DUNKIRK

UK, 1958, 134 minutes, Black-and-white.
John Mills, Richard Attenborough, Bernard Lee, Robert Urquhart, Sean Barrett, Meredith Edwards, Michael Bates, Eddie Byrne, Lionel Jeffries, William Squire.
Directed by Leslie Norman.

Dunkirk was a significant film of the late 1950s. During the 1950s there were many war films produced in the UK, the opportunity to remember many of the battles, the prisoners of war, prisoner of war escapes. The film is also a tribute to those who showed heroism in action.

This film has the focus of three stories which interconnect.

John Mills, standard for so many films from England in these decades, portrays Tubby, an ordinary soldier seen in London at the newsreels, listening to Flanagan and Allen singing the Siegfried Line, part of a squad, then seen at war in France, having to get out of the foxholes to escape, moving towards the beach, in a homestead and attacked by Germans and having to leave one of their men, finally on the beach at Dunkirk waiting to be rescued.

Bernard Lee is a journalist, Charles Foreman, at press conferences listening to the official comments about the war and its progress as well as the blacking out of information. He is married, discusses the issue with his wife as well as with a young man who owns a factory to make buckles. He has a boat and volunteers the boat for the rescue effort and requests to go on the effort himself.

Richard Attenborough is the young man, the buckle factory, young wife and baby, seeming to be comfortable back at home, talking about the phony war in the pub, attacked by a sailor veteran, with a boat and initially unwilling to go but finally sailing to Dunkirk.

The recreation of the soldiers on the beach at Dunkirk, the boats arriving, the rescues are vividly done, especially for the status of cinema and effects in 1958. There was a fine recreation of the beach at Dunkirk in the long tracking shot in the 2007 Atonement. However, 2017 brought Christopher Nolan’s picture of Dunkirk. His scenes of the soldiers on the beach and on the Mole do resemble those of the 1958 film but are very effective in their way, filmed in 70 mm, available for IMAX screening. Christopher Nolan’s film of the rescue focuses on one boat and his experiences. There is also a focus on the RAF and the combating of the German air force.

This film was directed by Leslie Norman at the same time that he was directing The Shiralee and before his Season of Passion/ Summer of the 17th Doll, Australian stories.

1. The British war films of the 1950s? This film’s place amongst them? Memories of the war experience? The tribute to those who served, military and civilian?

2. The insertion of newsreel footage of the times?

3. The event itself, 1940, battles in France and Belgium, the advance of the Germans, the Maginot line, the British beaten back to the beaches? Audience knowledge of the events? British memory, World War II memory? The memory of Churchill?

4. The black-and-white photography, Belgium and France, the foxholes, the fields, the towns, streets, the homesteads? Dunkirk, the town? The beach? The sea? Britain, the military officers, the pubs, the factories? The musical score?

5. The three stories, London and the official story with Charles Foreman? The war effort and Tubby and the ordinary soldiers? The factories and supplies and ordinary life? The interconnecting of the stories?

6. Tubby, John Mills and his status in British films, his company? Ordinary, in London, the newsreel, the progress of the war, the cartoons against Hitler, Flanagan and Allen and Siegfried Line? The soldiers in action, the holes, in the fields, the escape, on the roads? The Germans, the pursuit? The farm, the attack? The shooting? The bond between the men, Tubby having the stripes, giving the orders? Mike, his friendship with Toby? Dave, being injured, his death and being left? Their going to the beach, the lift in the truck?

7. Charles Foreman, the journalist, at the press conferences, his questions, the official answers, his exasperation, the futility of the war, lack of preparation, in the pub, with his wife, the discussions with Holden, the wounded sailor and his outburst, the discussions about the progress of the war, the failures? Going to meetings, the appeal for his boat, going?

8. Holden, Richard Attenborough, his wife, the new baby? His company, building the buckles, Frank and his expertise, the women, listening to the radio broadcasts of Lord Haw-Haw? In the pub, his talking about the phony war, the reaction of the sailor, wanting to fight, the sailor losing his fingers? His apology? At home, trying to put the gas mask on the baby? His boat, underestimating the size, his backing out, finally going?

9. The visuals of the rescue, the work of the officials, the appeal to the Navy for destroyers? The decisions? The bombing and strafing of the men on the beach, of the boats? The numbers of men?

10. The beach at Dunkirk, the orderly men, the thousands, going into the sea, getting into some of the boats? The prayer session on the beach, the Lord’s prayer, the bombings, the deaths?

11. The boat owners, the appeal, the discussion with the official, his getting permission to go, their being under orders, sailing in the morning, their fears? Charles and his boat being hit? On the beach with Frank, the Lord’s prayer, his death? Holden’s boat, Mike and the engine, Toby and his men, Frank, his grief about Charles’ death? The rescue?

12. The return, the response of the public, the assessment about the failure of the battles in France, the French generals and their decisions, the Belgians, the return of the British for the Battle of Britain and the defence against any German invasion?