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ORIGINAL: NigelKentarus

If you've never read the book 'Enemy at the Gates', it's a good read. The movie is based on 3-4 pages of a 1200 page book.

I read a tome "Barbarossa" on the war in Russia - the author tried to show the turn of each major battle on the actions of one or a few soldiers from either side doing heroic things at just the right moment. I suspect "Enemy at the Gates" would have to have even more of such first-person detail to get to 1200 pages. That is just more detail than I want to read. Canadian author Pierre Burton covered the 900 days of the Siege of Leningrad in much fewer pages and I got a pretty good sense of 'what it was like' without excessive detail. That's about my speed these days ...

ORIGINAL: Leandros

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy
Nah. We'd be screaming at the screen the whole time about lack of arrest wires on B-26s and pan the movie just based on that alone.

Well, Biggles did it - landed his B-24 (!) on a carrier just outside Borneo. A British carrier, at that...! So, why not?

Fred
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In what Biggles book was that?

That looks like they are doing part two of The Movie that Shan't Ever be Mentioned.

ORIGINAL: NigelKentarus

If you've never read the book 'Enemy at the Gates', it's a good read. The movie is based on 3-4 pages of a 1200 page book.

Aye. A classic. One of the first books I read on the Eastern Front as a teenager.

The movie is comparative alliterative rubbish.

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

As an interesting side-thought, if this forum (as a collective) was to direct a war film about the Pacific theatre, it would bomb (no pun intended) at the box office.

I'm envisioning it as a "12 Angry Men" rip-off, except rather than argue for guilt or innocence in a courtroom trial, it's JFB's and AFB's deciding if the Yamato or Iowa would win in a fight.

...it would be over the budget
...probably men would die starring in it but no Zeroes would be harmed ...
...it will be as longer than Bondarchuk's War and Peace

ORIGINAL: Orm

ORIGINAL: Leandros

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy
Nah. We'd be screaming at the screen the whole time about lack of arrest wires on B-26s and pan the movie just based on that alone.

Well, Biggles did it - landed his B-24 (!) on a carrier just outside Borneo. A British carrier, at that...! So, why not?

Fred
----

In what Biggles book was that?

Biggles on Borneo, if I remember correctly. He was also operating from the secret Dutch air bases on Borneo, Samarinda I and II.

Fred

ORIGINAL: Leandros

ORIGINAL: Orm

ORIGINAL: Leandros



Well, Biggles did it - landed his B-24 (!) on a carrier just outside Borneo. A British carrier, at that...! So, why not?

Fred
----

In what Biggles book was that?

Biggles on Borneo, if I remember correctly. He was also operating from the secret Dutch air bases on Borneo, Samarinda I and II.

Fred

I suspected as much. But I didn't remember him flying a B-24 there. He mostly flew the Bristol Beaufighter in that book. At least according to my memory so I decided to check how accurate it was. And the wiki pages linked below concur although that doesn't guarantee it is correct. I noticed your comment on the Beaufighter page [:)]

https://biggles.fandom.com/wiki/Categor ... ggles_flew
https://biggles.fandom.com/wiki/Bristol_Beaufighter

I see that they used the B-24 under a different name as a "load carrier" in the Borneo book.


https://biggles.fandom.com/wiki/Consoli ... _Liberator

ORIGINAL: Orm

I see that they used the B-24 under a different name as a "load carrier" in the Borneo book.


https://biggles.fandom.com/wiki/Consoli ... _Liberator

I believe the story was that they escaped in the B-24 (Liberator) and landed on a British carrier.
It is more than 60 years since I read the book, and a Norwegian edition, at that...[;)]. It may
have been flown by Algy or Bertie. As you know, they flew everything...[;)]..

Lately I have acquired some 1st edition Biggles books, but I haven't got as far as "Borneo" - they are
quite rare - and expensive - as 1st editions.

Fred

Thank you. [:)] [&o]

I do remember much of that book although the details elude me. And I didn't remember the escape at all. Except that they had to escape.

I looked at the fan link and could not find a picture or artist depiction of ... Biggles.
I looked at the character list and could not find the name ... Biggles.
I did find a book cover art for Biggles in Borneo, and it appears to show his aircraft hitting ... an Essex class Carrier!

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

I looked at the fan link and could not find a picture or artist depiction of ... Biggles.
I looked at the character list and could not find the name ... Biggles.
I did find a book cover art for Biggles in Borneo, and it appears to show his aircraft hitting ... an Essex class Carrier!

It's even worse than that! Apparently, it's a captured Essex Class carrier that has been re-flagged by the Japanese! So ka! [X(]

You guys have no historical knowledge…?

Fred

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy
It's even worse than that! Apparently, it's a captured Essex Class carrier that has been re-flagged by the Japanese! So ka! [X(]

This one better for you...? From the 1st edition of the book.

Unfortunately some of the illustrators weren't always into what was going on.

What I find interesting with the Biggles books is how the author relates to the real history, being it planes flown, locations or the general world situation. Sometimes he is spot on - as in Biggles in Spain (during the Civil War) and in the Baltic. For that matter, in "Borneo", too.

It is rather impressive how Biggles and his trusted gang can jump into ANY plane and just take off. No briefing necessary be
it a Dornier 24 or a Heinkel 115. They are also known to have flown the Sunderland, the SM-79 and the Wellington, to name a
few..[;)]

Fred

Interestingly enough, the hardcover front of the 1st edition also shows a carrier, probably the one they landed the
B-24 on. Quite a feat - or what..? I believe they took off again, too...[;)]..!!

From this it is obvious that the carrier had a central place in the story.

Fred

Look interesting, but I cannot rate it cause I haven't seen it. But seeing part of the trailer does seem alittle off though.

On the youtube comments, there are up and down with griefs, so I wouldn't pay much for this one. I do believe Tora Tora Tora as well Midway is good movie, just need to update the graphics, making it look more realistic instead of using modern warships in the background.

There aren't very many good WWII movies out there.

Why would they be remaking this flick …..?

Just watched the trailer. From the makers of Independence Day? uh-oh....

Christ, that "Dauntless" trailer has more plastic in it than the whole Pacific Ocean. Everything feels fake. Should have been named 'The Battle of Greenscreen". At least film the actors outdoors in natural lighting from time to time...

Stumbled across the Midway trailer on YouTube this evening and committed some kind of mastur-torture by watching it again.

Explosions rock ships at Pearl...No, wait! They don't rock them at all. The ships just sit placidly.