Hylander_1314 |
03-26-08 09:30 AM |
One has to remember also that back when Tora Tora Tora, and Midway, The Battle of Britain, and the Blue Max were made, there was no CG. They had to scrounge whatever planes they could for filming. The Battle of Britain was the best repesented as far as planes went, even though there were no JU-88s, or Do-17s in flying condition for them to use, so the only real flying bombers were the He-111s but they were Spanish built versions as were the Me-109s. Also not all the Spitrires and and Hurricanes were MkI or MkII versions either, but you had to work with what you had in those days. The scenes where the Spitfires of 54 Squadron intercept the Ju-87 Stukas were filmed mostly with R/C Ju-87s. The exception being the scene where a plywood mockup of a Stuka crashes into the radar hut. It was launched from a rail. But even those R/C models were huge. From wingtip to wingtip they measured around 6 feet. Which makes them close to 1/4 scale models. So the model engines could be completely hidden in the fuselage.
Same with Tora Tora Tora, and Midway. How many original Japanese planes were left in flying condition in those days, none. Even the American P-40s and B-17s were all later war variants as there were no early models available to film, and there were no P-36 Hawks around either, (the radial engine variant of the P-40). So with all things considered, I think it's safe to say that Hollywood and European film makers did a better job for the most part before computers muddled things up, and more emphasis is now put on movie eye-candy as opposed to a good story.
Now for an exception, one can say that Dark Blue World is a well done film about the Battle of Britain that's not too old. But it's considered more obscure as it deals with the Czechs who flew in the Battle of Britain. The story is good, and it has good action too.
I'm hoping that the European made film The Red Baron comes to America. It looks like it's been done quite well, with great mockup planes, including Albatros fighters, SPADs, Sopwiths, Se-5s, and Fokker Triplanes. The clips I've seen of the fighting over the trenches is very intense, and confused as it most likely got when large formations of planes got tangled with each other. But that has to do with good CG work, as it would cost a fortune to build 100+ planes for a movie, that would most likely rot after filming was done.
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