Dunkirk Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Dunkirk Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 5, 2020

Note: This version of this film is available as part of Their Finest Hour: 5 British WWII Classics.

Their Finest Hour aggregates a quintet of really interesting British films about England’s experience in World War II, though kind of interestingly (and perhaps meaningfully), only one of the films in the set was actually produced during the war, with four others coming along from the mid- to the late fifties. Perhaps understandably, the film that came out in 1942, Went the Day Well?, is unabashedly fictional and perhaps tilted toward propaganda, while all four of the films that came out in the fifties ( The Colditz Story, The Dam Busters, Dunkirk and Ice Cold in Alex), offer stories ostensibly based at least part in fact. These are all fascinating films in their own ways, and several of them contain hugely enjoyable performances by a coterie of notables like John Mills, Michael Redgrave, and Richard Attenborough. At least a couple of them may well offer stories generally unknown "on this side of the pond", even to those who have a good general knowledge of the ins and outs of World War II.

1958’s Dunkirk frankly probably can’t compete with Christopher Nolan’s 2017 film of the same name, but it’s still a rather riveting viewing experience, especially since it tends to put a distinctly “British” spin on what was of course one of the defining moments for the Brits in World War II. The 1958 Dunkirk has little to arguably none of the special effects wizardry of Nolan’s effort, not to mention its sweeping use of widescreen and/or IMAX imagery, but this “version” of events, at least somewhat unlike Nolan’s, focuses on characters with names and stories, though several of the characters are (as they say) “fictionalized”. For those who were impressed by the sheer production force of Nolan’s film, this particular Dunkirk may seem “quaint”, but it might still make for an interesting comparative viewing experience with the more recent film.

Part of what may work against this particular Dunkirk is the fact that a lot of the first part of the film deals with a number of character introductions which seem at first glance to be fairly far removed from what ultimately happened on the shores of “Dunkerque”. Among those is a British journalist named Charles Foreman (Bernard Lee, of course utimately famous as “M” from the James Bond films, and for being the grandfather of Jonny Lee Miller of Trainspotting and Elementary). Foreman is trying to whip up British recognition of the impending threat on “the continent”, to largely little avail. Also introduced in the early part of the film is industrialist John Holden (Richard Attenborough), who knows Foreman and seems to be one of the Brits with an apparently sanguine reaction to various Nazi incursions.

That delays the actual “war” scenes somewhat, and when the film finally does matriculate to France, it’s not at the front, but instead with a stranded group of soldiers led by a corporal with the rather weird name of “Tubby” Binns (John Mills, not looking especially porcine, for what it’s worth). Binns is tasked with leading a handful of men northward toward supposed “escape”, though of course they encounter a number of obstacles on the way, leading to some characters not making it. By the time the stragglers do make it to Dunkirk, the evacuation is already underway, and so the film has a kind of feeling of joining the “main story” after at least some of it had already played out.

Still, the film often viscerally conveys the stress that the stranded soldiers feel, and some of the showdowns before the climax are actually quite dramatic. The depiction of the actual evacuation may strike some modern day eyes as hopelessly inadequate, with obvious studio tank work interspersed with some location footage. But the actual human drama here is quite involving, and may actually be more moving to some viewers than the depictions of largely “anonymous” characters who fill every nook and cranny of Nolan’s grander version of this epochal event in World War II.

Dunkirk Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: I'm beginning each of the individual reviews of the films in this set with some shared information to get some of the basics out of the way, and then I'll move on to comments about each individual film in the paragraph below. While Film Movement (on the back cover of this release) touts these as "newly restored" and "available on Blu-ray for the first time", I point interested readers to these reviews by my colleague Dr. Svet Atanasov of pre-existing releases of four of the films for the UK market: Went the Day Well? Blu-ray review, The Colditz Story Blu-ray review, The Dam Busters Blu-ray review and Ice Cold in Alex Blu-ray review. Svet's reviews are a good resource not just for Svet's thoughts on plots and technical presentations, but also to compare screenshots and supplemental features on each disc (which are sometimes but not always shared). I'll also mention that there is evidently a UK Blu-ray release of Dunkirk from Studio Canal that doesn't have an "official" review yet, but which does have a user review.

Dunkirk is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Film Movement Classics, an imprint of Film Movement, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.66:1. As with all of the films in this set, the insert booklet only offers a generic "new digital restoration" for this presentation, and as this is the sole film in this set whose UK Blu-ray release hasn't had an official review yet, I can't point you to one or to any alternate screenshots for comparison. There are occasional rough looking patches here with regard to some of the archival or stock footage utilized, as in the series of newsreels and cartoons that kicks off the film or occasional later interstitials obviously culled from actual war footage, but on the whole this is another very pleasing looking presentation. Fine detail is typically excellent on some fine patterns on both suit jackets and some of the women's dresses, and outdoor material offers good clarity across the frame. Grain looks natural throughout the presentation, and any major signs of age related wear and tear have been ameliorated or removed. While I didn't notice any real macroblocking per the user review on the UK release, grain definitely spikes during some of the darker scenes, which can give things a somewhat mottled looking appearance.

Dunkirk Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Dunkirk features a boisterous LPCM 2.0 mono track that does show some of the built in limitations of that era's recording technologies, especially with regard to Malcolm Arnold's score, but which provides nice support for occasional narration (as in the "newsreel" that begins the film or some closing voiceover which serves as a bit of a coda), dialogue and effects. I noticed no issues whatsoever with regard to dropouts or major damage.

Dunkirk Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Dunkirk Operation Dynamo Newsreel (1080p; 3:56) has some amazing footage of the actual evacuation. Watch as the guys who have been swimming out to get on boats, when one of them struggles to climb on board, it turns out he had lost his pants!


• Young Veteran (1080p; 22:24) is a short from the venerable Ealing Studios.


• Interview with Sean Barrett (1080p; 22:17) is a fun trip down memory lane with Barrett, who was still a teenager when he was in Dunkirk. He discusses the film quite a bit, but also his career in general.


• John Mills Home Movie Footage (480i; 10:01) is culled from the National Film and Television Archives in England, and comes with some introductory text cards explaining how Mills like to take his home movie camera and shoot candid footage while he was filming. This is silent, but is in color. The source element is somewhat damaged at times.

Additionally, the insert booklet that comes with Their Finest Hour: 5 British WWII Classics includes an essay about all five films in the set. As with many Film Movement releases, there's the About Film Movement option on the Main Menu which provides some text and a trailer.

Dunkirk Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Dunkirk just undeniably doesn't have the sweep and visual majesty of Christopher Nolan's account of events, but it's an involving film that provides a real connection to its ensemble cast of characters, something that Nolan's film arguably doesn't offer (perhaps by design). Technical merits are solid, the supplementary package very enjoyable, and Dunkirk comes Recommended.