In much the same way as Group Captain Douglas Bader,Wing Commander Guy Gibson has been de-mythologised in recent years.Middle class war heroes are no longer required in Cool Brittania.Once the last second world war veteran has gone to his grave it will no longer be "helpful" or "relevant" to recount their deeds or recall their sacrifice. In our glorious Mockney-speaking leader's classless society we look only forwards.To see him at the Festival of Remembrance the other evening looking piously on as millions of poppies drifted down from the ceiling of the Albert Hall was an unedifying spectacle. Fortunately fifty years ago we were made of sterner stuff and a movie like "The Dambusters",lauding the imagination and determination of our scientists and the courage and skill of our aircrews could be made to great acclaim.There was no moral maze,this was total war.Innocent people died."Non - Combatants" they were called.There's never been a weapon of war that could differentiate. "The Dambusters" contains my favourite Michael Redgrave performance. He presents Barnes-Wallis as a rather large enthusiastic schoolboy,a less self - conscious Magnus Pyke.With his raincoat and bicycle clips he is very much the donnish figure,but he has a steely streak and pushes his ideas up through the ranks of the War Office right to the desk of "Butch" Harris,head of Bomber Command. Based in the bleak Lincolnshire fens,Wing Commander Gibson is tasked with assessing the feasibility of using Barnes-Waliis's revolutionary "bouncing bomb" as a water-borne weapon to breach the Mohne and Eder dams. Richard Todd,has,rather unfairly,been saddled with the stereotypical middle-ranking officer image which to a certain extent blighted his later career.Certainly he is very effective as Gibson,a man determined at all costs to successfully complete his mission and assuming in his men the same kind of stubborn courage he himself exhibited. It has since been alleged that he was arrogant,cold and as careless of the personal safety of his crews as he was of his own.Tragically those are amongst the qualities needed to wage and win total war.Being nice isn't notably prominent amongst them I'm afraid. 76 men died on the "Dambusters" raid and very little damage was done to the German War Effort.But as a propaganda exercise at a transitional stage in the war it a priceless victory. Nowadays wars are fought on - I nearly said "for" - the nightly TV news.Every casualty is announced by grim - faced presenters with weeping widows and orphans in the next shot.If that had been happening during the second world war we would have been suing for peace after Dunkirk. Bomber Command made a huge contribution the the defeat of Nazism at the cost of 55,000 aircrew.Men like Guy Gibson and Barnes-Wallis represented the curiously British talent for putting the most unlikely people together at just the right time to achieve the desired result. Each respected and recognised the other's eminence in his particular field.This apparent gift for the serendipitous combination was of great help in other theatres of operation as the war progressed. Lessons learned on this raid were built upon until the RAF had air supremacy.In the context of the Air War in general,this was just another raid.In the post-war folk legends it is up there with the Battle of Britain. We were given the afternoon off from school to go and see "The Dambusters" eleven years after the war had ended.That was how "big" the movie was.Sadly very few people now see it as it was meant to be seen,at the cinema.They miss the magnificent sound recording of the unmistakable Rolls Royce Merlins,the evocative shots of the Lancasters flying low cross the fields are wasted on the small screen and,most of all,the wonderful music flooding the cinema at the end.You can imagine the effect it had on me as a fifteen year old.As I came out into the afternoon sunlight onto Brighton seafront I checked my mirrors for ME 109s and raced for home with nothing on the clock but the makers' name.
Review of The Dam Busters
