Post by Dave Homewood on May 13, 2010 22:38:50 GMT 12
I just watched an old film called The Big Lift, which follows an aircrew and a groundcrew member during the Berlin Airlift. It was made only a little after (or perhaps even during) the actual 1948 blockade and airlift, and was released in 1950.
Amazingly it was made entirely on location in the actual locations, such as Tempelhof Airport in Berlin, and of course Berlin city itself as well as a few other aerodromes.
To add to the authenticity, apart from the two lead characters who were played by Montgomery Clift and Paul Douglas, all the other military personnel seen are the genuine article, real soldiers, sailors, MP's, etc playing themselves.
The aircrew that is followed fly a C-54 Skymaster and that is the predominant typre seen though there's certainly other types in the film like Dakotas, etc. And the flying scenes are simply marvellous. Lots of low air to airs of the C-54 over Germany, and some stunning and scary footage of the planes landing at Tempelhof. that airfield is incredible, it is so small and is encroached all the way to the end of the strip by houses. The aeroplanes fly down to below rooftop level on final approach. And worse than that, but they operated on occasions in thick fog!!
At first I thought it was going to be a documentary but it was more than that. The footage is extremely authentic and I suspect a lot comes straight from the actual airlift, but there's a plot too, in which the flight engineer Danny Mack, meets and falls for a local Berlin girl. But it's by no means the usual chickflick love affair so often scrunched into a good aviation film. There's a lot of pathos where the film reveals the awful conditions that the people of Berlin were being forced to live in. There are the prejudices that go along with the conquering Americans returning to Berlin to help the old foe Germans. There is the threat of the Russians and their spies, but in a nicely understated and sometimes humourous way. And of course there is a little drama in the air too, but done in a very authentic way. Oh and there's some great technology explained too, we find out how they got down in the fog between the buildings.
It must be the only aviation film of that era to not use Airfix models, but instead it all looks real, 100%. Even the scenes of the men in their cockpit look real, like they are really flying. I don't think they are but who knows as the guys playing the pilots were real C-54 pilots. I don't think they'd have been able to fit 1950's film cameras and microphones into the cockpit though so I'd guess it is very good studio work. The cockpit looks right, not a plywood mock up two-times the real size like most Hollywood aeroplanes back then. And the actors look grubby, greasy, smelly and tired, not the clean pressed heroes of so many Hollywood films.
There is also an amazing scene where there's a parade and some platoon is doing absolutely stunning rifle drill with all sorts of trick marchinging, like marching girls on speed and with rifles. It's that totally unnecessary but spectacular rifle drill that the Yanks seem to do on big occasions.
I would throroughly recommend this film as a great watch. if you are interesting in the history of the Airlift this is a great example of life during it. It has some funny and some touching moments and some scary ones too. I don't know if it's widely available but I'd say it's a must for aviation buffs.
Amazingly it was made entirely on location in the actual locations, such as Tempelhof Airport in Berlin, and of course Berlin city itself as well as a few other aerodromes.
To add to the authenticity, apart from the two lead characters who were played by Montgomery Clift and Paul Douglas, all the other military personnel seen are the genuine article, real soldiers, sailors, MP's, etc playing themselves.
The aircrew that is followed fly a C-54 Skymaster and that is the predominant typre seen though there's certainly other types in the film like Dakotas, etc. And the flying scenes are simply marvellous. Lots of low air to airs of the C-54 over Germany, and some stunning and scary footage of the planes landing at Tempelhof. that airfield is incredible, it is so small and is encroached all the way to the end of the strip by houses. The aeroplanes fly down to below rooftop level on final approach. And worse than that, but they operated on occasions in thick fog!!
At first I thought it was going to be a documentary but it was more than that. The footage is extremely authentic and I suspect a lot comes straight from the actual airlift, but there's a plot too, in which the flight engineer Danny Mack, meets and falls for a local Berlin girl. But it's by no means the usual chickflick love affair so often scrunched into a good aviation film. There's a lot of pathos where the film reveals the awful conditions that the people of Berlin were being forced to live in. There are the prejudices that go along with the conquering Americans returning to Berlin to help the old foe Germans. There is the threat of the Russians and their spies, but in a nicely understated and sometimes humourous way. And of course there is a little drama in the air too, but done in a very authentic way. Oh and there's some great technology explained too, we find out how they got down in the fog between the buildings.
It must be the only aviation film of that era to not use Airfix models, but instead it all looks real, 100%. Even the scenes of the men in their cockpit look real, like they are really flying. I don't think they are but who knows as the guys playing the pilots were real C-54 pilots. I don't think they'd have been able to fit 1950's film cameras and microphones into the cockpit though so I'd guess it is very good studio work. The cockpit looks right, not a plywood mock up two-times the real size like most Hollywood aeroplanes back then. And the actors look grubby, greasy, smelly and tired, not the clean pressed heroes of so many Hollywood films.
There is also an amazing scene where there's a parade and some platoon is doing absolutely stunning rifle drill with all sorts of trick marchinging, like marching girls on speed and with rifles. It's that totally unnecessary but spectacular rifle drill that the Yanks seem to do on big occasions.
I would throroughly recommend this film as a great watch. if you are interesting in the history of the Airlift this is a great example of life during it. It has some funny and some touching moments and some scary ones too. I don't know if it's widely available but I'd say it's a must for aviation buffs.
