all these films are landmarks of our culture.
0:52:59 > 0:53:02Where most of us see even a few fleeting seconds of them,
0:53:02 > 0:53:06we know where we are and what we're expected to feel.
0:53:06 > 0:53:08They portrayed history,
0:53:08 > 0:53:11but they themselves have now become part of our history.
0:53:11 > 0:53:16But with Ice Cold In Alex, that was more or less that.
0:53:16 > 0:53:19The film industry had wandered into its own minefield,
0:53:19 > 0:53:21one populated by television sets
0:53:21 > 0:53:24and an audience now too young to feel much about the war,
0:53:24 > 0:53:27or to care about what their stuffy parents had been through.
0:53:30 > 0:53:33Against the backdrop of plummeting cinema attendances,
0:53:33 > 0:53:36down by almost 60% during the 1950s,
0:53:36 > 0:53:39the British war film experienced the first rumblings
0:53:39 > 0:53:41of a coming satire boom.
0:53:41 > 0:53:45First, the Army was ridiculed as corrupt, absurdly bureaucratic,
0:53:45 > 0:53:47and verging on the criminal
0:53:47 > 0:53:50in the Boulting Brothers' superb Private's Progress.
0:53:50 > 0:53:52Hey, you two.
0:53:53 > 0:53:55Double.
0:53:59 > 0:54:01I know you. What's your name?
0:54:01 > 0:54:04- 521 Jones, Sir. - You're an absolute shower.
0:54:04 > 0:54:06No doubt you think I'm a shower, too.
0:54:06 > 0:54:08- I wouldn't like to say, sir. - Well, I would.
0:54:08 > 0:54:10I've got to be, to command rotters like you.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13Do you know how long you've been on the job out there?
0:54:13 > 0:54:16No, sir. We got so stuck into it, we've lost all sense of time.
0:54:16 > 0:54:19I'll give you just five minutes to finish it or you'll be up
0:54:19 > 0:54:20before me on a charge. Get going.
0:54:23 > 0:54:26And the British silver screen's ultimate war hero, Jack Hawkins,
0:54:26 > 0:54:29sent himself up in his favourite of his own films,
0:54:29 > 0:54:30The League Of Gentlemen.
0:54:30 > 0:54:36The League Of Gentlemen identifies a class of people with whom, actually,
0:54:36 > 0:54:39British audiences were quite familiar by this point.
0:54:39 > 0:54:42The ex-military person who is deeply iffy,
0:54:42 > 0:54:44deeply dodgy, not what he seems,
0:54:44 > 0:54:48has probably lied about his war record, is semi-criminal.
0:54:48 > 0:54:51Playing an embittered lieutenant-colonel,
0:54:51 > 0:54:52Hawkins's character brings together
0:54:52 > 0:54:57a group of disgraced former officers for an audacious armed robbery.
0:54:57 > 0:55:00Take a good look, gentlemen, because it's all there.
0:55:00 > 0:55:03Operation Golden Fleece.
0:55:03 > 0:55:06This is the battlefield on which we shall fight.
0:55:06 > 0:55:11And here, I promise you, we shall enjoy our finest hour.
0:55:11 > 0:55:12What price glory?
0:55:12 > 0:55:16£100,000 each, tax-free.
0:55:17 > 0:55:20You won't have to sign a single form for it,
0:55:20 > 0:55:22you won't even have to salute.
0:55:24 > 0:55:28'And I think that one of the things that League Of Gentleman plugs into'
0:55:28 > 0:55:31is this suspicion of the middle-aged man
0:55:31 > 0:55:35who relies for his status in society,
0:55:35 > 0:55:39upon his war record, which may not bear that very much examination.
0:55:39 > 0:55:41So those figures are ripe for satire,
0:55:41 > 0:55:44the idea that you fought in the war, at this point,
0:55:44 > 0:55:47is no guarantee of your heroism.
0:55:47 > 0:55:51Thus was the British war film slain by its own hand.
0:55:51 > 0:55:54The glory days of Jack Hawkins in a turtleneck sweater,
0:55:54 > 0:55:57Sylvia Syms holding her own in the desert,
0:55:57 > 0:56:01John Mills escaping from Colditz, were numbered.
0:56:01 > 0:56:05The appetite for the glorious black and white war film was no more.
0:56:10 > 0:56:13We'd done the Navy, we'd done POWs,
0:56:13 > 0:56:16we'd done the RAF, we'd done...
0:56:18 > 0:56:22And the war was receding,
0:56:22 > 0:56:27slowly receding, from people's minds
0:56:27 > 0:56:31and we're now starting to look forward to something else.
0:56:31 > 0:56:35You know, the life that is... that we're now living.
0:56:36 > 0:56:39And as filmmakers,
0:56:39 > 0:56:42I don't think we were...
0:56:42 > 0:56:45We were looking sort of ahead, not back.
0:56:45 > 0:56:49Now we've got over the class-bound cliches, starched upper lips
0:56:49 > 0:56:52and arch humour, we can perhaps see these films
0:56:52 > 0:56:54for what they really are -
0:56:54 > 0:56:57moments of clear and vivid representation
0:56:57 > 0:57:00of an intense passage in our collective experience,
0:57:00 > 0:57:03and as vital cultural documents.
0:57:05 > 0:57:06Let him have it, chum!
0:57:13 > 0:57:14This is bloody dangerous.
0:57:14 > 0:57:17Attacking, standby.
0:57:17 > 0:57:19We must have got her.
0:57:19 > 0:57:20Darned if I know.
0:57:20 > 0:57:22You see. It wasn't a fluke, it works.
0:57:22 > 0:57:24Come on, let him have it!
0:57:25 > 0:57:26I think it's terrific.
0:57:26 > 0:57:28It's beautiful.
0:57:28 > 0:57:31These films depict an astonishing chapter in our national story.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34They helped form millions of us because of the way they filled
0:57:34 > 0:57:37the lives and memories of our parents.
0:57:37 > 0:57:39The pictures now have a historical value
0:57:39 > 0:57:42that angry critics like Lindsay Anderson could
0:57:42 > 0:57:44scarcely have imagined when they attacked their stuffiness
0:57:44 > 0:57:46and lack of imagination.
0:57:46 > 0:57:50The generation that fought the war has now almost gone.
0:57:50 > 0:57:53But these films are with us for ever.
0:57:53 > 0:57:56Not just as a realisation of how things were in the war,
0:57:56 > 0:57:59but also of the way the generation who fought it
0:57:59 > 0:58:04wish to have it and their part in it recorded in our cultural memory.
0:58:04 > 0:58:08Understanding these films and the characteristics of decency, bravery,
0:58:08 > 0:58:13and heroism that they portray is part of what it is to be British.
0:58:13 > 0:58:18And in that respect, for you, Tommy, the war will never be over.
0:58:20 > 0:58:23You can't get rid of me so easily, you know.
0:58:44 > 0:58:48Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd