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Select media
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Stills must not be reproduced, copied or downloaded in any way.
Film details
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Featuring
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Country
United Kingdom
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Year
1955
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Genre
War
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Type
Film
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Category
Fiction
Introduction
“Orchestrates the prolonged anxieties of lonely research... The style is enlivened by the scenario’s bold, original architecture of disappointments, destruction and loss.”
Raymond Durgnat, A Mirror for England, 1970
Michael Anderson’s film of the famous Dam Busters bombing raid of May 1943 is a pared-down retelling, short on heroics and long on the cost in British and Commonwealth life. Yet the extraordinary nature of the plan hatched by scientist Barnes Wallis (Michael Redgrave) – to destroy three dams supplying German arms factories with power and water – shines through.
The mission involves a crack squadron of veteran crews, led by Guy Gibson (Richard Todd), flying massive Lancaster bombers low over water, at night and under fire. They are to drop specially designed bombs from a precise height and distance from the target – bombs that then bounce across the surface of the water until they strike the dam. That is, if Wallis’s calculations prove correct...
Eric Coates’s martial theme tune became a popular standard, while the raid sequence inspired the climax of Star Wars (1977).
Cast & Credits
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Cast
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Wing Commander Guy Gibson
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Dr Barnes N. Wallis
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Mrs Wallis
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Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris
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Captain Joseph "Mutt" Summers
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Air Vice Marshal the Hon. Ralph Cochrane
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Group Captain J.N.H. Whitworth
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doctor
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Sir David Pye
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Dr W.H. Glanville
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committee member
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committee member
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committee member
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National Physical Laboratory official
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Ministry of Aircraft production official
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observer at trials
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observer at trials
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RAF officer at trials
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farmer
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Group Signals officer
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BBC announcer
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Flight Lieutenant R.D. Trevor-Roper
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Flight Lieutenant R.E.G. Hutchison
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Flying Officer F.M. Spafford
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Flight Lieutenant A.T. Taerum
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Flight Sergeant J. Pulford
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Pilot Officer G.E. Deering
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Squadron Leader H.M. Young
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Squadron Leader H.E. Maudslay
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Flight Lieutenant J.V. Hopgood
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Flight Lieutenant W. Astell
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Flight Lieutenant H.B. Martin
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Flight Lieutenant D.J.H. Maltby
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Flight Lieutenant D.J. Shannon
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Flying Officer L.G. Knight
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Flight Lieutenant R.C. Hay
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Flight Lieutenant J.F. Leggo
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Flight Sergeant G.E. Powell
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Crosby
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Wallis' son
John Hall (uncredited)
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guard on door
Patrick McGoohan (uncredited)
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RAF officer
Edwin Richfield (uncredited)
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flight sergeant at briefing
Philip Latham (uncredited)
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RAf orderly
Lane Meddick (uncredited)
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Collins, civilian technician on exterior trails
Lloyd Lamble (uncredited)
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RAF officer who provokes fight in mess with Gibson's men
Gerald Harper (uncredited)
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RAf officer
Peter Arne (uncredited)
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RAF pay clerk in NAAFI seeking meal in NAAFI
Arthur Howard (uncredited)
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cast member
Alun Owen (uncredited)
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Credits
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Unknown:
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Directed by
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Associated British Picture Corporation presents
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Director in Charge of Production
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Production Manager
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Production Supervisor
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Production Secretary
Daphne Paice (uncredited)
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Assistant Director
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2nd Assistant Director
Jeremy Summers (uncredited)
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3rd Assistant Director
John Pitcher (uncredited)
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Assistant Director - Location
Frederic Goode (uncredited)
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Continuity
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Casting Director
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Casting Director
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Screenplay by
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Based on the book by
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[Based] On his own account in 'Enemy Coast Ahead'
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Director of Photography
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Special Effects Photography
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Aerial Photography
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Camera Operator
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2nd Unit Camera Operator
Val Stewart (uncredited)
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Focus Puller
Chick MacNaughton (uncredited)
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2nd Unit Focus Puller
Tony White (uncredited)
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Clapper Loader
Kelvin Pike (uncredited)
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Clapper Loader
D. Brown (uncredited)
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Clapper Loader
Brian West (uncredited)
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Stills Photography
Ronnie Pilgrim (uncredited)
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Publicity Photography
Bob Hawkins (uncredited)
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Special Effects
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Editor
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Assembly Cutter
Joan Warwick (uncredited)
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Assistant Editor
Philip Barnikel (uncredited)
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2nd Assistant Editor
Henrietta Gordon (uncredited)
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2nd Assistant Editor
Bill Prowse (uncredited)
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Art Director
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Assistant Art Director
Peter Glazier (uncredited)
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Draughtsman
Wallis Smith (uncredited)
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Draughtsman
George Richardson (uncredited)
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Make-up
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Hairdresser
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Music Score by
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March 'The Dambusters' by
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[Music Score] Performed by
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Musical Director
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Recording Director
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Sound Recordist
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Boom Operator
Eric Bayman (uncredited)
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Boom Assistant
Hugh Strain (uncredited)
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Sound Camera Operator
Whiting, J. (uncredited)
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Sound Maintenance
Conley, S. (uncredited)
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Dubbing Crew
Len Shilton (uncredited)
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Dubbing Crew
Brown, C. (uncredited)
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Dubbing Crew
H. Blackmore (uncredited)
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Dubbing Crew
M. Bradbury (uncredited)
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Sound System
RCA Sound System (uncredited)
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Dubbing Editor
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Assistant Dubbing Editor
Jean Newsome (uncredited)
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Technical Adviser
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Publicity
George Mason (uncredited)
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Publicity
Alan Thomson (uncredited)
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Unit Car Driver
Eddie Frewin (uncredited)
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Made at
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