krishkmenon

Now here's an unpretentious film with no glamour or glitz but keeps you hooked. Move over Hollywood, and give the "Bulldog" his due. The film moves at a pace that would seem a little slow focussing on trivial duties and lifestyles of the London bobby but don't go away the action and human drama starts halfway through and my word does it start moving! Dirk Bogarde is excellent and his portrayal of a petty hoodlum with a psychopathic streak which masks his fear is unforgettable. The bombed out East End of London and the Cockney accent takes one to post-War England. The coppers of yesteryear England did not wear guns and so do most present coppers in the sub-continent today but the director narrates by his tale that this is no walkover for criminals. Watch it.

I had seen this film when I was in school where it was shown as part of educational films screened by one of my schoolmasters who had himself served in the Royal Indian Air Force in Burma.Today I own a copy on DVD. The exploits of people in Bomber Command is brought out with extreme accuracy to the screen by creating an atmosphere that is taut and realistic. Dirk Bogarde gives one of his best performances as the Wing Commander who is definitely cracking under the stress of command but does not want to accept it. The scenes where he gives Bryan Forbes a dressing down will certainly strike a chord where his sense of responsibility to the team is exposed. The accuracy of operations of RAF Bombers during night sorties right from the point of take off, to the tension of the ground staff till their return is brilliantly photographed. There are no clichés or extended heroics quite common in similar films but dark realism of survival during the war with the atmosphere of the airfields and aircrew intact. Being the son of an Air Force officer who did some war service in India the realism is striking. I would certainly recommend it to the younger viewers who need to study such situations.