Film critic Barry Norman's last contribution in his long running Radio Time's column before his death was about the film Dunkirk directed by his father Leslie Norman. This was obviously written in anticipation of the release of Christopher Nolan's version of Dunkirk.
The 1958 version is an efficient but low scale re-enactment which still has elements of propaganda about it even though it was made 12 years after the war had ended.
There are two parallel stories in this film set in 1940. John Mills plays an out of his depth corporal whose soldiers are separated from their unit and they attempt to join them as the troops retreat from the beaches of Dunkirk.
Then you have a band of civilians helping out and sailing their small ships to rescue the soldiers stranded at Dunkirk.
Bernard Lee plays a journalist rather hacked off by indifferent civilians and Richard Attenborough a businessman who is complacent about the outbreak of war.
Eventually both strands of the story merge but it all feels a little stiff and starchy, Leslie Norman stills manages a few interesting shots.
The 1958 version is an efficient but low scale re-enactment which still has elements of propaganda about it even though it was made 12 years after the war had ended.
There are two parallel stories in this film set in 1940. John Mills plays an out of his depth corporal whose soldiers are separated from their unit and they attempt to join them as the troops retreat from the beaches of Dunkirk.
Then you have a band of civilians helping out and sailing their small ships to rescue the soldiers stranded at Dunkirk.
Bernard Lee plays a journalist rather hacked off by indifferent civilians and Richard Attenborough a businessman who is complacent about the outbreak of war.
Eventually both strands of the story merge but it all feels a little stiff and starchy, Leslie Norman stills manages a few interesting shots.