Synopsis:

After the fall of France to the Nazis and the evacuation of the British Army from Dunkirk, the Royal Air Force must defend their homeland from the threat of invasion by a battle-hardened and numerically superior opponent during the summer of 1940, with the future of the country, and maybe even the whole of Europe, hanging in the balance. This edit is, on the whole, a simple tightening of the director Guy Hamilton's ambitious 1969 retelling of these events, hopefully making it more approachable for the audience.

Intentions:

Production of "Battle of Britain" was a massive technical undertaking, with dozens of retired aircraft involved in some of the most spectacular aerial choreography ever filmed. But, besides the deviations from history, I personally found it rather unengaging and didn't have any plans for rewatching after the first viewing. That changed as a result of a post on the forum here by filmflaneur in April 2023 "I have often thought that Battle of Britain (1969) would be much improved with the tedious love subplot excised. The film would be tighter and drag less without it." With this as a springboard I had a go at moulding the film into something we could both enjoy, as far as we're concerned that goal has been achieved, if anybody else thinks it an improvement too that's a bonus!

Change List:

Editing Details: • Available in large (~20 Gb) and small (~4 Gb) size versions, 1920x818 resolution. • 5.1 audio with three available soundtrack options, Hybrid (recommended), Goodwin-only and Walton-only. • General changes made to the film include: The love subplot concerning Colin and Maggie Harvey (Christopher Plummer and Susannah York) has been almost entirely removed, as the film ground to a stop whenever they were onscreen together (fault of the script rather than the actors). They still appear in this edit but only separately, and are not confirmed to be a couple until a phone call shortly before they have their final scenes. Other scenes were trimmed for pacing, with the opening for example heavily cut down into a silent montage that plays over Dowding's voiceover. Other excisions are more subtle, with parts of scenes or shots shortened to improve flow and/or remove redundant dialogue. Nearly the entire film was desaturated to black and white, with contrast boosted and shadows lifted to liven up the image. This attempted to make the film feel more "real", in the sense of more akin to the archive footage of aircraft I have seen in various documentaries. Removing the colour also adds a layer of abstraction, in my mind at least it is now easier to see the more well-known cast members as their characters rather than their actors. The exception to this is the Battle in the Air scene towards the end, where I think the switch in visual style helps complement the changeover to almost no diegetic sound on the audio front. With regard to the paragraph above, it helps that nobody famous (that I know of at least) is identifiable during this sequence. Cuts and Additions: Specific cuts are as follows: • 0:00:00 Added fanedit disclaimer and personal plate. • 0:00:11 Replaced modern MGM logo with adapted United Artists (original distributor) plate and overlaid grain, added the sound of a Merlin engine from the now-truncated-and-silent former opening scene over the French airfield. • 0:00:20 Open film with Dowding walking down the hallway, as he reads his letter in voiceover a short montage of aircraft escaping from the French airfield and the following attack silently plays, fading back to him just before he boards the lift. • 0:00:59 Swapped the order of a couple of shots for a more logical flow (suggestion of robulon). • 0:01:36 Heavily cut the conversation between Dowding and the Under-Secretary, now just the final two lines, rest felt like unnecessary exposition. • 0:06:27 Cut soldier in the line bending over to look at the staff car. • 0:06:40 Cut first part of the scene of Milch and Kesselring walking indoors. • 0:07:41 Cut first part of the conversation between the ambassadors, starts with Baron von Richter stating Goering’s desire to flatten London, again rest felt superfluous. • 0:10:08 "R.A.F. North Weald - Essex" • 0:12:11 Cut Simon walking to the coat stand just after his landing near-accident. • 0:16:29 Cut German officers gathering around the table after expressing bravado concerning the British radar