Dunkirk **** (1958, John Mills, Richard Attenborough, Bernard Lee) – Classic Movie Review 5691

The story of the evacuation from Dunkirk, the gallant rescue operation of the retreating British army on the French beaches in 1940, is authentically told by writers W P Lipscomb and David Divine, and director Leslie Norman (father of the late film critic Barry Norman) in realist style, with the help of contemporary newsreels and gritty black and white shooting by Paul Beeson.

The whole canvas of this great escape is represented by focusing on a tiny detail, honing in on a relatively small number of characters and recounting their fates.

There are no false heroics in the writing or the acting, and nor are there any surprises from the cast. The ideally cast John Mills and Richard Attenborough are excellent as Corporal Tubby Binns and John Holden. Bernard Lee has a notable role as Charles Foreman. Crazy gang comics Bud Flanagan and Chesney Allen have guest spots as themselves.

It is a long, ambitious, engrossing, intelligent and informative film, and not nearly as celebrated as it should be. Surprisingly, indeed, it is more or less forgotten.

It runs 135 minutes with the US cut version running 113 minutes.

Also in the cast are Maxine Audley, Patricia Plunkett, Anthony Nicholls, Cyril Raymond, Robert Urquhart, Ray Jackson, Meredith Edwards, Ray Jackson, Ronald Hines, Sean Barrett, Roland Curram, Michael Gwynn, Kenneth Cope, Joss Ambler, Frederick Piper, William Squire, Lionel Jeffries, Harry Landis, Victor Maddern, Rodney Diak, Michael Shillo and Eddie Byrne.

Dunkirk is directed by Leslie Norman, runs 135 minutes, is made by Ealing Studios, is written by W P Lipscomb and David Divine, is shot in black and white by Paul Beeson, is produced by Michael Balcon and Michael Forlong, scored by Malcolm Arnold, and designed by Jim Morahan.

The screenplay is based on two books Dunkirk by Lieutenant Colonel Ewan Butler and the novel The Big Pick-Up by Elleston Trevor [Trevor Dudley Smith].

Attenborough recalled: ‘Next was Dunkirk, sadly one of the last Ealing films, superbly directed by Leslie Norman. Immediately afterwards I appeared for a token fee in The Man Upstairs, a thought-provoking low-budget drama made by ACT, the film technician’s union. Then for the remainder of 1957, nothing.’

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8823

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A new Studio Canal restoration of Dunkirk is being released on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Download on 25 September 2017. The film premieres on the beaches of Camber Sands, near Rye, East Sussex, England, where it was shot, on 20 and 21 September 2017. This special event is presented in association with the Luna Cinema and the BFI.

Here’s the link to the booking page:

http://www.scnl.co/DunkirkPremiere

The beach was also used in The Longest Day, Carry On Follow That Camel, The Monuments Men, The Invisible Woman and The Theory of Everything.

A new version of the Dunkirk story by Christopher Nolan, also called Dunkirk, is in cinemas in 2017, with its London premiere on 13 July 2017.