Dunkirk (1958)

I watched this film yesterday.  Although a traditional war movie in terms of cast, you can see it was made 18 years after the event as, especially at the beginning, there was much and merited criticism of the hapless British military initiative resulting in the rescue of  some  338,000 of the British Expeditionary Force.

John Mills plays the plucky corporal estranged from his unit who, after several close brushes with the Jerries, gets most of his group back to the beach at Dunkirk.

Richard Attenborough plays a civvie who, with his friend and journalist Foreman, have their boats requisitioned to the flotillla.

The contrast and tension between civilian life and the war are  interesting features of the film.

The director is Leslie Norman, father of TV critic Barry, whose work also included The Cruel Sea and The Saint on TV.

The producer was Michael Balcon.

It’s filmed in black and white which makes the facial expressions that more expressive and, whilst not as big box office as Saving Private Ryan nor the more recent Christopher Nolan version, it does not play with fact and the period detail make for a interesting semi-documentary.

As with all war films , spot the rising actor is a fun game. Barry Foster made his debut whilst Lionel Jeffries had a small role.

Because of the distance in time, it’s now 80 years ago, we hear much less often of the “Dunkirk  spirit”.

Historians remind us that Hitler could have taken out the BEF without much difficulty – and indeed invaded Britain – but nonetheless, as the film’s ending confirms, Dunkirk did unite the nation in resolve first to survive and then win the war.