Spitfire

[Herod]

17th July. World Premier of "Spitfire". It's a two hour special documentary, being streamed from the venue in London to local cinemas. There is a trailer on the f*ceb**k site. Hosted by the lovely Ms Vorderman. Should be well worth watching.

[megan]

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.gmforum.com-vbulletin/2000x1325/11169752_557043431104121_8668465901960557783_o_fe61cc14e2ee9 5652f14f14c848c7923d4fc976c.jpg

[captainsmiffy]

Damnit, am I right that this is a 1 day only event? And on the day that one of my daughters graduates from BRS uni......wonder if she’ll mind.....��

[David Thompson]

Damnit, am I right that this is a 1 day only event? And on the day that one of my daughters graduates from BRS uni......wonder if she’ll mind.....��
No , it's a preview showing tomorrow , Tuesday 17 July , at 200 venue's around the UK with screenings at 14:00 and 19:30 before general release on the 20 July .
It will be shown up here on Teesside and our local paper includes a publicity photo showing a replica Spitfire and the delightful Ms Vorderman looking stunning alongside an old bloke ! ;
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/whats-on/film-news/spitfire-movie-teessiders-can-first-14913824 and to find a venue near you ; https://www.spitfire.film/ and more publicity blurb ; https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/films/986493/RAF-celebrations-London-Spitfire-film-RAF-100-anniversary-documentary-flypast .

[skua]

My mates who went to the celeb premiere last week were deeply impressed. I am going to one of the showings tonight, and much looking forward to it.

[Herod]

Most annoying. Having started this thread, it seems that the Telford cinema isn't showing it. Philistines.

[pr00ne]

Herod,

You can say Facebook you know, you won't disappear in a puff of smoke...

[Danny42C]

Going to the "Showcase", Teesside Park to see it tonight (last "Flick" I went to was "Sound of Music" !). Hope to enjoy (but £18.60 for an OAP plus minder a bit steep, IMHO.. Hope RAF Benevolent Fund gets a few crumbs.

[KiloB]

Go and see it!
Not a single frame of CGI and lots of great air to air shots.

KB

[ken knight]

Went into Aberdeen this afternoon to this, brilliant film, great flying and filming. Nice to hear the veterans who flew telling some experiences I had not heard before on TV documentaries.

[eckhard]

From the Express:

Like Scott, Joan Fanshawe didn't think of herself as anyone particularly heroic, she simply had a job to do.

"I was a plotter. I was a WAF, aged 20 when I joined up in 1940 and of course, Battle of Britain was just about to be starting, so I joined up just at the time that it was really busy,” Fanshawe said.

"Without the downing system, which is what I belonged to, we would never have been able to know where the German aircraft were.



She obviously said “Dowding” but someone mis-heard or mis-transcribed. What a shame that today’s journalists are so ignorant about a great man.

[Tankertrashnav]

Considering that the newsman covering the Trump visit at Windsor Castle described the guard of honour of the Grenadier Guards as "The Household Cavalry" ( ! ) I am hardly surprised that these people hadn't heard of Dowding.

[cliver029]

Went to see it this evening in Cambridge, some really good wartime publicity shots brought to life by the comments of the pilots. touch of irony that the Spitfire that Mary Ellis "signed" now appears to have a German registration(?)

[David Thompson]

Going to the "Showcase", Teesside Park to see it tonight (last "Flick" I went to was "Sound of Music" !). Hope to enjoy (but £18.60 for an OAP plus minder a bit steep, IMHO.. Hope RAF Benevolent Fund gets a few crumbs.
Danny42C , I went to Teesside Park for the 14:00 showing , £8-20 and well worth every penny . If I'd have known you were going tonight I would have gladly gone along and paid for you both as my thanks for your past endeavours .

Thoroughly enjoyed the film , very well put together and the flying sequences with the recently re-built Spitfires and Hurricane were both superbly photographed and choreographed . The veterans were as much the stars as the aircraft and I thought that the recollections of the recently passed Tom Neil were so free flowing and lucid that the intervening 70 years or so had clearly not dimmed his memory .

The film goes on selected general release on the 20 July and will be released on DVD on the 10 September , more details from www.spitfire.film . It is a must see , even more so than The Sound Of Music !

[exrivofrigido]

Considering that the newsman covering the Trump visit at Windsor Castle described the guard of honour of the Grenadier Guards as "The Household Cavalry" ( ! ) I am hardly surprised that these people hadn't heard of Dowding.

...especially considering it was from the Coldstream Guards...🙈

[Tankertrashnav]

Fair point - I didn't have time to count the buttons ;)

But I did manage to notice that they had furry hats and weren't mounted on horseback!

[jolihokistix]

Looking forward to seeing this.
Spent some quality time with Joan the other day. A really warm personality, all marbles in place, and fabulously strong for her age. You would never guess.

[exrivofrigido]

Fair point - I didn't have time to count the buttons ;)

But I did manage to notice that they had furry hats and weren't mounted on horseback!

Understandable, though I must caution you that, given the choice, most Coldstreamers would take being mistaken for a donkey walloper over a gobbler every time! Besides, no need to count buttons when we have such natty plumes. ;)

[Danny42C]

David (#14),

What a pity ! Never mind. Thought it a well-made production on the whole, and appreciate that is made for present-day audiences, to the junior members of whom many of the events depicted are as remote as the Boer War was to us.

That said, a few major quibbles:

What on Earth has happened to the cinemas of yesteryear ? Derived from the live theatres many of them once had been, they all had illuminated "stage" curtains across their screens, and often a "theatre organ" in the space where once was the orchestra pit . The richly decorated auditoria added to the "luxury" ambience, which contrasted so starkly with the meaner lives of most of their patrons.

