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Movie News / Press Releases
THE DAM BUSTERS 75th ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIONS ON MAY 17TH 2018
4K restoration of classic film and gala event
will mark legendary WWII mission
On 17th May 2018, for one-night-only, a new 4k restoration of the classic film The Dam Busters will screen in cinemas across the UK, to mark the 75th Anniversary of the Royal Air Force’s most daring operation of the Second World War. Prior to the screening, cinemas will broadcast live from the Royal Albert Hall where a Special Gala Evening, The Dam Busters with Dan Snow, will be taking place.
Press are invited to attend a media launch for The Dam Busters with Dan Snow on February 26th, 75 years to the day that the legendary ‘Dam Busters Raid’ was given final approval by the Air Ministry.
The media launch takes place at Door 12 (Box Office) at the Royal Albert Hall at 10.30am on Monday 26th February. Atwenty-three foot original Lancaster Bomber cockpit will be displayed outside the Royal Albert Hall and available interviewees include historian, broadcaster and television presenter Dan Snow; grandson of the legendary engineer Sir Barnes Wallis, Jonathan Stopes-Roe; Paul Beaver, historian and Chairman of Trustees of the Barnes Wallis Foundation;David Murray, Controller RAF Benevolent Fund and John Rodden, Head of Home Entertainment and Library at STUDIOCANAL.
On the 17th May, TV historian Dan Snow will host the commemorations at the Royal Albert Hall, paying tribute to Wing Commander Guy Gibson and his comrades of the legendary 617 Squadron. Featuring very special guests, an on-stage ‘bouncing bomb’ experiment plus music from the Glenn Miller Orchestra, this gala evening supports the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund, the RAF’s leading welfare charity.
From 7.15 – 8.15pm proceedings will be simulcast into cinemas nationwide and the event will culminate, in both the Royal Albert Hall and in cinemas broadcasting the stream, with a screening of The Dam Busters, starring Sir Michael Redgrave and Richard Todd, in stunning 4K definition.
“One of the greatest British films of all time in one of Britain’s greatest venues. It’s going to be an unforgettable night of commemoration and nostalgia.”
- Dan Snow
Tickets are now available from thedambusters75(dot)co(dot)uk.
Regarded as a British classic, The Dam Busters is directed by Michael Anderson (Logan’s Run/Around the World in 80 Days). Based on the legendary true story of Commander Guy Gibson and his squadron, The Dam Busters (1955)captures all the thrilling action and suspense of the magnificent exploits of a group of young pilots and their crews, charged with taking out the supposedly impenetrable Ruhr river dams of Germany with an ingeniously designed bouncing bomb. Starring Richard Todd as Gibson and Michael Redgrave as scientist and engineer Dr Barnes Wallis, the film also immortalised composer’s Eric Coates’s masterpiece: The Dam Busters March.
The impact of The Dam Busters on modern filmmakers spans the decades: director George Lucas hired the film’s special effects photographer Gilbert Taylor to work his magic on the original Star Wars; and The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson has long been attached to a remake, based around a screenplay by actor/writer Stephen Fry.
The new restoration of The Dam Busters will premiere as one of the Official Opening events for Lincoln’s International Bomber Command Centre, on Saturday April 14th.
A brand new Collector’s Edition will be available on DVD / Blu-ray / EST via STUDIOCANAL’S Vintage Classicslabel from June 4th. The extras include an exclusive 'Making of The Dam Busters' documentary.
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