Category Archives: Dam Busters 1955 film
Unseen stills from ‘The Dam Busters’ film
Over on the Classic British Flight Sims forum (yes, there is such a thing!) member Trevor Clark has posted a wonderful find: Whilst installing an internet connection at a friend’s house this morning, she asked if I was interested in … Continue reading
Filed under Dam Busters 1955 film, Erwin Hillier, George Baker
Richard Todd, 1919-2009
In the early 1950s, Richard Todd was halfway through a seven-year contract with Associated British Pictures when its director of productions, Robert Clark, bought the film rights to Paul Brickhill’s book The Dam Busters. Todd was already an established star, … Continue reading
Filed under Dam Busters 1955 film, Richard Todd
BFI page on The Dam Busters
The British Film Institute is a treasure trove of material for anyone interested in the history of cinema, and much of it is now online. Check out, for instance, its page on Michael Anderson’s classic film, and you will find … Continue reading
Filed under Dam Busters 1955 film, John Pulford, Richard Todd, Robert Shaw
Professor John Ramsden, RIP
I was shocked and saddened by the news of the death of Professor John Ramsden, from cancer at the comparatively young age of 62. (Another obituary here.) Just the evening before I had read a chapter of his excellent book … Continue reading
Filed under Dam Busters 1955 film, Obituaries
Big Brother and the Bouncing Bomb
I don’t know who watches Channel 4′s Big Brother these days – I certainly don’t, and nor do my two teenage children and their friends – but people who do might be intrigued to know that underneath the house is … Continue reading
Filed under Dam Busters 1955 film, Oddities
Bill Kerr, back in the hot seat
Australian actor Bill Kerr, a sprightly 86 years old, recently recalled his part playing Flt Lt ‘Mick’ Martin in The Dam Busters. Sitting in the restored Lancaster in the Aviation Heritage Museum in Bull Creek, near Perth, WA, he told … Continue reading
Filed under Dam Busters 1955 film
Scientifically speaking
Liz Kingsley is an Australian scientist and film critic who runs a lovely website And You Call Yourself a Scientist! This is mainly devoted to, in her words, “mad scientist’s views on other mad scientists. And mad doctors, monsters, murderers, psychopaths, … Continue reading
Filed under Dam Busters 1955 film, Oddities
Happy birthday!
The man who, unwittingly, set me off on the track of writing a book about the Dambusters was the actor George Baker, whose birthday is today. In an interview on the BBC Radio Today programme in December 2005 he told … Continue reading
Filed under Dam Busters 1955 film, George Baker, Uncategorized
Recession? ‘Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit.’
There’s no real way of knowing if you will be working on the Dambusters remake, but if you are a Matte Dept. Supervisor, a Matte Painter, a Senior Water TD, a Shader Writer, an FX TD, a Lighting TD or … Continue reading
Filming The Dam Busters in Skeggie – bracing enough?
Fascinating account of a day’s filming, sometime in early 1954, on location in bracing Skegness for the famous scene in The Dam Busters where Barnes Wallis watches his mine being dropped for the first time. The article, written by a … Continue reading
Filed under Dam Busters 1955 film, Richard Todd
