Literary (Book) adaptations – Page 6

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 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 (The Hasty Heart, A Man Called Peter) as Gibson and Sir Michael Redgrave (Dead Of Night, The Browning Version) as scientist and engineer Dr Barnes Wallis, the film also immortalised composer 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.

Shot and set in Manchester, the 1962 acclaimed ‘Kitchen Sink’ drama, A Kind of Loving was adapted from the Stan Barstow novel of the same name. Directed by John Schlesinger (Darling, Midnight Cowboy), the film stars Alan Bates as Vic Brown, a young draughtsman, whose search for love leads to Ingrid Rothwell (June Ritchie, in her screen debut), an employee in the company. Ingrid quickly falls in love with Vic, only to find herself falling pregnant after which Vic reluctantly agrees to marry her. Finding himself forced into a life he never wanted, Vic begins to resent Ingrid and the position he finds himself in. A Kind of Loving won widespread critical acclaim upon its theatrical release, winning the Golden Bear at the 12th Berlin International Film Festival in 1962 and scoring four BAFTA nominations. The film was also a commercial success, becoming one of the most popular films at the UK box office that year.