I found myself in a giant square barn or hangar, poorly lit, and utterly devoid of any decoration. Arriving in good time, we were confronted by a huge blank, screen on the end wall. Opportunity for ads ? - ignored. Music? - not a hope, silent as the grave. It was like being in Church, waiting for a service to start. Daughter Mary tells me this is par for the course. Do today's young really take their pleasures so sadly in these multiplexes?

Then the action started. I am profoundly deaf, but even with my hearing aid
switched off, feared for my eardrums, such was the overwhelming power of the thumping bass speakers. Why this row ? - augmented by the fact that there were only 100 odd seats filled out of (a guess) 3-400, despite the fact that this much-heralded "Preview" had been well advertised in the "Evening Gazette". Oh, btw, the Gazette said that Spits had flown from Thornaby in WWII on coastal patrol. No, they didn't. Ansons and Hudsons did that job (you need more than one pair of eyes on board to look for U-boats). I was frozen by the Air Conditioning (probably get pneumonia).

As for the show: much too loud, intrusive background music (again. Why?) Too many shots of Spitfires gaily swooping about to no purpose. Best parts were the interviews with the old boys (and girls), who told their stories with simple modesty. Sorry to hear from one old girl that the Spit was "a bitch" on the ground because of its narrow undercarriage. Coming to it from the Harvard (as most of us had), which would ground-loop on the slightest provocation - or none - we all feared that trouble on first sight of the Spit, but I never heard of one (unintentionally) ground-looping yet. Something to do with the "splayed" wheels, perhaps ? No, what she must've had in mind was the initial difficulty of moving it about (my Post on "Pilots Brevet" Page 123 #2452 fully explains).

Glad to see that the Fighter Plotters and Radar girls (many Auxiliaries) got their fair share of credit, for the B.of B. could not have been fought without them.

Minor niggles:

Why would Carol Vorderman not wear uniform ? What use is Honorary Group Captain rank (well earned for her CCF work) when (as in this case) it was so obviously appropriate ?

Gasp Point, a horrifying much-too-low slow roll (optical illusion ?) Anybody else see it, or is it just me ?

On the whole, a worthy tribute to the nicest handling aircraft that ever flew. Everybody who has been lucky to fly one says the same thing: "you can't get any better than this". Agree with the old chap who said: "You never forget - it stays with you all your life". Privileged to have had the chance myself.

Worth going to see once - certainly. Again ? Don't think so, really.

Danny.

[Danny42C]

TTN (#12),
described the guard of honour of the Grenadier Guards
Contradicting Wiki, my old Dad (regular Army Sergeant 22 years till 1919) hammered in to the young Danny that it was the Grenadier Guard (no 's'), and that, with the Coldstream Guard and the others, they formed part of the Regiment of Foot Guards.

Any old Bearskins in earshot who could confirm or deny ?

[jolihokistix]

Danny, I always use earplugs in modern cinemas. Forgotten to bring them? In emergency, rip a tissue into strips, roll them up into perfect earplugs, and voilà! Normal sound.

[MightyGem]

Contradicting Wiki, my old Dad (regular Army Sergeant 22 years till 1919) hammered in to the young Danny that it was the Grenadier Guard (no 's')

The Guards themselves use the "s" here, Danny:
Grenadier Guards (http://www.grengds.com)

[BEagle]

I think that the last time I was in a cinema was when watching 'The Dream is Alive' in the IMAX at Kennedy Space Center - fantastic picture quality and sound, but it wasn't deafening or unpleasant.

Are cinemas all digital nowadays? I guess that Pearl and Dean (you might need to Google that, BV) Kia-Ora and "During the Intermission our sales staff will visit all parts of the theatre" are gone forever - but what else has changed? I've heard that digi-yoof who cannot be parted from WhatsApp for more than a minute at a time spend much of the time staring at their iToys - and even making voice calls in cinemas. No manners...

During Gnat (you'll need to Google that too, BV) days at Valley, there was an Astra opposite the OM and we often went to watch the odd movie. It's probably a 'gym' (whatever those are) these days - but the old Astra manager stood no nonsense. In those halcyon days before security barriers, the locals often came to watch the movies too. During the playing of the National Anthem (I guess that doesn't happen these days either), one bunch of locals at the back didn't stand up. The music stopped, the lights came up and 'Jones-the-movie' bellowed something at them in Welsh - according to our tame Welshman it meant something like "Get up or (Foxtrot Oscar)" - sheepishly they got to their feet...:D

[skua]

Anybody know which is the grass airfield used in the scene where 3 Spits take off in line abreast? It looks rather beautiful.

[TURIN]

Missed it. Which is very annoying as it looks like it will not be screened anywhere local again. Brother and Dad went, they 'forgot' to ask me if I was interested! As I'm the only family member who works in aviation as has been an aircraft nut since 4 yrs old I am a bit miffed. Thats them off my xmas card list this year.

[exrivofrigido]

The Guards themselves use the "s" here, Danny:
Grenadier Guards (http://www.grengds.com)

We're pretty much the opposite of sheep. The singular of 'Guards' is 'Guards', at least in regimental terms!

Anyhow, back to the film I haven't yet had time to see - hope it won't be a disappointment after reading Danny's excellent review, but then at least I have no specialist knowledge, so can take the 'tourist' view. And it's been nothing but Spirfires all week down in my corner of Kent - life ain't bad!

[gileraguy]

pleased to discover it's being shown near to me three times in November...

[pettinger93]

The film 'Spitfire' is now released on DVD, with extras, such as 'outtakes' that were not used in the main film.

[SPIT]

Will there be any other way to see it as I missed it ???

[MightyGem]

Buy the DVD?