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Memphis BelleRating:
Release Date: 13 May, 2003 Retail Price: $14.97 OUR Price: $9.99 You SAVE: $4.98! Cast: Complete Cast (21 total) |
Memphis Belle Reviews
This Rings a Belle.
A re-make or a modernisation without too must revisionism. The original documentary of the bomber crew on their 25th mission over occupied Europe is chilling in its narrative (reports of passing out withour oxygen at 25,000ft and con trails like nothing you have ever seen outside of a dream, not to mention the exciting intercom banter). This film brings human stories of hope and desparation to the crew, with less foicus on the B-17 as a front line weapon.
This movie pulled up a good number of authentic looking B-17F models, without such a variety of gun modifications as in the original, and without the range of scary flak damage evident after landing. their is a good representaion by model planes too, though some of the effects seem lacking in rtotal realism. It all seems to happen to the "Belle", from guts on the window to wounded crew members, with some broken regulations thrown in. in that way this re-make is only similar in the title, as the propaganda element is diminished and the medal investing ceremony (with the King of England) is ditched. It is enough for the crew to make it back alive. in reality they continued in their recruiting role doing a war bonds tour of the States). what is left out is the fact that later the required number of missions went up to 30 then 35 in the final year of the war. really these guys were blessed. In reality their last flight was a cushy number in France, not a wild flak ride to Bremen.
The Base in England seems very authentic, from wake up to briefing and dispersal to the planes, everything matches up. the bombs on trolleys are no longer ridden by harminica playing ground crew, but the Memphis Belle crew sing "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me..." which seems even more appropriate. as they ride a jeep to the waiting plane.
So, for air minded people this film does the business with great interior shots of the B-17 and outside come the Mustang escort (though the later bubble hood version id inaccurately shown) and the 109's are the Spanish post war produced versions. I love the movie, try and see it once a week!
A fanciful account of the final mission of the famous "Memphis Belle"
My first favorite television series was "Twelve O'Clock High" and I had at least two models of the "Memphis Belle" when I was kid, all of which simply reflects the fact that the B-17 Flying Fortress is my favorite airplane. When I was a kid my family was driving through California and there was a B-17 parked out on somebody's front lawn on a ranch and for years I tried to figure out how to go back and see it. A couple of decades later one of the few B-17s still flying came to the Zenith City and I finally got to go inside one (this big bombers are a lot smaller than I ever thought). For all I know that particular B-17 ended up flying in the 1990 film "Memphis Belle." When I had occasion to drive through the city of Memphis, of course I made a point of visiting Mud Island where the "Memphis Belle" was on display (she was moved to the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio this October).
The "Memphis Belle" (Serial No. 41-24485) was one of 12,750 B-17 Flying Fortresses built by the Boeing Aircraft Company, but it was the most famous because it was the first heavy bomber to complete 25 combat missions over Hitler's Europe without losing a crew member. The idea of 25 missions and going home was established by the bomber command as an incentive for air crews because morale was desperately low after the first three months of American combat flights over Europe during which eighty percent of the planes were shot down. The "Belle" flew from November 7, 1942 to May 17, 1943 and its final flight is the fanciful subject of this film directed by Michael Caton-Jones ("Scandal") from the script by Monte Merrick ("Staying Together").
That simply means that besides the fact that the "Memphis Belle" was named for a lady friend (Margaret Polk) of the pilot and that the art on the nose depicting the same (designed by the famous artist George Petty) there is nothing here that is historically accurate when it comes to that final mission, which was over Lorient, France and not Bremen, Germany (the "Belle" flew there on its 21st mission). The names of the crew are all changed and I think the same applies to the plane's mascot, a Scotty Dog named "Stuka." So if you want something closer to the "true" story of the pilot Robert Morgan and the "Memphis Belle" you want to check out William Wyler's 1944 documentary "The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress."
What you have here instead is a Hollywood movie that celebrates the men who flew these bombers in World War II by incorporating a wide variety of clichés from war movies involving airplanes. Then there is the whole idea that Americans from all walks of life who have little in common besides a desire to get home alive band together to fight the Nazis. So it is we have the young and recognizable faces of Matthew Modine as the business like pilot, Eric Stoltz as the poetic radio operator, Tate Donovan as the co-pilot who wants to actually do something before he goes home, D.B. Sweeney as the navigator who is convinced his number is up, Billy Zane as the bombardier who left medical school to fight, Sean Austin as the runt who is stuck in the ball turret, Reed Edward Diamond as the flight engineer, Courtney Gains and Neil Giuntoli as the bickering waist gunners, and Harry Connick as tail gunner and sometime crooner.
Back at the base David Strathairn plays the commanding officer nervous about his boys getting back alive and John Lithgow is the public relations officer the Army has sent to celebrate the final mission of the "Belle." Of course, it is hard to create tension given that most viewers know the "Memphis Belle" is remembered for completing that final mission, so any tension that is created tends to be somewhat artificial although there are some nice moments during the bomb run (the film might play better if it simply inspired by the "Belle" and they changed the name of the aircraft as well) . But even if the "Belle" survives there are other several B-17 crews on the mission who will not. Still, the idea that doing your duty could not just be dangerous but be outright suicidal is communicated, allowing Modine's character to explain the job to his nervous crew and underscore that Americans do not believe in collateral damage. But what will probably stand out in this film is the grim lesson that Donovan's character learns when he tries to be a hero by doing somebody else's job.
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