THE DAM BUSTERS ON BLU-RAY

Coming to a Blu-ray player near you, if you even have one, is the 1954 British WW2 classic, The Dam Busters. In 1943 a special RAF squadron (617) was set up to deliver a secret bomb-type with the intent of shortening the war.

As illustrated on Gary Tooze's outstanding website http://www.dvdbeaver.com/ the superb docu-drama looks sparkling. The reviewer -- Leonard Norwitz -- does seem to be confused as to where this transfer came from: He may not be aware that this home-video release was struck off the original camera negatives by way of the restoration done two years ago by the British Film Institute and which was released to British cinemas on a limited basis. For years and years all television prints, DVD, and VHS releases were struck off the same set of soft and degraded intermediates.

All technical matters, of course, what really matters is the movie itself: A true story done with dramatic aplomb while maintaining historical accuracy (for the most part). By the way, the Barnes Wallis "bouncing bomb" was still on the secret list when The Dam Busters was produced in 1953, and was until becoming declassified in 1962. The viewer therefor just sees a barrel-like protrusion from the bellies of the Lancaster bombers and is not even aware that a chain gear put a spin on the bomb before it was released... unless he or she already knew that interesting detail. (Paul Brickhill's excellent book "The Dam Busters" goes into the workings of the machinery and 617 Squadron itself -- the second half of the book covers the subsequent 'special operations' done by the special force after the dams raids.)


The article in question...
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews25/dam_busters.htm

(Still frame above: Robert Shaw and Richard Todd.)