Battle of Britain (film)

Battle of Britain is a 1969 film directed by Guy Hamilton. The film broadly relates the events of the Battle of Britain. The script by James Kennaway and Wilfred Greatorex was based on the book The Narrow Margin by Derek Wood and Derek Dempster.

Cast

British Cast

The movie film has an all-star cast including Laurence Olivier as Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, the Air Officer Commanding RAF Fighter Command, Trevor Howard as then-Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park, the Officer Commanding No.11 Group of the RAF, and Christopher Plummer as a Canadian fighter pilot, Squadron Leader Colin Harvey. (Since Plummer was a Canadian by birth, he had specifically asked for his character's RAF uniform to display the "Canada" shoulder flashes.) Other cast members include Michael Caine as Squadron Leader Canfield, Ralph Richardson in a cameo role as the British Ambassador to Switzerland, Robert Shaw as Squadron Leader Skipper, Susannah York as Section Officer Maggie Harvey (Colin's wife), Ian McShane as Sergeant Pilot Andy, and Kenneth More (who had made himself a household name with his portrayal of Douglas Bader in Reach for the Sky 12 years before) as the Station Commander at RAF Duxford.

Related Topics:
Laurence Olivier - Hugh Dowding - RAF - Trevor Howard - Keith Park - Christopher Plummer - Canadian - Michael Caine - Ralph Richardson - Robert Shaw - Susannah York - Ian McShane - Kenneth More - Douglas Bader - Reach for the Sky

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German Cast

The film is notable for its portrayal of the Germans by subtitled German-speaking actors. Among the actors portraying the Germans were Curt Jurgens as the German Ambassador to Switzerland and larger-than-life musical star Hein Riess, who played the commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, occasionally laying into his fighter chiefs for failing to give enough support to the bombers which were being shot down by the fighter planes of the RAF. One scene included a brief exchange based on what wartime Luftwaffe pilot Adolf Galland (who was to become the youngest man to hold general rank in the Luftwaffe at the age of only 30) had said to Goering. When Goering asked Galland (the character of "Falke" was a substitute in the movie) what he needed, Galland allegedly replied, "Give me a squadron of Spitfires!" According to a booklet publicizing the movie, Riess had allegedly once met Goering himself during the war. Galland himself acted as a technical advisor for the movie.

Related Topics:
Germans - Subtitled - Curt Jurgens - Hein Riess - Luftwaffe - Hermann Goering - Adolf Galland

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