Dunkirk (1958 film)
| Dunkirk | |
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 |
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| Directed by | Leslie Norman |
| Produced by | Michael Balcon |
| Written by | J.S. Bradford (book) Ewan Butler (book) David Divine (screenplay) |
| Starring |
John Mills Richard Attenborough Bernard Lee |
| Music by | Malcolm Arnold |
| Cinematography | Paul Beeson |
| Edited by | Gordon Stone |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | MGM |
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Release date
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20 March 1958 |
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Running time
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134 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,025,000 or £400,000 |
| Box office | $2,060,000 |
Dunkirk is a 1958 British war film directed by Leslie Norman and starring John Mills, Richard Attenborough and Bernard Lee. It was based on two novels: Elleston Trevor's The Big Pick-Up and Lt. Col. Ewan Hunter and Maj. J. S. Bradford's Dunkirk.
The film relates the story of Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of surrounded British and French troops from the beaches of Dunkirk in May and June 1940 during the Second World War. It does so principally from the viewpoints of two people: a newspaper reporter and a soldier.
A pessimistic journalist named Charles Foreman (Bernard Lee) tries unsuccessfully to rouse his complacent readers on the home front from the notion of a Phoney War before it is too late. His friend John Holden (Richard Attenborough) owns a small factory manufacturing buckles and is quite pleased with his profits from war work. Meanwhile, the Germans rapidly take the initiative in the Battle of France threatening to destroy the Allied forces bottled up around Dunkirk.
Corporal "Tubby" Binns (John Mills), his platoon leader Lieutenant Lumpkin and Tubby's deleted section return to their camp after blowing up a bridge, only to discover that their company has left during the night, leaving them alone in France. One man and a truck have been left to wait for them, but the driver and Lumpkin are killed in a bomber attack, leaving Tubby in charge of a five-man squad with no idea what the situation is. It is up to Tubby to keep his increasingly demoralised men on the move. Unsure of where to go, they dodge the advancing Germans and reach a Royal Artillery battery camp. They receive some food, before losing one of their men (Pte. Frazer) and being ordered to go to Dunkirk with two other stragglers, where the rest of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and tens of thousands of French soldiers are gathering, hoping to be evacuated. After spending the night in a farmhouse, a German patrol arrives where Pte. Dave Bellman is shot badly in the chest, forcing Tubby to leave him behind as it is Dave's only chance. Eventually, they get a lift in an RAF lorry and reach the beaches.
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