By Denise Blunn
Three films are being screened as part of Ramsgate’s events programme to commemorate the 85th anniversary of Operation Dynamo.
Entry is free from today (May 19) to Wednesday (May 21) – with each of the three films providing a different perspective on the 1940 Dunkirk evacuation.
All screenings at 7pm, no booking required. Doors open at 5.30pm.
A Q&A panel, including cast and crew members of the Dunkirk (2017) film, is being hosted at The Granville Theatre tomorrow (May 20) at before the showing of Dunkirk (1958).
Monday 19th May In Which We Serve (1942) – all ages
Noël Coward’s and David Lean’s 1942 In Which We Serve (Monday) is about a Royal Navy destroyer ( a ‘big’ rather than a ‘little ship’) that took part in the Operation Dynamo.
The family stories of crew members told through flashbacks, provide insight into what it was like for those left at home. It was one of the most loved films of the year, although it lost out to Casablanca for the Best Picture Oscar. It has also been credited with helping to turn around American public opinion to join the war in Europe.
Tuesday 20th May Dunkirk (1958) – PG
The Leslie Norman 1958 Dunkirk (Tuesday) goes some way to explaining the why and how of the Operation Dynamo rescue mission – including some wonderful scenes shot in the Royal Harbour. The film was ahead of its time with its more naturalistic style and integration of live action and newsreels from 1940. It was critically acclaimed and popular – the second-highest grossing film in the UK that year. The director was later known for his TV work on The Avengers, The Saint and The Persuaders.
Wednesday 21st Dunkirk (2017) – 12+
The 2017 Christopher Nolan Oscar winning Dunkirk (screened on Wednesday) is an immersive experience with a critically acclaimed soundtrack about the terror and horror of war. Nolan has been reported as describing it as a survival movie, with one of his inspirations being Jaws (1975).
Featured in the movie is the USN P22 retired gunboat, built in Germany for an American fleet that patrolled the River Rhine, which was moored in Ramsgate until 2017.
The movie became the highest-grossing Second World War film of all time, only surpassed by Nolan’s own Oppenheimer in 2023. In May this year Dunkirk (2017) was voted the UK’s favourite Second World War film in the poll by Deltapoll for the War Movie Theatre podcast, pipping films such as The Dam Busters (1955), Pearl Harbour (2001) and Bridge On The River Kwai (1957) to the top spot.
Screenings are sponsored by The Granville, The Ramsgate Society and Ramsgate Town Council.
Details: http://thegranvilletheatre.com/community-events
About Operation Dynamo, the Dunkirk Little Ships and Ramsgate
At the beginning of the Second World War in September 1939, the British Expeditionary Force had moved into Belgium and north east France to assist with the defence of the Allied forces. By the beginning of May 1940, the rapid westward advance of the Axis had trapped Allied armies in an ever-decreasing pocket centred on Dunkirk. On 25 May they reached the coast to the west and east; with Dunkirk and the immediate beaches to the east offering the only possible route of escape for Allied soldiers.
A few weeks earlier in planning Operation Dynamo, (the code name for evacuation of Allied troops) the Royal Navy had requisitioned civilian “boats and pleasure craft” with shallow drafts which would be able to get closer to the gently shelved beaches at Dunkirk. The “Little Ships” ferried the troops to larger ships waiting in deeper water offshore, and when they returned to ports along the south east coast to refuel, they took as many soldiers back as they could carry.
Ramsgate’s Royal Harbour was where all these smaller vessels assembled for departure to Dunkirk on the afternoon of 31st May 1940. The line of over 850 “Little Ships” stretched for five miles.
2025 is the 85th anniversary of Operation Dynamo, which ran from 26th May to 4th June 4, 1940, with over 338,000 British, French, and Belgian troops evacuated from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk.
Ramsgate is commemorating this special event with a 10-day long programme of events to welcome the return of over 70 of the 170 remaining cherished Little Ships to the Royal Harbour.
www.visitthanet.co.uk/see-and-do/history-and-heritage/operation-dynamo/
