The Supermarine Spitfire was and still is one of the most beautiful aeroplanes and warplanes, and everyone should see the film. The First of the Few (released as Spitfire in America) on YouTube.
Others have noted the Spits in this film were not the Battle of Britain Mark Is. Depending on costs, the film might have at least had mock-ups on the ground - once a prop is spinning you can't tell how many blades it has, of course.
But the major grievance with the film is its depiction of such a dysfunctional/ineffective organization wasting lives and planes. The initial Green Hornet Squadron commander is baby-faced Barton who on the first day of war leads some of his pilots to attack bombers later to find out they were British Blenheims, and he has caused a friendly fire tragedy.
Then wealthy Retts/Rex? Takes over with his irritating dog but personally bankrolled excellent cuisine. He resents later arrival Hurt, an American who turns out to have been a Republican fighter pilot in Spain and to have already shot down a Bf109 (Messerschmidt) ... and to be rich as well. (There is later resentment at Hurt often referencing his combat experience, which would have been against Italians as well as Germans, which I the viewer would like to have heard!) In the air, Rex is a by-the-book martinet, concentrating on keeping a tight formation, apparently instead of a sharp eye out for German fighters which regularly catch them - especially the designated/doomed Tail-end-Charlie of the formation.
It is interesting that in the other reviews, the colorful and indeed evilly mischievous "Moggy" character well played by Neil Dudgeon gets praise. His constant, cynical needling and bullying is socially and professionally disruptive and demoralizing. He gets a younger pilot wanting to be his friend killed with a flying dare and gets away even with that.
Intriguing is the non-flying squadron intelligence officer, Skull, who tries to keep count of the unit's effectiveness while appearing to be a highly educated Cambridge commie. He is redeemed, privately counseling a pilot to help him get over his sexual disfunctioning with the beautiful Mary, a war-widow teacher living near their base in France. And while the pilot is on leave to visit his parents and she is lonely, Moggy cynically seduces her.
During this, supposedly anti-British local residents hurl a rock through her window, but at the time Stalin was urging French Communists to sabotage French war industry to help his ally at the time Hitler, so the rock thrower could have been a commie but the film only attributes it to anglophbia.
The pilot returns from leave, consummates his relationship with Mary whom he marries in a double ceremony with another pilot and his own French teacher who soon gets pregnant.
With France starting to fall in May 1940, the 2 young wives head for the Channel to go over to Britain, but the pregnant French girl is killed by a German strafing attack, psychologically maiming her grief-stricken husband pilot "Flash" Gordon to become psychotic.
Squadron leader Rex is heavily wounded by shrapnel but insists on flying even though tormented by pain and quickly killed. Baby faced Barton meanwhile returns to the squadron and kills the dog wrecking everyone's vitally needed sleep by mournfully howling for its dead master. (Did Britain's animal league protest this in the film?) The American Hurt tries to compile and (to new arrivals) teach combat experience, but both Moggy and now Flash ridicule and mock his efforts, drawing the new pilots away from the very lessons they need to survive. When Hurt argues with Flash about this, Barton takes Flash's side who then takes some young pilots off on a Battle of Britain mission getting both him and them killed.
So Barton shows himself again to have poor judgment and be as bottom-line incompetent as Rex was.
The final air battle in the film is what it claims to be the decisive one of The Battle of Britain, and ... EVERYBODY DIES ... including American Hurt and even evil Moggy - only Barton and one of Moggy's past friends surviving.
Another reviewer quotes the outrage of an actual former Battle of Britain fighter pilot about the film defaming the pilots and the RAF and claims the above dysfunctioning never would have been permitted by command, but - bottom-line - just how efficient/effective *were* the British fighter squadrons, until they gave up (or had had killed off) stupidity like flying in tight 3-plane-element Vic formations?
And look how effective the Polish pilots were by comparison, when finally allowed to fight.
The flying scenes were good, but the combat scenes were taken from the excellent, original film, Battle of Britain, leaving it to be something of a dysfunctional melodrama ... leading me to wonder if the book author and/or screenwriters were themselves Cambridge commies!
But today, look at all the personal (including sexual) antagonism and rivalry and now us putting females and homosexuals into our military and naval units and crews ... and the possibly fatal dysfunctioning consequences.
For example, there was the childless female US Air Force pilot who tried to murder the wife of a fellow male pilot to get him for herself, and then the sensational (but challenged) claim about the cause of/motive for the turret explosion/accident on the USS Iowa 30 years or so ago.