system. • 0:17:53 Cut Dowding’s “Trusting in God and praying for radar” remark, took a following shot of his colleague and inserted it reversed to cover the cut. • 0:18:07 "R.A.F. Hawkinge - Kent" • 0:19:08 Cut scene of Colin and Maggie meeting at the Jackdaw Inn, fades from Canfield denying Lambert permission for a test flight to Park arriving in his personal Hurricane. • 0:30:13 Cut Canfield’s repetition of “On the left”. • 0:32:31 Cut shots of German bombers before the observer station, makes for a more logical cut. • 0:32:48 Couple of shots from prior deleted section (one outside then one from inside a bomber) to replace a long shot, makes it more interesting • 0:33:26 "R.A.F. Duxford - Cambridgeshire" • 0:57:27 Cut Andy getting into Skipper’s car after the latter says “Alright boy, get in.” • 1:00:16 Flipped shot of approaching German fighters for better continuity and adhesion to the 180-degree rule (suggestion of robulon). • 1:05:29 Cut first scene of Maggie and Colin in bedroom together, Dowding’s comment about needing a miracle is followed by scene on the lost bomber. • 1:07:23 Cut second scene of Maggie and Colin in bedroom together, now fades from the scene on the bomber to the crew being chewed out for accidentally bombing London. • 1:10:10 Corrected translation (going by IMDb) of "Geduld. Geduld." from “Be patient.” to “Patience.” • 1:10:13 Corrected translation (going by IMDb) of "Er kommt." from “We are coming.” to “He is coming.” • 1:11:36 Cut Goering and Kesselring walking to the car. • 1:21:11 Trimmed a few shots during the scene where Skipper leaves his cottage with Andy. • 1:39:51 Cut short Maggie’s telephone conversation with Colin (before talk of her applying for a new posting) and the following scene of him departing in his car, fading to the “September 15th 1940” air battle. • 1:44:09 Fade from black and white to colour over the shot of St Paul’s, stays as such for the duration of the “Battle in the Air” sequence. • 1:48:39 Hard cut to back to black and white for the remainder of the film. Hybrid-score soundtrack features: • Walton opening music, feel that this sets the tone much better than Goodwin's. • Walton music over the end of the scene between the ambassadors and first scene of British airfield, feels more engaged with the action than Goodwin's. • Goodwin music over the Eagle Day planning scenes, no Walton equivalent. • Absence of music (from Walton track) over the Duxford scene where Maggie is in shock “Don’t you yell at me Mr. Warwick!”, Goodwin's feels a bit overwrought. • Goodwin's epic main theme during interception of bombers in the North, • No music (using Walton track) as aircraft prepare to leave the flying club. • Walton music “Cat and Mouse” during the ambush, no Goodwin equivalent. • Walton music for Berlin scenes. • Walton music as bombers approach London, scene not scored by Goodwin. • No music (using Walton track) over Andy looking at the church. • No music (using Walton track) when Maggie is told about Colin. • Goodwin music over Goering’s departure and end titles.

Additional Notes:

The film originally had a score written by William Walton, whom among his previous work had composed for the semi-accurate biopic of R. J. Mitchell (lead designer of the Supermarine Spitfire) "The First of the Few" in 1942. For whatever reason, with insufficient length to fill an LP being floated as a possibility, it was entirely discarded (but for "Battle in the Air") at a late stage in production and replaced by music from Ron Goodwin, known for his efforts on films such as "633 Squadron" and "Where Eagles Dare". The different scores each have their own merits so a hybrid track containing my favourite selections was grafted together, with the most notable feature likely being the absence of the upbeat version of Goodwin's "Aces High", a piece that I can enjoy but not in the context of its placement in the film. For the purists, the original Goodwin and Walton scores are presented on separate tracks. Would recommend trying the Hybrid version first though, in my view it's the best of both worlds.

Other Sources:

Primary AV source was the 2009 region B Blu-ray, but the discarded William Walton score was obtained from the 2004 region 2 Special Edition DVD.

Special Thanks:

To filmflaneur, for coming up with the idea and helping cast it into shape, and robulon, for kindly previewing and offering advice.