Why We Fight: The Battle of Britain
About Why We Fight: The Battle of Britain
Walter Huston narrates the fall of France and Hitler's plan to beat Britain before an invasion, Operation Sea Lion. The film follows Luftwaffe attacks on convoys and ports, then on factories, then the bombing of London, including the raids of 15 September and the fire raids. Coventry is shown in ruins. It closes on Churchill's line that never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
Cast & crew
More about Why We Fight: The Battle of Britain
Frank Capra produced the film, the fourth in the Why We Fight series, and is credited as director with Anthony Veiller. Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein are credited with the script. William Hornbeck edited. Warner Bros. and the War Activities Committee of the Motion Picture Industry distributed it. Wikipedia lists Robert Flaherty as cinematographer.
Themes
Reviews
Historian Mieczysław B. Biskupski has faulted the film for treating eastern Poland as free of Soviet occupation and for saying the Polish Air Force was destroyed on the ground.
Music
Dimitri Tiomkin, William Lava, and Howard Jackson wrote the music. Walter Huston narrates.
Notes
- Wikidata times the film at 54 minutes. The Wikipedia entry says 52.
- The series was made to tell American servicemen why the country was in the war. An older reference list credits the screenplay of this episode to Anthony Veiller and places parts 1 through 4 with the U.S. Army Signal Services.
- Howard Jackson shares the music credit with Dimitri Tiomkin and William Lava.
Scenes
- The narrator lays out the shift from attacks on ports and convoys to the bombing of London.
- The film shows the destruction of Coventry.
Also available
- Internet Archive (BattleOfBritain)
Quotes
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
