malcolmgsw The night before I went to see the 2017 film of the events I watched this film again.It was everything that the new film is not.A faithful retelling of events told in an involving but not over emotional way.The scale of production may not have been as large as the new film,but you learned a lot more.Peopled with many fine actors including Mills,Attenborough and Lee.It captures the mood of the times which the new film does not.

tomgillespie2002 Surprisingly, precious few films exist depicting the events of Operation Dynamo during World War II. The emergency evacuation of thousands of British, French and Belgian soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk while the Nazis closed in around them was described as a "colossal military blunder" by Winston Churchill and could have ended the war there and then. However, the assistance of hundreds of civilians who sailed from the south of England in a small armada of speedboats, yachts and fishing boats to rescue their battered allies provided a united front in what was then dubbed the 'Phoney War' and an astonishing tale of bravery to boot.Leslie Norman's Dunkirk does not shy away from the buffoonery of high command which led to Allied troops being pushed further and further back until they were surrounded from every angle, but also explores themes of heroism in the face of invasion. Telling two parallel stories, we witness the events leading up to Dunkirk from the front-line, where inexperienced corporal 'Tubby' Binns (John Mills) finds himself in suddenly in charge after the death of his superior and separated from the bulk of his company in hostile territory. From the Home Front, cynical journalist Charles Foreman (Bernard Lee) is attempting to snap his fellow countrymen out of their laid-back state to pay attention to a war that is creeping on their doorstep. Charles is met by people who agree with his concerns, but also those who are blissfully unaware of his country's dyer situation. In particular, local businessman Holden (Richard Attenborough) is making himself a tidy profit from the Phoney War and laps up the propaganda played over the radio. Attenborough's coward is the film's most intriguing plot-line and certainly the most complex character on show. Although he has relatively little screen-time compared to Mills and Lee, its Holden's reaction to the horror on the beach which subsequently changes his entire outlook that lingers in the mind once the film is over.Mills' lovable Tubby looks like the more conventional hero, wise- cracking and back-slapping his men, but as the situation worsens his ability to command is questioned as leaves one of his men to die and fails to inspire his troops to move when told. Mills gets the bulk of the screen-time, and while his journey to the beaches provide some technically impressive set-pieces, there's an unevenness to the juxtaposition of the intertwining tales when they really deserve equal billing. Tubby's escapades means that it takes a long time to get the evacuation, but when it does, the sights of hundreds of soldiers wading out into the ocean in the hope of rescue and the horror exploding around them still holds up today. It's a moving and beautifully filmed final half hour that is worth the price of admission alone.

Theo Robertson The evacuation of Dunkirk is one of these moments in history that splits opinion in half - was it a defeat or a victory . There's no middle ground on the argument . Some state that the British Expiditionary Force ( BEF ) losing 68,000 men killed , wounded or captured during the battle of France and leaving all their heavy equipment behind can't be described as anything less than a defeat . The other argument is that 200,000 British troops were evacuated along with 140,000 French and Belgian troops is the epitome of snatching a victory from the jaws of defeat . Regardless of your views ( I'm on the victory of sorts side )it was a pivotal moment in history and this film tells the story of that moment DUNKIRK tells the story too well . By this I mean from the very opening sequence we're shown a history lesson as newsreel tells of " The Phoney WAr " . Cut to a war office were a group of war reporters are given a briefing " X corps is guarding the Y Flank while Z corps is BLAH BLAH BLAH " One sturdy seen it all before correspondent isn't convinced as he tells his colleagues that " This is the biggest mas maneuver of the war so far this isn't a manvoure because ... "All this sounds painfully unaturalistic as we see the same corespondent visit the French embassy to be told by the French ambassador that the Germans have broken through the Maginot Line as in " The Magniot line was reinforced by two and a half million men . How many men have the British sent ? two hundred thousand , three hundred thousand ? BLAH BLAH BLAH " It's absolutely impossible for someone in authority to open their mouth without factual statistics and in depth analysis being given out so it's nice when the action cuts to The Battle Of France Actually Coporal Tubby Binns platoon also suffers from the dialogue disease that the home-front suffers from " We move up to the front in order to protect the French flank at ... " and we're later shown a scene on the beaches were a RAF man points out that the RAF can't provide cover because of a number of factors . No one no matter who they are or where they are feel the need to spout exposition regardless of the fact that there's no need for them to do so and is very problematic for the film I notice the screenplay is credited to two screenwriters . I have no knowledge of the film's production but my instinct is at least one of them is an academic historian who was told to emphasise the details of the operation while the other is a trying to bring a human element to the dry history lesson . If this is the case the dramatist has failed because while it's not a dry dull history lesson it is certainly a bit too dry This is a great shame because some scenes do work quite well and is rather graphic for a 1950s British war film such as Tubby trying to convince himself that his commanding officer was dead before a lorry exploded or the aftermath of a refugee column being shot up by the Luftwaffe where a young child runs to its dead mother . It's an outstanding film when it concentrates on these scenes but is frequently let down by the painfully expositional dialogue

screenman 'Dunkirk' was the event that really cemented WW2 in British minds. Up to that point it had been more a newsworthy disturbance in a foreign land, following on the much maligned 'phony' war.For the first time, those at home - at least in the home counties - could see for themselves the face of defeat in legions of haggard and bandaged returnees.This movie takes us through events in a familiar well-paced documentary-like way that makes old British war movies so watchable. There are few excessive heroics, just a gradual realisation that greater effort is needed and a reconciliation to it. Individuals are about to have their pleasure craft commandeered. Even in the 1940's, to own your own boat for pleasure was a very middle-class activity, and so we see this 'Dad's Navy' confused and reluctant at first, but eventually volunteering themselves along with their boats. They still have little idea what awaits them.In France, things are falling apart fast. The collapsing British forces are shown in microcosm by a company of squaddies led by working-class 'corporal' John Mills, complete with phony cockney accent. Constantly harassed by the encroaching German army, they manage to stay one step ahead and reach Dunkirk.Only soldiers can be evacuated. The supplies and substance of an army must be abandoned, destroying as much as possible rather than allowing it to fall into enemy hands.Small-ship civilians get trapped ashore and share in the bombardment with soldiers. Some are killed. There's a lot of men and a lot of equipment shown at times. It's clear that the army were involved in the movie's making. Cabin cruisers explode, loaded ships are bombed. Although today, the bombs falling on the dunes bear more similarity to thunder flashes, for its time, the overall effect is creditable. There are believable performances all round from a cast of reliable, regular stalwarts. And, necessary for every movie; we are made to care about them.The retreat from Dunkirk was the first of several Great British reversals that were needed before the nation took its plight seriously enough to galvanise itself into a professional war-effort. This movie doesn't moralise or sentimentalise much. Dunkirk was chaos that was saved from disaster by just a little bit of order and a great deal of courage. Not to mention luck.Well worth a watch even today. It may be a drama but it tells you as much as a reference book.