Less than two decades after the real event, this film is a realistic portrayal of the Allied retreat and rescue at Dunkirk in the early months of World War II. The operation is known officially as the Battle of Dunkirk. Its name comes from the French town, Dunquerque, located near the beach on the English Channel between Calais and the Belgian border. Dunkirk was a defensive and withdrawal operation, part of the Battle of France on the Western Front. It lasted from May 26 to June 4, and marked the end of Allied forces on the European Continent for four years. While a huge defeat in battle, it also was considered a miracle, as noted in this film. British civilians volunteered to help with the rescue of troops when the admiralty conscripted hundreds of private small boats for such use. The German Luftwaffe strafed and bombed troops on the beaches, and bombed British and French ships sent to withdraw the Allied troops. More than 800 ships and boats took part in the evacuation. And these civilians and their small craft made a huge difference in the rescue of more than 338,000 men. Just under 200,000 British soldiers and 140,000 French, Polish and Belgian soldiers were rescued. About 35,000 French who fought the rear guard for the evacuation could not be evacuated and were captured by the Germans. The film is based on two novels written by British veterans of the war. The first book is Elleston Trevor's "The Big Pick-Up." It's set in France and is the source of the fleeing squad in this film, headed by Corporal Tubby Binns (John Mills). The second book, "Keep the Memory Green," is about the fighting retreat, the bombardment and strafing on the beaches, and the evacuation by the boats and ships. It was co-authored by British officers, Lt. Col. Ewan Butler and Maj. J. Selby Bradford. With its closeness in time to the war, the film exudes authenticity in all aspects. The settings appear real. The uniforms, weapons and equipment are the genuine articles. And, the talk and cultural portrayals of the men seem natural and genuine. The method of telling the story from two sides is particularly good - the military in combat and the civilians on the home front who will wind up in the rescue effort. Again, the genuineness of the people on the home front is apparent. And, one especially appreciates the integrity of this film. It clearly portrays the confusion, uncertainty and uneasiness of the time and place. It was that way among the troops in withdrawal. It was that way with the military leaders. It was that way among the British public at home. And it was that way in the government's communications with the press and public. For that, the authors and producers of this film are to be congratulated. Later films and articles about the war and Dunkirk gloss over this or ignore it entirely. The cast all are very good in their roles. The three main leads were superb in the portrayals of their characters. Besides Mills as Corporal Binns, Bernard Lee and Richard Attenborough played the major civilian roles as Charles Foreman and John Holden, respectively. Bernard Lee's character, Charles Foreman, seems to be a member of the press. He and Corporal Binns are having a drink in a bar while others are working on a boat engine. Binns asks him, "What about all of this?" Foreman's monolog captures the time, place and event well. He says, "Stupidity. Everybody saying that war was so terrible it couldn't happen again. And shoving our heads in the sand, like a lot of ostriches. Well, the Germans didn't think that way. To them, war meant guns or butter. They chose guns. We chose butter. No, you can't blame the Army. They had what we gave them - last war weapons, last war methods. This is the result."Here are some more lines from the film. Corporal Tubby Binns, "They're stupid. They don't even understand their own bloody language." Wounded Soldier (unknown), "Hey, Corp, seen this?" Corporal Tubby Binns looks at a German propaganda map showing the Allies trapped and urging them to surrender, then hands it back to the soldier. "Well, you know what you can do with that, don't you?" he says.Barlow, after Luftwaffe planes have strafed a road with fleeing civilians, says, "That's murder. Sheer murder. I hope somebody knows what they're doing."The narrator at the end says, "Dunkirk was a great defeat, and a great miracle. It proved, if it proved anything, that we were alone but undivided. No longer were there fighting men and civilians. There were only people. A nation had been made whole. "This is an important and historical film that should be in any serious WW II film library.

The story of the famous evacuation of British forces from the beaches of Dunkirk in May/June 1940. Seen through the eyes of a squad of infantrymen, and their leader, Corporal Binns, in particular, as well as civilians who helped evacuate the soldiers. Also covers the high-level decisions as well as the individual sacrifices that were made.History will record the Battle of Dunkirk as a British/Allied defeat, as the Germans ultimately captured the pocket and inflicted over 60,000 casualties on the Allies. However, over 300,000 Allied troops escaped, living to fight another day. This, and the method to evacuate them - the large scale use of civilian craft of all shapes and sizes, bolstered British morale and ultimately kept Britain in the war.The inspirational nature of the event is captured well in this movie, as are the actions during and leading up to it. Quite gritty in showing the bravery involved, sacrifices made and against-the- odds nature of the event. Good performances by the main actors - John Mills as Corporal Binns and Richard Attenborough as John Holden. Supporting cast are a mixed bag, varying from solid to serious over-acting.Overall, a great depiction of a momentous event.

