Dunkirk (The Movie) 2017

[philb]

hi, why does it take the spitfire over 1hr to fly to Dunkirk ??.....when its on fire at the end wheres the engine gone ???.....Dunkirk was over about 10 days, why are most of the soldiers all clean shaven ???.....me109 with yellow nose cone, didn't do that to 1940........wouldn't watch it again

[Flying10uk]

I haven't seen the film but the makers have probably used a little "artistic license" in the making of the film to try to make it entertaining for the audience. One would have thought that the film's researchers would have done a significant amount of background research before filming actually started in order to get the details correct but who knows?

[speckles]

The ship getting hit by the torpedo was very real to me; letting your guard down, explosion, quick listing of the ship, darkness, chaos, death. How scary and awful for them or Anyone who endured that demise.

I had a recent encounter with with one of the few remaining survivors from the the USS Indianapolis. His story is very matter of fact, chaos with death. His book, for anyone interested, is a definite worthwhile read. (Out of the Depths).

[Aragorn243]

Me 109's used in ground attack roles in offensive operations were painted with a yellow nose starting with the invasion of Poland. This was to prevent mis-identification by ground troops.

Troops in combat are to be clean shaven primarily because of the potential of gas attacks. Masks won't work with facial hair.

Haven't seen the movie yet. Maybe tonight.

I have heard and am VERY disappointed by the fact that the producers failed to include minorities and women in the movie. As we all know, there were LOTS of minorities and women in the British Army at the time and this is simply disgraceful that they were ignored. (sarcasm)

[enfield303t]

hi, why does it take the spitfire over 1hr to fly to Dunkirk ??.....when its on fire at the end wheres the engine gone ???.....Dunkirk was over about 10 days, why are most of the soldiers all clean shaven ???.....me109 with yellow nose cone, didn't do that to 1940........wouldn't watch it again

It is unfortunate you couldn't see the big picture of why the movie was made. The one hour, one day one week presentation was well done IMO. There is a point where nit picking is endless and serves no good end.

Seeing as the burning Spitfire was a mock up I bet they weren't worried about having a appropriate engine or any engine at all. I saw the engine was missing but it really wasn't a big deal was it.

The sound was worth the admission alone, will go to see it again.

[Flying10uk]

Me 109's used in ground attack roles in offensive operations were painted with a yellow nose starting with the invasion of Poland. This was to prevent mis-identification by ground troops.

Thanks for this information; I've noticed the yellow noses before on the 109's but hadn't realised the reason for it.

If the Germans had used gas, during WW2, they would have got it used back against them and they knew it which is probably why they didn't.

The Germans thought that they could bully us into submission in 1940 and they also thought that we didn't have the ability to bomb Berlin, if we so wished, the same year. They were wrong on both counts.

[mrclark303]

To be fair, its easy to pick faults with these things.

The sound was excellent, while the Spitfire areal photography was stunning,l would guess some of the rather silly over the top Biggles stuff (after all, some the viewing public needs the equivalent of a car chase) was I am sure at the insistence of the money men and maximizing viewing numbers.


Small points, Spitfire models ditching without any damage, (no prop damage for one), burning wooden Spit replica with no model engine..

The 1958 John Mills film admirably tells the story of the final retreat (missing from the 2017 film), capturing well the confusion and fear, but also the human endeavor and the individual bravery of the people involved.

[Aragorn243]

My wife and I did go to see it this evening and I'm probably going to buck the trend but I did not like it. I had looked forward to this movie for months and planned to see it the first weekend but things conspired against that. The preview was excellent and I assumed this would be an emotional and inspiring movie and I just didn't get either out of it. I couldn't connect to any of the characters, moments that might have been more just seemed to drop to nothing after a long slow build up. I asked her what she thought before I told her what I thought and she was of the same mind. Difference between her and I is I have a rough idea of what happened at Dunkirk and she was basically clueless beyond it was a war movie. So we had two different perspectives on it.

It was not a terrible movie, I did feel the aircraft scenes when not gliding at the same altitude with no engine for 70 miles 100 feet off the ocean were very good. The sounds put you in the cockpit and really gave the impression that this was indeed the 1940's and these aircraft while finely tuned and built for their day, still made a lot of clunking/banging sounds.

It left the impression that there were three stukas which attacked the beach once every few days, they waited until every ship was loaded and then sank it. Ships sank incredibly fast (which I know they sometimes did) And there were a few British planes to defend against a few German BF109's. I also felt like it portrayed the average British soldier as a scum bag and or coward which I know is not the case.

[Flying10uk]

When my father was dive bombed in November 1940 the whole incident happened very quickly and there was no warning, no siren. The first he knew of it was an aircraft directly overhead in a steep dive, followed by the whistle of a bomb directly above, followed by a massive explosion. There was no time to take cover, no time to be frightened, not even enough time to say a quick prayer. All he thought is, is this it, is this bomb going to kill me, is my number up?

My father was lucky he lived, 4 other civilians in the village died,- the lottery of war.

[Bob Womack]

The siren fitted to the JU-87 Stuka and other dive-bombing aircraft was not a standard item. On the J-87 it consisted of a pair of small, fret-spinning propellers fitted to the landing gear shrouds just below the wing. They were initially fabricated and added by squadrons but were eventually manufactured as aftermarket items and utilized on a per-squadron elective basis. The original units had the distinction of being just as annoying to the crew as they were to those on the ground because they couldn't be tuned off. That was eventually ameliorated by adding a shutoff system. They also induced drag and slowed down the aircraft, which became a morale problem as the JU-87 obsolesced and faired poorly against faster and faster opponents in the air. Whatever the case, I understand that use of the sirens ceased throughout the service by the end of 1941.

Bob