In 2017 Christopher Nolan utilized the full range of cutting-edge cinematic technology to recreate the 1940 rescue, by a flotilla of British naval vessels and private boats, of more than 300,000 Allied troops trapped on the French coast by the German blitzkrieg. Almost six decades earlier, England’s Ealing Studios—famous for its comedies (Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Ladykillers)—had made, as one of its last productions only seventeen years after the event, this film about what the narrator refers to as both a great defeat and a great miracle.
Directed by Leslie Norman, it is naturally on a much smaller scale than Nolan’s epic, except in length (it is actually a half-hour longer), often relying on archival footage and shortcuts like animated graphics both to provide context and to avoid expensive reenactments; and it is in black-and-white. But though like its successor it often appeals to sentiment and national pride, it is more direct about pointing to official ineptitude and obfuscation in the decisions leading up to the near-disaster. It follows two plot threads that come together in the final forty-five-minute sequence of the fraught evacuation under enemy fire.
One follows a small contingent of the British expeditionary force, a squadron led by Corporal Binns (John Mills) that is trapped behind enemy lines, as it struggles to reach the Dunkirk beach, losing men along the way. The other focuses on a small English coastal town, where Charles Foreman (Bernard Lee), a cynical reporter who condemns the government for keeping the populace in the dark about the desperate situation on the continent, and his mousy neighbor John Holden (Richard Attenborough) are enlisted to sail to Dunkirk in their private vessels and join the rescue effort. Both men assist trapped soldiers to reach naval ships for transport, but Foreman’s motorboat is sunk and Holden’s damaged, so they too are stranded until repairs can be effected. Before they escape a tragedy occurs—during a prayer service, no less.
Nonetheless, there is a sequence showing the triumphant return of soldiers to England, though with a warning that the war is far from over. This 1958 Dunkirk pales beside Nolan’s film, but in many respects, it more accurately reflects the British attitude in the immediate post-World War II period and is a good complement to it.
Extras include a contemporary newsreel about Operation Dynamo, as the rescue was code-named (4 min.); a first-person Ealing short titled Young Veteran (22 min.); an interview with Sean Bobbett, who played Frankie, Holden’s young apprentice (22 min.); and a selection of home movies Mills took on the set (10 min.). A strong optional purchase.