MovieChat Forums > The Dam Busters (1955) Discussion > Dam Busters remastered.

Dam Busters remastered.

posted 20 years ago by Private_Spoon
22 replies | jump to latest

One thing they could do with the film is to clean it up and remove all the crackle and fuzz off it. Having done that, replace all the clunky 'Airfix' special effects with CGI and splice it into the original film so that it looks seamless with the original. Then re-release it.

Okay, it'll never happen, there are no Americans in the film - thus no American in any large numbers would want to watch it, so nobody would put the money up for such a project. It's nice to imagine what it would look like though.

[–] great_kahn 20 years ago

Amazing idea, if i ever become head of a major movie company this is the first thing id do. Full graphics death star style music, video games of the mission, full feature Dvd. and id have full replicares of the lancs built for close ups and my own flying pleasure. Lets make it happen people.

[–] buxtehude99 19 years ago

Yes, and while we're at it, let's dub Ingrid Bergman movies because she sounds "funny" (to paraphrase someone else who was talking about Greta Garbo).
That's not the way this works. A complete remake, maybe, but don't screw with the original. We went through all this with colorization, and hopefully drove a stake through its heart. Part of this movie's charm is the work with miniatures and slo-mo. I won't argue with dubbing the dog's name, though. It's minor, and it is offensive. That's a whole 'nother argument.
I hope you were kidding about the computer generated FX.

[–] Ironman54 9 years ago

The dog was black in color - exactly what the word means. This isn't a movie about Americans fighting in WWII, its the British. The white and black issues experienced with slavery and all was not the same in Great Britain. I had a black dog once and my kids named it 'Blackie' - it had zero to do with racism, prejudice etc... the dogs color was
black, period, simple ...

[–] Noel-24 20 years ago

An American pilot did fly with the real 617 Squadron 'The Dambusters'.

Joe McCarthy was born in St. James Long Island and grew up in Brooklyn. He was a lifeguard in Coney Island. When war was declared in 1939, McCarthy went to Canada because the U.S. was still neutral. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force before going to Britain to fly with RAF Bomber Command in 1942.

McCarthy and his crew almost didn't make the 'Dambuster' mission as his Lancaster "Q for Queenie" could not take off. McCarthy and his crew transferred to a spare plane "T for Tom". Although 30 minutes behind schedule McCarthy was able to catch up with his section. McCarthy was commander of Formation 2 assigned to attack the Sorpe Dam.

McCarthy made several abortive runs before hitting the Sorpe dam, his Lancaster "T for Tom" almost hitting the water on his last attack. Unfortunately the Sorpe dam was only damaged and it survived.

Joe McCarthy survived the war as a Wing Commander and received the DSO, DFC and a Bar for his DFC. He returned to Canada in 1946 and commanded 407 Squadron in Comox, British Columbia. He ended his career as Wing Commander RCAF stationed in Norfolk, Virginia. He passed away in Virginia, September 9, 1998 at age 79.

[–] 20 years ago

[deleted]

[–] TorontoJediMaster 20 years ago

I do think that they should touch up one effect in the film.

When the bombs go off during the attack, the effect of the water geysering looks very phony. I found it strangely out of place, as the effects in the rest of the film were very, very good. If they could, they should digitally replace this one effect.

[–] 20 years ago

[deleted]

[–] didcot 19 years ago

I'm sorry, but Joe McCarthy was awarded a Distingushed Service Order(DSO)to add to his Distingushed Flying Cross for his part in the raid. Gibson's was the only VC awarded for the raid and only one more VC was awarded to 617 Squadron during WW2. (Leonard Cheshire in 1944)

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] KarlMaldensNose 20 years ago

A few years ago I heard a rumour that Mel Gibson was thinking of re-making The Dambusters.
Perhaps he still will. The only major change I suppose he would HAVE to make would be changing the name of Gibson's dog.

Signatures?.........we don't need no stinking signatures!

[–] Shade2 20 years ago

Why? I see it as ignorance rather than rascism.

"It is better to die once, than to live in constant fear of death."

[–] Crimpo2 19 years ago

God help us if this one was ever remade - but it won't be. The original is superb and the B/W allows original footage to be spliced in seamlessly. Its far far more real that any CGI. Am I the only viewer who can spot CGI from a thousand miles off? As for renaming the dog - why not, everything else in a remade film would be phony after all!

[–] PopcornDave 19 years ago

Don't get rid of the models! They look perfect as it is. Perhaps in five years' time CGI planes will look as good as the real thing, but right now they still have that annoyingly artificial "computer game" look, whereas most models look completely real even decades after the film was made. Maybe the crashes look a bit fake, but I've yet to see a more convincing CGI plane crash (a CGI plane exploding into a fireball in mid-air, yeah, and that's fine for Star Wars or Independence Day but REAL planes don't do that, and so they shouldn't do that in serious war movies).

The only special effects I'd really like to see improved are the anti-aircraft bullets. They look like weird blobs of white and they move much too slowly (or am I just being ignorant? I guess I've never seen the real thing). Oh yeah, the big water splash effects look really ridiculous. But DON'T CHANGE THE MODELS! I'd rather no change at all than Star Wars style special effects butchery.

EDIT: I looked up the film on Wikipedia and changed my original post, because it turns out that the flight scenes look real because the planes WERE real. Only the crashes used models. All the more reason not to change anything. What could be more convincing than reality?

[–] keith-264 19 years ago

Dear Popcorn, a long time ago I read Enemy Coast Ahead by Guy Gibson and remember him describing tracer fire at night using bubbles in a beer glass as an analogy-they start rising slowly and accelerate (from the perspective of the aircrew). I haven't watched my vid for a while but perhaps the tracer does this? As for the film I could cope with a remaster and something before it starts pointing out that the dog's name is accurate and representative of the time and place. Beyond that I'd leave it alone.

[–] aj_march 19 years ago

Times were different when the Dam Busters was made - *beep* would have been a perfectly acceptable word. It wouldn't bother me either way whether IF a remake were made they changed it, although I do appreciate the argument for changing it. I would also like to volunteer to be aircrew if they do remake it!!!

[–] Unicorn-9 19 years ago

"The only major change I suppose he would HAVE to make would be changing the name of Gibson's dog."

Not really. Just get some black rapper to play Guy Gibson and then it will be OK.

I'm sure that any American production company would make it an American squadron rather than British anyway, so it wouldn't really be a problem.

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] The_Khazi 18 years ago

If Mel(I`m not racist I was only drunk) Gibson remade it they could change the name of the dog to Jewboy.Just watched Braveheart again & seemed to enjoy the end torture sequence even more than usual.

Was the original poster joking or what?I`d personally leave it well alone although I do agree that the water spouts on the dams` have always looked naff-even when I first saw the film in the 70`s.

[–] Caz1964 18 years ago

I had a horrible dream the other night that Mel Gibson announced that he is a relative of Guy Gibson.
Oh god it was awful i woke up screaming what a nightmare.