DUNKIRK
DIRECTED BY LESLIE NORMAN
PRODUCED BY MICHAEL BALCON/ MICHAEL FORLANG
METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER
Information From IMDb
Plot Summary
Two stories in one - an easygoing British Corporal in France
finds himself responsible for the lives of his men when their officer is killed.
He has to get them back to Britain somehow.
Meanwhile, British civilians are being dragged into the war with
Operation Dynamo, the scheme to get the French and
British forces back from the Dunkirk beaches.
Some come forward to help, others are less willing.
Written by Paul Galpin
Full Cast
John Mills ... Cpl. 'Tubby' Bins
Robert Urquhart ... Pvt. Mike
Ray Jackson ... Pvt. Barlow
Meredith Edwards ... Pvt. Dave Bellman
Anthony Nicholls ... Military spokesman
Bernard Lee ... Charles Foreman (British newspaper reporter)
Michael Shillo ... Jouvet (French newspaper reporter)
Richard Attenborough ... John Holden (Heron owner)
Sean Barrett ... Frankie, (Holden employee)
Victor Maddern ... Merchant seaman in pub
Maxine Audley ... Diana Foreman
Bud Flanagan ... Himself - Music Hall Performer
Chesney Allen ... Himself - Music Hall Performer
Kenneth Cope ... Lt. Lumpkin
Denys Graham ... Pvt. Fraser
Barry Foster ... Don R
Warwick Ashton ... Battery sergeant major in France
Peter Halliday ... Battery major in France
Ronald Hines ... Pvt. Miles (battery crew)
Roland Curram ... Pvt. Harper (battery crew)
John Welsh ... Staff colonel
Lloyd Lamble ... Staff colonel
Cyril Raymond ... Gen. Viscount Gort, VC
Nicholas Hannen ... Vice-Adm. Ramsey at Dover
Eddie Byrne ... Commander (Tough's Yard)
Patricia Plunkett ... Grace Holden
Michael Gwynn ... Commander at Sheerness
Michael Bates ... Froome
Rodney Diak ... Pannet
Fred Griffiths ... Old Sweet
Dan Gressy ... Joe
Christopher Rhodes ... Sergeant on the beaches
Lionel Jeffries ... Medical colonel
Harry Landis ... Dr. Lt. Levy
John Horsley ... Padre
Patrick Allen ... Sergeant on parade ground
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Joss Ambler ... Small Boat Owner (uncredited)
Neville Chamberlain ... Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Winston Churchill ... Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Bernard Cribbins ... Thirsty Sailor (uncredited)
Liz Fraser ... Worker in Holden's Factory (uncredited)
Barry Keegan ... Surgeon Left Behind (uncredited)
Sam Kydd ... (uncredited)
Frederick Piper ... Small Boat Owner (uncredited)
Michael Shepley ... Bit Role (uncredited)
Harold Siddons ... Doctor (uncredited)
William Squire ... Captain (uncredited)
Charles 'Bud' Tingwell ... Sergeant in Cookhouse (uncredited)
Tim Turner ... Officer (line of men in sea) (uncredited)
Mona Washbourne ... Worker Who Speaks to Holden (uncredited)
Peter Williams ... Officer at Ramsey's H.Q. (uncredited)
Writing Credits
(in alphabetical order)
J.S. Bradford book (as Major J.S. Bradford MBE MC)
Ewan Butler book (as Lt. Col. Ewan Butler)
David Divine screenplay
W.P. Lipscomb screenplay
Trevor Dudley Smith novel "The Big Pickup"
Original Music
Malcolm Arnold
Cinematography
Paul Beeson (director of photography)
Trivia
Jack Hawkins was asked to play Charles Foreman
When the troopship taking the platoon home is bombed and sunk in Dunkirk harbour, the scene of the ship sinking is taken from the earlier film The Cruel Sea (1953) which depicts the sinking of HMS "Compass Rose".
Last screen appearance of Joss Ambler.
The term "U-S" means 'un-serviceable' and is a British Army term.
Strand Quay, on the west side of the town of Rye, was used for the Dunkirk perimeter. In one shot the top of St. Mary's Parish Church may be spotted and in another we get a glimpse of the famous Mermaid Street in the background.
Goofs
* Errors in geography: In the shot when the small boats leave the boatyard, they are actually heading away from London and towards Teddington Weir.
* Continuity: When the platoon come under air attack at the farm (and their officer is killed), the aircraft attacking them seen head on is a Blenheim, an RAF light bomber, where as the aircraft shown flying away is a German Junkers 88.
* Revealing mistakes: The Vickers gun being fired by the Dunkirk rearguard is just having a belt of ammunition fed through it. Cartridges are still in the belt coming out of the gun (they would be ejected separately).
* Revealing mistakes: During the artillery action early in the film, a tree falls over a few seconds before it is "hit" by a shell.
Film Locations
Camber Sands, Camber, East Sussex, England, UK
Ealing Studios, Ealing, London, England, UK (studio)
English Channel, Plymouth, Devon, England, UK (on Thames-side)
Fingringhoe, Colchester, Essex, England, UK
London, England, UK
Rye, East Sussex, England, UK
Sheerness Dockyards, Sheerness, Kent, England, U