Others have noted the Spits in this film were not the Battle of Britain Mark Is. Depending on costs, the film might have at least had mock-ups on the ground - once a prop is spinning you can't tell how many blades it has, of course.
But the major grievance with the film is its depiction of such a dysfunctional/ineffective organization wasting lives and planes. The initial Green Hornet Squadron commander is baby-faced Barton who on the first day of war leads some of his pilots to attack bombers later to find out they were British Blenheims, and he has caused a friendly fire tragedy.
Then wealthy Retts/Rex? Takes over with his irritating dog but personally bankrolled excellent cuisine. He resents later arrival Hurt, an American who turns out to have been a Republican fighter pilot in Spain and to have already shot down a Bf109 (Messerschmidt) ... and to be rich as well. (There is later resentment at Hurt often referencing his combat experience, which would have been against Italians as well as Germans, which I the viewer would like to have heard!) In the air, Rex is a by-the-book martinet, concentrating on keeping a tight formation, apparently instead of a sharp eye out for German fighters which regularly catch them - especially the designated/doomed Tail-end-Charlie of the formation.
It is interesting that in the other reviews, the colorful and indeed evilly mischievous "Moggy" character well played by Neil Dudgeon gets praise. His constant, cynical needling and bullying is socially and professionally disruptive and demoralizing. He gets a younger pilot wanting to be his friend killed with a flying dare and gets away even with that.
Intriguing is the non-flying squadron intelligence officer, Skull, who tries to keep count of the unit's effectiveness while appearing to be a highly educated Cambridge commie. He is redeemed, privately counseling a pilot to help him get over his sexual disfunctioning with the beautiful Mary, a war-widow teacher living near their base in France. And while the pilot is on leave to visit his parents and she is lonely, Moggy cynically seduces her.
During this, supposedly anti-British local residents hurl a rock through her window, but at the time Stalin was urging French Communists to sabotage French war industry to help his ally at the time Hitler, so the rock thrower could have been a commie but the film only attributes it to anglophbia.
The pilot returns from leave, consummates his relationship with Mary whom he marries in a double ceremony with another pilot and his own French teacher who soon gets pregnant.
With France starting to fall in May 1940, the 2 young wives head for the Channel to go over to Britain, but the pregnant French girl is killed by a German strafing attack, psychologically maiming her grief-stricken husband pilot "Flash" Gordon to become psychotic.
Squadron leader Rex is heavily wounded by shrapnel but insists on flying even though tormented by pain and quickly killed. Baby faced Barton meanwhile returns to the squadron and kills the dog wrecking everyone's vitally needed sleep by mournfully howling for its dead master. (Did Britain's animal league protest this in the film?) The American Hurt tries to compile and (to new arrivals) teach combat experience, but both Moggy and now Flash ridicule and mock his efforts, drawing the new pilots away from the very lessons they need to survive. When Hurt argues with Flash about this, Barton takes Flash's side who then takes some young pilots off on a Battle of Britain mission getting both him and them killed.
So Barton shows himself again to have poor judgment and be as bottom-line incompetent as Rex was.
The final air battle in the film is what it claims to be the decisive one of The Battle of Britain, and ... EVERYBODY DIES ... including American Hurt and even evil Moggy - only Barton and one of Moggy's past friends surviving.
Another reviewer quotes the outrage of an actual former Battle of Britain fighter pilot about the film defaming the pilots and the RAF and claims the above dysfunctioning never would have been permitted by command, but - bottom-line - just how efficient/effective *were* the British fighter squadrons, until they gave up (or had had killed off) stupidity like flying in tight 3-plane-element Vic formations?
And look how effective the Polish pilots were by comparison, when finally allowed to fight.
The flying scenes were good, but the combat scenes were taken from the excellent, original film, Battle of Britain, leaving it to be something of a dysfunctional melodrama ... leading me to wonder if the book author and/or screenwriters were themselves Cambridge commies!
But today, look at all the personal (including sexual) antagonism and rivalry and now us putting females and homosexuals into our military and naval units and crews ... and the possibly fatal dysfunctioning consequences.
For example, there was the childless female US Air Force pilot who tried to murder the wife of a fellow male pilot to get him for herself, and then the sensational (but challenged) claim about the cause of/motive for the turret explosion/accident on the USS Iowa 30 years or so ago.