Stiff upper lips seldom came quite so stiff as they did in "The Dam Busters", Michael Anderson's really rather splendid tribute to British wartime heroism and British wartime ingenuity. It's the story of how Barnes Wallis, (Michael Redgrave, excellent), designed a bouncing bomb for the precise job of blowing up German dams and of how Guy Gibson, (Richard Todd, also very good), and his squadron carried out Wallis' plans to the letter.
Anderson directs with a documentary-like fidelity, R. C. Sherriff provides a surprisingly engaging and intelligent screenplay and a whole host of British actors do their best in ensuring those upper lips remain stiff throughout. The superb cinematography, both on the ground and in the air, was handled by the great Erwin Hillier and, all in all, this is one of the best of British war films.
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