The Dam Busters (1954)

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General		Extras
Category	War	Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1954
Running Time	119:48
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Michael Anderson
Studio Distributor	Ass British Pic Corp Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Michael Redgrave Ursula Jeans Richard Todd Stanley Van Beers Patrick Barr Basil Sydney Ernest Clark Derek Farr
Case	?
RPI	Box	Music	leighton lucas

    The Dam Busters is based on a true story, as recounted in Paul Brickhill's book of the same name and as per W.C. Gibson's account in Enemy Coast Ahead. It is without doubt one of the best of the British World War II movies. It's a simple but nonetheless engrossing story, involving very real characters in a struggle against time and the scepticism of colleagues to develop a bomb big enough to knock out a dam. The story has two key elements: firstly that of developing the "dam buster" bomb, and then the actual delivery of the weapon.

    Dr. Barnes Wallis (Michael Redgrave) is an engineer working for the Vickers company. His usual job is designing aircraft but currently he is dedicated to blowing up three major dams in Germany's Ruhr Valley. Since these dams supply water to a number of Germany's steelmaking plants, success in the venture would deal a significant blow to steel production and hence the German war effort. By today's standards, achieving this aim would be merely a matter of dropping a large enough bomb with pinpoint precision on the dam wall. But this is 1942 and laser guided bombs don't exist yet. Nor do explosives powerful enough to do the job unless they are placed in exactly the right spot. So it's up to Wallis to solve the fundamental problem: how to deliver a large enough bomb, within the lifting capacity of aircraft of the time, and with the required precision to the target. Barnes succeeds in solving the problem  by developing a bomb which can be dropped from an aircraft at low altitude and then will skip its way across the surface of the water until it sinks to a depth of 30 feet next to the dam wall before exploding.

    This, however, is only half of the problem solved. The bomb has to be dropped from a height of precisely 60 feet at exactly the right distance from the dam wall and with the aircraft travelling at the correct velocity. Aside from the fact that aircraft instruments of the day weren't accurate enough to allow flying at such a height and there was no mechanism to tell the bombardier the right time to drop the bomb with the required precision, all this had to be done at night under enemy fire. Wing Commander Guy Gibson (Richard Todd), a veteran of many bombing missions is enlisted to form a special squadron and to train them to drop the bombs so that they could be correctly delivered to the target. Gibson and his crew succeed in developing some simple, but not necessarily obvious, solutions which do allow his squadron to succeed.

    The Dam Busters was nominated for the 1956 Academy Award for Best Special Effects.

Video

    Taking into consideration the age of the unrestored source material, this transfer is quite adequate.

    This transfer has been mastered in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and is not 16x9 enhanced. None of our usual sources listed the original aspect ratio of this movie but it is most likely 1.37:1.

    Sharpness is very variable with some shots crisp with detail and others having a smeared appearance. Despite this, for the most part the shadow detail is very good.

    This black and white production exhibits a pleasing grey scale.

    Compression artefacts and film-to-video artefacts were non-existent, the later undoubtedly due to the often soft nature of the image. Film artefacts, though, are another story. There's a more-or-less continuous smattering of small marks and scratches throughout, which for the most part are likely to be only a minor distraction, particularly if you are engrossed in the story. There are also some larger marks such as that at 113:02, and few long vertical scratches such as the one beginning at 42:10. Film grain is evident throughout and is particularly noticeable in the aerial shots.

     No subtitles are provided.

     There is no layer change on this single layered DVD-5 disc.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The mono audio exhibits a not unexpected dated quality but is otherwise quite reasonable.

    Only a single English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono audio track has been provided.

    The dialogue was clear and easy to understand at all times. There were no problems evident with the audio sync.

    Other than the main theme, the Dam Busters March by Eric Coates, not a lot of additional music was used. When music is present it is mostly at a very low level, basically unobtrusive, and therefore not really adding any impact to the story.

    The surround channels and subwoofer are all silent.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    Unfortunately, the extras are limited to just a theatrical trailer.

Menu

    The menu, displayed in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and without 16x9 enhancement, consists of a black and white image with colour text for the menu options. Neither animation nor audio is provided.

Trailer

    A standard trailer is provided which runs for 2:44. It features the same basic video and audio parameters as the movie with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 mono sound.

    As far as I can determine, The Dam Busters has been released in R2, as in R4, as part of The British War Collection. The content and features of the R2 disc are identical to those of the R4. This title has not been released in R1.

    I found The Dam Busters to be an engrossing film. Its appeal lies in watching real characters solve difficult problems under great pressure and then succeeding in their goal.

    The video quality shows its age but is acceptable.

    The audio quality exhibits a dated quality but is otherwise quite adequate.

    The extras are limited to a trailer.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall