Eagles over London

1969, reissued on DVD 2009

War

Italy

Italian overdubbed in English

Region 0 (all regions), NTSC widescreen

Distributed by Severin Films

Reviewer: Bob Estreich

This type of film has been called, not always kindly, “Macaroni Combat”. It is a mixture of footage from various sources, over the top action, and a total disregard for accuracy. Also known as Battle Squadron, this film was made by director Enzo Castellani with a lot of interference by the producers, who wanted as much WW2 genuine footage cut into the film as possible. They also insisted on a distracting “split screen” technique where various elements of a scene were played out in separate blocks on the screen at the same time. Almost in spite of this Castellani managed to turn out a fairly decent and entertaining show.

The plot is fairly simple. During the evacuation of Dunkirk a group of German infiltrators is slipped into the evacuees. They are using identities stolen from British casualties and find it easy to get into Britain in the confusion. Their objective is to find and disable the British radar stations. The coming Battle of Britain will depend on putting these out of action so the German bombers can approach Britain undetected before the fighter squadrons can be launched. A British officer suspects their presence and a security hunt is started for the Germans. At a critical point in the battle the infiltrators decide on a suicide mission and attack the radar Central Control. If they succeed the German invasion can begin.

A competent group of actors was selected including Van Johnson and Frederick Stafford. Castellani got to work and produced some brilliant footage. His action scenes are first class and he is partial to blowing things up. His Dunkirk evacuation scene is magnificent – huge, sweeping and action-filled. Unfortunately it is spoiled a little by his using American Harvard trainer aircraft as German bombers. This sort of obvious error haunts the rest of the film as Castellani continued relentlessly to make the same mistake. Historical authenticity went out the window and the film became a nitpicker’s paradise.

For instance, there was the CASA. This was a Spanish version of the German Messerschmitt 109 and was still flying at the time the film was made. It had a Rolls Royce engine fitted that made it look like a Me109 from the cockpit back and like a pregnant Spitfire from the windscreen forward. It is huge fun watching this aircraft appear in German markings as a Messerschmitt, then in British markings as a Spitfire (the wing shape and the cockpit are completely wrong) and then as both at the same time in the air combat scenes. To add to the confusion we have genuine Spitfires in German markings. Fake-looking models crash into the water. Genuine footage is cut into these scenes as well so in the end you can’t work out who is shooting at what. Since the whole point of the story is the need to get the German aircraft over London, this should be distracting, but there are so many errors that it is hilarious. Rather than enjoying the film as a drama I finished up playing “spot the stuffup”. Spitfires as nightfighters? British soldiers carrying Italian rifles? It goes on and on.

In spite of this (or because of it in some cases) it is still a good film after all these years. The plot was as credible as The Eagle Has Landed, Castellani’s film work of bombed houses is poignant, the action scenes are savage and bloody. Even the lip-synching is pretty good for its day. Don’t expect another Battle of Britain (made in the same year and incidentally also featuring the CASA again with more intercut genuine war footage), since this film is purely a drama, not a historical recreation. Just suspend your nitpicking for the duration of the film, sit back and enjoy it. Severin’s restoration is excellent and the Dolby sound is clear.

Castellani went on to make Inglorious Bastards, another superb macaroni combat film that has also been rereleased by Severin. Quentin Tarantino was impressed enough to do a modern remake and an interview between Castellani and Tarantino is one of the extras. Another extra is a rare showing of the film in Los Angeles. The mini-documentary is called Eagles over Los Angeles.

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This review will appear in Volume 2 No.6 (2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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