Dunkirk (1958)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Leslie Norman

Writers:

J.S. Bradford (book)
Ewan Butler (book)

Release Date:

10 September 1958 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | War

Tagline:

Days That Shook the World! Victory Snatched From Disaster!

Plot:

Two stories in one - an easygoing British Corporal in France finds himself responsible for the lives of his men when their officer is killed...

Plot Keywords:

Ealing | WWII | Based On Play | Based On Novel

Cast

John Mills	...	Cpl. 'Tubby' Bins
Robert Urquhart	...	Pvt. Mike
Ray Jackson	...	Pvt. Barlow
Meredith Edwards	...	Pvt. Dave Bellman
Anthony Nicholls	...	Military spokesman
Bernard Lee	...	Charles Foreman (British newspaper reporter)
Michael Shillo	...	Jouvet (French newspaper reporter)
Richard Attenborough	...	John Holden (Heron owner)
Sean Barrett	...	Frankie, (Holden employee)
Victor Maddern	...	Merchant seaman in pub
Maxine Audley	...	Diana Foreman
Bud Flanagan	...	Himself - Music Hall Performer
Chesney Allen	...	Himself - Music Hall Performer
Kenneth Cope	...	Lt. Lumpkin
Denys Graham	...	Pvt. Fraser

Runtime:

134 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.00 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #18714) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG (video rating) (1994) | UK:U (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Camber Sands, Camber, East Sussex, England, UK

Company:

Ealing Studios

Trivia:

The term "U-S" is British slang for useless.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: In the shot when the small boats leave the boatyard, they are actually heading away from London and towards Teddington Weir.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Forever Ealing (2002) (TV)

blood,toil,tears and sweat

The evacuation from Dunkirk was every bit as important as the Battle of Britain. If the British would have lost those 350,000 troops on the beaches they would almost certainly have lost the war. Those men couldn't be replaced at least not easily. A defeat like that would have ended everything. There would have been extreme pressure to make a deal with Hitler and end the war. Thankfully they didn't give up and stuck to the job and thankfully Hitler very stupidly pulled his panzer forces up short.

This movie has good acting by a good cast, but I've always felt it could have been done better. Dunkirk is a subject that should be revisited on the big screen.