Surprisingly, precious few films exist depicting the events of Operation Dynamo during World War II. The emergency evacuation of thousands of British, French and Belgian soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk while the Nazis closed in around them was described as a "colossal military blunder" by Winston Churchill and could have ended the war there and then. However, the assistance of hundreds of civilians who sailed from the south of England in a small armada of speedboats, yachts and fishing boats to rescue their battered allies provided a united front in what was then dubbed the 'Phoney War' and an astonishing tale of bravery to boot.Leslie Norman's Dunkirk does not shy away from the buffoonery of high command which led to Allied troops being pushed further and further back until they were surrounded from every angle, but also explores themes of heroism in the face of invasion. Telling two parallel stories, we witness the events leading up to Dunkirk from the front-line, where inexperienced corporal 'Tubby' Binns (John Mills) finds himself in suddenly in charge after the death of his superior and separated from the bulk of his company in hostile territory. From the Home Front, cynical journalist Charles Foreman (Bernard Lee) is attempting to snap his fellow countrymen out of their laid-back state to pay attention to a war that is creeping on their doorstep. Charles is met by people who agree with his concerns, but also those who are blissfully unaware of his country's dyer situation. In particular, local businessman Holden (Richard Attenborough) is making himself a tidy profit from the Phoney War and laps up the propaganda played over the radio. Attenborough's coward is the film's most intriguing plot-line and certainly the most complex character on show. Although he has relatively little screen-time compared to Mills and Lee, its Holden's reaction to the horror on the beach which subsequently changes his entire outlook that lingers in the mind once the film is over.Mills' lovable Tubby looks like the more conventional hero, wise- cracking and back-slapping his men, but as the situation worsens his ability to command is questioned as leaves one of his men to die and fails to inspire his troops to move when told. Mills gets the bulk of the screen-time, and while his journey to the beaches provide some technically impressive set-pieces, there's an unevenness to the juxtaposition of the intertwining tales when they really deserve equal billing. Tubby's escapades means that it takes a long time to get the evacuation, but when it does, the sights of hundreds of soldiers wading out into the ocean in the hope of rescue and the horror exploding around them still holds up today. It's a moving and beautifully filmed final half hour that is worth the price of admission alone.

The evacuation of Dunkirk is one of these moments in history that splits opinion in half - was it a defeat or a victory . There's no middle ground on the argument . Some state that the British Expiditionary Force ( BEF ) losing 68,000 men killed , wounded or captured during the battle of France and leaving all their heavy equipment behind can't be described as anything less than a defeat . The other argument is that 200,000 British troops were evacuated along with 140,000 French and Belgian troops is the epitome of snatching a victory from the jaws of defeat . Regardless of your views ( I'm on the victory of sorts side )it was a pivotal moment in history and this film tells the story of that moment DUNKIRK tells the story too well . By this I mean from the very opening sequence we're shown a history lesson as newsreel tells of " The Phoney WAr " . Cut to a war office were a group of war reporters are given a briefing " X corps is guarding the Y Flank while Z corps is BLAH BLAH BLAH " One sturdy seen it all before correspondent isn't convinced as he tells his colleagues that " This is the biggest mas maneuver of the war so far this isn't a manvoure because ... "All this sounds painfully unaturalistic as we see the same corespondent visit the French embassy to be told by the French ambassador that the Germans have broken through the Maginot Line as in " The Magniot line was reinforced by two and a half million men . How many men have the British sent ? two hundred thousand , three hundred thousand ? BLAH BLAH BLAH " It's absolutely impossible for someone in authority to open their mouth without factual statistics and in depth analysis being given out so it's nice when the action cuts to The Battle Of France Actually Coporal Tubby Binns platoon also suffers from the dialogue disease that the home-front suffers from " We move up to the front in order to protect the French flank at ... " and we're later shown a scene on the beaches were a RAF man points out that the RAF can't provide cover because of a number of factors . No one no matter who they are or where they are feel the need to spout exposition regardless of the fact that there's no need for them to do so and is very problematic for the film I notice the screenplay is credited to two screenwriters . I have no knowledge of the film's production but my instinct is at least one of them is an academic historian who was told to emphasise the details of the operation while the other is a trying to bring a human element to the dry history lesson . If this is the case the dramatist has failed because while it's not a dry dull history lesson it is certainly a bit too dry This is a great shame because some scenes do work quite well and is rather graphic for a 1950s British war film such as Tubby trying to convince himself that his commanding officer was dead before a lorry exploded or the aftermath of a refugee column being shot up by the Luftwaffe where a young child runs to its dead mother . It's an outstanding film when it concentrates on these scenes but is frequently let down by the painfully expositional dialogue