The Dam Busters Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

The Dam Busters 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.

The Dam Busters is one of those fascinating pieces of history from World War II that is (or at least was) evidently quite well known in the United Kingdom, but which is arguably a least a bit less well known in the United States. Paul Brickhill, who famously wrote the source novel upon which The Great Escape was based, had a similar success the year after the book version of The Great Escape was released with another book which is (again) probably less known on this side of the pond, The Dam Busters. That book recounted the trials and tribulations of the Royal Air Force’s Squadron 617, which was tasked with attacking several dams in Germany with a “new, improved” so-called “bouncing bomb” that kind of skimmed along the water like a “skipping stone” before delivering its charge just beneath the waterline at the dam itself. The film version of The Dam Busters also relied on the memoirs of the 617’s Commanding Officer, Wing Commander Guy Gibson, whose book Enemy Coast Ahead had come out some five years before Brickhill’s and which gave a first person account of the efforts of the Squadron 617.

As is shown quite authoritatively in a documentary about him included on this disc as a supplement, Barnes Wallis (Michael Redgrave) established a formidable enough reputation during World War II that post-war kids interviewed on British streets could easily identify him and talk about one of his most famous inventions, the so-called “bouncing bomb” he came up with in an attempt to take out major dams in Germany, thereby hobbling Germany’s industrial might. The first part of The Dam Busters introduces Wallis and his efforts, detailing both technical issues with Wallis’ initial designs but also the fact that virtually no one in any official capacity in the British government thinks his plan has any real merit.

Ultimately, though, and in perhaps a bit of a “what do we have to lose?” reaction, a squadron is formed to start testing Wallis’ design in more “real” conditions, with the ultimate (at first top secret, even to the squadron) goal of taking out a series of German dams. The squadron commander is Guy Gibson (Richard Todd), obviously like Wallis a real life character who is here presented as pretty much everything that is noble about the British fighting man. That actually lends some emotional heft to the film’s climax, where not all of Gibson’s men make it through the mission alive.

The film’s climax also of course details the mission and the destruction of a couple of dams, and if the special effects probably look a little “quaint” to modern day eyes (see screenshot 19 for one slightly awkward composite), they made an indelible impression in their day (the film’s sole American Academy Award nomination was for Special Effects). It’s long been reported that George Lucas was inspired by the sequence for a similar scene in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi involving something called the Death Star or something like that.

Note: This film comes with a warning about language, and some viewers may in fact be offended by the (evidently culled from the historical record) name of Gibson’s dog, which becomes a code word in the operation. The dog is perhaps unfortunately named “the n-word”. This led to some controversial censorship in both British television broadcasts as well as the redubbed American version, where the dog’s name was changed to “Trigger”.

The Dam Busters 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.

The Dam Busters is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Film Movement Classics, an imprint of Film Movement, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. As with all of the films in this set, the insert booklet only offers a generic "new digital restoration" for this presentation, but for those who pay attention to datapoints between versions, this release's slightly wider aspect ratio suggests it was sourced differently than the UK release Svet reviewed, which was in 1.33:1. I found this to be a nicely organic looking and generally well detailed presentation that offered rather good fine detail levels on elements like clothing or upholstery. Contrast is consistent and both black levels and gray scale look nice in the interior studio scenes in particular. Things can occasionally look just a tad rougher in some of the exterior location work, as in one of the first field tests. Grain looks natural for the most part, but again in some of the outdoor material can look slightly rough against skies. The restoration has delivered a mostly damage free presentation, but there are occasional nicks and scratches, as well as a momentary intrusion of something in the upper right part of the frame during a scene with Wallis and Gibson at circa 45:01. Some of the special effects are less than convincing, despite their Academy Award nomination. One of the interesting things about both this release and the UK release is that they are both more or less in Academy ratio, whereas aspect ratio Bob Furmanek has provided information that the film was exhibited in 1.75:1. There does appear to be more than sufficient headroom in at least some shots, but I didn't notice anything weirdly ungainly looking in this version.

The Dam Busters Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Dam Busters features an LPCM 2.0 mono track which provides capable support for the film's dialogue and effects, which are the bulk of the soundtrack. The testing sequences and of course the bombing raid itself take place outside, and there is good use of ambient environmental effects, especially in some seaside scenes. The film has some enjoyable music (including a dance hall scene), and what's there sounds fine and full bodied throughout.

The Dam Busters Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Making of The Dam Busters (1080p; 39:33) is a very well done piece that covers a lot of background information about both the original operation and the film. This does have a somewhat "arty" style at times with elements like still photos with superimposed colored pencil arrows pointing to whomever is being discussed. That said, there are some very interesting interviews included.


• Sir Barnes Wallis Documentary (1080p; 28:47) has some great archival video of the real life Wallis, along with a series of man (or maybe student) on the street interviews which prove Wallis' name was rather well known in the United Kingdom, at least at one point.


• 617 Squadron Remembers (1080p; 56:29) is another absolutely first rate piece with interviews with some of the squadron members. They don't really address this (and I haven't been able to find any substantiating information), but several of them sound like they have American rather than British accents, which I found kind of interesting.


• Footage of the Bomb Tests (1080p; 6:38) is from Britain's National Film and Television Archive and is actual footage of some of the tests done during the planning stages, some of which look like they failed pretty spectacularly. This is sourced from at times pretty badly damaged elements.


• The Dam Busters Royal Premiere (1080p; 3:19) is a vintage newsreel with red carpet footage.


• Restoration Comparison (1080p; 5:11) actually has some interviews and behind the scenes footage of the restoration being done, rather than just the typical "before" and "after" versions of scenes.


• The Dam Busters Trailer (1080p; 00:54) is a newly done promotional piece touting the film's 4K restoration.

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.

The Dam Busters Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Dam Busters features another story that is probably more familiar to Brits than to Americans, and that may in fact make it more interesting to armchair historians on this side of the pond with a particular interest in World War II. Technical merits are solid and the supplementary package very enjoyable, and The Dam Busters comes Recommended.