Dam Busters 1955

 An oldie but a goody. A World War II RAF miracle operation, probably the best mission the RAF flew.  The mission was to destroy German dams in the Ruhr, creating devastating floods and depriving German war industries of needed water and electricity.  The film, by a British movie company, opens with British engineer Barnes Wallace devising the totally novel bombs needed to take out a dam.  Dams are very big, very strong, and ordinary bombs won't break them.  We see Wallace getting his bombs to work and the RAF setting up a special squadron of the new four engined Lancaster bombers to deliver the bombs.  The film was made back in 1955 when the Brits still had some real WWII Lancasters flying.  We see the real aircraft down at 60 feet above the water, roaring in on English test dams, and later on the German dams,  at 250 knots.  The flying scenes are very good and make the movie.   It is in black and white which was standard for war movies back then.  There were some amusing but realistic touches.  The car doors on the British sedans slam with a tinny rattle.  Not like the bank vault clunk you get slamming the door on a Detroit car.  The Barnes Wallace home has a plate rack running around the room high up.  My grandmother's house in Montreal had just such a plate rack.  Grandmother filled it with decorative liquor bottles instead of plates.  Enjoyable watch and the movie tells the story straight.