Excellent but underrated film

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Americans often say to us Brits "Well, we saved your asses in the war!" Well here's a movie that shows that whilst the US did later help us save Europe, we had saved our own arses 18 months before Pearl Harbor, thank you very much. Having said that, it's a shame that 52% that voted Brexit seem to have forgotten that we couldn't have done it without the crucial help of the Polish/Czech refugee airmen flying in RAF uniform.A well made, well researched, historically accurate (apart from the lack of Hawker Hurricanes - a purely logistical issue due to lack of surviving examples in 1969) war film in the vein of The Longest Day and A Bridge Too Far with possibly the best depiction of WWII aerial combat ever put on film. This film should have pride of place in all movie buff's collections.

One marks the virtual beginning of the Third Reich and one its virtual end. When Hitler was forced to abandon his plan to invade Britain he concentrated on Russia,thus sowing the seeds of his Country' downfall. And whatever revisionist historians may say,the main reason he did so was the inability of the Luftwaffe to gain air superiority,let alone the air supremacy required for a successful campaign. "The Battle of Britain" recounts the epic air war between Dowding's young pilots and Goering's. It's aerial photography is legendary,some of it shot over Essex where I was lving at the time. The Unit used a Liberator which would swoop low over the fields and we would wave to the pilot as he flew majestically past,followed by a gaggle of Spitfires in "Finger Four" formation. Tragically one of the cameramen was killed when he fell out of the aircraft. Both the Luftwaffe and the RAF are portrayed positively in an era when Germans were often thought of as psychopathic murderers. The actors are secondary to the machinery and tend to soft pedal except Mr R.Shaw who was incapable of keeping his charisma under wraps and the great Mr K.More who plays his usual humane officer role to perfection. There is nothing more than a "For Christ's sake" from Mr Shaw to offend those who are determined to take offence at something and nothing more tittilating than Miss York 's suspenders to tittilate those who are determined to be tittilated. This is as much an historic document as a wart film.

'The Battle of Britain' is, unsurprisingly, about the period during the Second World War before the Americans joined and Britain was generally under air siege from the Nazis. I'll say now that I thoroughly enjoyed the film and was surprised at some of the negativity towards it. From what I can gather, people believe that the film isn't 'historically accurate,' as it doesn't give enough mention to all the other (primarily Commonwealth) countries' pilots who also lost their lives in the fight.To be fair, they may have a point. Yes, the film *almost* makes it look like only British pilots fought (with the odd fleeting scene with a handful of Polish airmen). But, in order to do every nation justice, the film would have to last weeks in order to give every airman enough screen time.During the end credits, we're treated to a poignant text reminded of the 'official' statistics, showing just how many other nationalities helped Britain out (and it's probably more than you think!). However, if you really want to get the most out of this film, you'll just have to accept that it's the Brits who the story really focuses on.And there are some pretty big names on the bill. No one bigger than Michael Caine, Robert Shaw and Edward Fox to name but a few. Others are there largely to be cameos, but everyone plays their part.It's hard to built too much of a story around an event that actually happened. If you start trying to focus on adding a 'traditional' narrative, you sometimes have to forgo telling things as they happened. The 'story' has already happened. The writers couldn't really tell it any differently. As with many war films, events have had to be 'condensed' in order to fit with the narrative they give it.'The Battle of Britain' may have the odd narrative flaw or character that isn't as developed as the audience feel s they should have been, but any film like this isn't supposed to be 'character-driven.' It's about a period of time where hundreds of innocent people were dying daily (and that's not even counting the airmen who were doing their best to defend the civilian population).When the aerial dogfights come, they're pretty spectacular. The film-makers restored many vintage planes and brought them back up to be air-worthy. Just because there aren't any computer-generated effects here, doesn't mean that the special effects aren't impressive.If you're looking for a story driven film, you may want to try somewhere else. If you want a totally historically-accurate depiction of the era, then read a history book. However, if you're happy with a film which generally gives you an idea just how scary it was to fight (and often) die in the air defending your country, try this. Those who fell don't deserve to be forgotten, however they're remembered.

I remember when this film came out in 1969-1970. It was an achievement then and to my way of thinking and remains so if only to "give flavor" to what was involved for the citizens of Britain. The dogfights were very skillfully staged and I'm sure could be easier done with CGI these days. Moreover, the subtitles with the translation into German were appreciated for intonation and feeling. It resembled "The Longest Day" in that regard. The ensemble cast was skillfully chosen. Susannah York (definitely beautiful) recently passed on. Many of the other actors (Laurence Olivier, Trevor Howard, Robert Shaw and Curd Jürgens) have been dead for quite some time so this is a time capsule of sorts. Christopher Plummer (He was awarded the C.C. (Companion of the Order of Canada, Sir Edward Fox, and Sir Michael Caine are among the few who remain with the living. Altogether a great flick and I recently saw it again on TCM and was stirred again. See it for yourself and enjoy that cast!!!