Ealing Studios
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Not part of a collection.
Dunkirk
A British Corporal in France finds himself responsible for the lives of his men when their officer is killed. He has to get them back to Britain somehow. Meanwhile, British civilians are being dragged into the war with Operation Dynamo, the scheme to get the French and British forces back from the Dunkirk beaches. Some come forward to help, others were less willing.
- Original title
- Dunkirk
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US,GB
- Budget
- —
- Revenue
- —
Peter McGinn
Dec 9, 2021 · via TMDB
This is an excellent war movie, especially considering it is from 1958. It has aged well. Today’s war movies are more visually impressive, of course, with the special effects that make it seem like you are witnessing the real thing. This version can’t match all that, but except for setting it up politically with newsreel clips and people discussing the “phony” war, this film shows the personal journey of Dunkirk. The home front, soldiers caught behind the rapidly shifting line of battle, and later on the masses of soldiers on the beaches waiting for the civilian “navy” who lent their boats and themselves to the impossible task of getting the trapped army back home to England. The voiceover narration seemed unnecessary at times. I felt they should just get out of the way and show this human side of the battle of Dunkirk, which could have been a massacre but was instead a stunning rescue operation. We almost expect our war movies to be three-hour spectacles these days, and they are visually impressive, but I still appreciate movies like this one, which balance realistic small-scale warfare scenes with scenes depicting the human interest stories of war.
John Chard
Jun 10, 2019 · via TMDB
It may be a phoney war to you, but it's not to all the blokes at sea. Never has been. Dunkirk is directed by Leslie Norman and adapted to screenplay by David Divine and W.P. Lipscomb. It stars John Mills, Richard Attenborough, Bernard Lee, Robert Urquhart, Ray Jackson and Robert Hines. Music is by Malcolm Arnold and cinematography by Paul Beeson. "Dunkirk was a great defeat, and a great miracle. It proved, if it proved anything, that we were alone but undivided. No longer were there fighting men and civilians. There were only people. A nation had been made whole" I think it's safe to say that to fully "get" this version of Dunkirk it helps to have some knowledge of the actual events. This is no standard war film, more so given it's about a defeat and the subsequent extraction of the armed forces from the beaches of that part of France. Narrative is two fold, one strand follows soldiers as they strive to make it through perilous lands to get to the beaches, the other comes from the civilian angle and those back in Britain, where there's an ignorance about how seismic this war is going to be. While the film is hardly a rousing battle laden spectacle - it's more an appreciation of a critical moment in history - it's very authentic in its teaching, the various human interest stories and their respective emotions are absorbing and always attention holding. Absolutely a must see piece of cinema for anyone who needs to understand just why the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk was so important. Superbly played by the cast, directed with safe hands and produced with class by the brilliant Michael Balcon, Dunkirk 58 a smart bit of classic war cinema. 8/10
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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John Mills
Cpl Tubby Binns
Richard Attenborough
John Holden
Bernard Lee
Charles Foreman
Robert Urquhart
Mike
Ray Jackson
Barlow
Ronald Hines
Private Miles
Sean Barrett
Frankie
Roland Curram
Harper
Meredith Edwards
Dave Bellman
Michael Bates
Froome
Michael Shillo
Jouvet
Eddie Byrne
Commander (Tough's Yard)
Maxine Audley
Diana
Lionel Jeffries
Colonel (Medical Officer)
Victor Maddern
Merchant Seaman
Anthony Nicholls
Military Spokesman
Kenneth Cope
Lieutenant Lumpkin
Denys Graham
Fraser
Barry Foster
Don R
Peter Halliday
Battery Major
John Welsh
Staff Colonel
Lloyd Lamble
Staff Colonel
Cyril Raymond
General The Viscount Gort V.C.
Nicholas Hannen
Vice Admiral Ramsay
Patricia Plunkett
Grace
Michael Gwynn
Commander (Sheerness)
Fred Griffiths
Old Sweat
Christopher Rhodes
Sergeant on the beaches
Harry Landis
Dr. Levy
John Horsley
Padre
Patrick Allen
Sergeant on Parade Ground
Liz Fraser
Worker in Holden's Factory (uncredited)
Michael Brennan
Paddle Steamer Captain (uncredited)
Bernard Cribbins
Thirsty Sailor (uncredited)
John G. Heller
German Soldier (uncredited)
John Phillips
Boat Owner Spokesman (uncredited)
William Squire
Captain (uncredited)
Tim Turner
Officer (line of men in sea) (uncredited)
Michael Balcon
Producer
Malcolm Arnold
Original Music Composer
Trevor Dudley-Smith
Novel
W.P. Lipscomb
Screenplay
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Mar 25, 1958
