Piece of Cake

I myself was touring most of the surviving fighter bases as well as the air museums of Great Britain just before the series "Piece of Cake" was aired on TV in the U.K. I was so happy to see this series offered by Amazon.com as I had really wrote it off of ever watching it let alone being able to obtain my own copy. For the purist & authentic history buff it has many things wrong. For instance during that time period the RAF flew Hawker Hurricane fighter A/C as in the movie the Battle of Britain during the beginning of that movie Hurricanes were accurately used in France during that time period not Spitfires. If I remember correctly when Piece of Cake was produced there may have been only 3 or 4 Hurricanes airworthy in the world actually flying so there was no way they could have acquired a sufficient quantity of Hurricanes to make the movie factual according to history thus we put up with an inaccuracy but got to watch view & hear what I & many consider to be the finest single/seat fighter & dog-fighter ever produced by any A/C company. One little thing I observed which was true to fact: Just watch on some of the take/offs, you'll notice the Spitfires as they take off retracting their under-carriage wiggle a bit as if the pilot is being very sloppy in his take/off procedure but I think for authenticity they were instructed to do so as in a Spitfire as you went to raise your undercarriage you had to move your left hand from the throttle to grasp the control yoke (stick) & grab the under-carriage lever with your right hand to operate the under-cart lever thus making a shaking movement in your flying attitude which was quite noticeable from the ground just like in the movie, now that's authentic ! Like Steve Hinton once said:"The Spitfire is like a little guy with great big muscles"! Again , even after they returned back to England from France as the Battle of Britain began they would have been flying early models & marks of Spitfires not Mark 9's with 4-blade props , dual under-wing coolers & gun sights with square reflector plates (Lenses), although you do get a view of one early model " Spit " with a single under-wing cooler making a few passes.(S/N AR501 maybe?) I suppose I do get a bit critical on facts & another thing I noticed near the end of the movie was on starting up the engines on two Spitfires the propellers were spinning the wrong direction and these A/C were not late model Rolls Royce Griffon powered they were Rolls Royce Merlin powered as noted by the close fitted cowlings. Could it be the film was inadvertently inserted in the studio projector somehow crossed up & nobody caught this ? BUT on to the movie , all inaccuracies forgiven ! If you are a Spitfire addict this movie is for you. The cast of characters and their roles portrayed are priceless. No heroes outshining each-other but actually the way it was , a battle hardened squadron of pilots not knowing if it was their turn to get the "Chop" next time up, putting up with non-experienced pilots fresh out of training, political differences , going round the bend ready to lose their minds but never the less ready to fight & pilot officer " Moggy ", who would have ever thought ? A tiny bit of a love story , a tiny bit of reckless flying , it's all here but most of all actual Spitfires doing their thing not sitting in museums. Of course we can forgive the appearances of Spanish built HA112's with Rolls Royce Merlin power portraying German built ME109's(BF) but after all I don't think there was one genuine German 109 flying in the world at the time this series was produced. As a pilot & history buff even with this movie's inaccuracy to fact I believe this is one of the finest aviation movies (series) ever produced ! DEFINITELY FIVE STARS

A key thing to remember when watching this series is that it is based on a novel with a bit of a Catch-22 feel, not on a non-fiction work as was "Band of Brothers," for example. With that being said, this is an excellent film with fine, understated acting, great writing, and good action sequences. I believe it captured the spirit of the novel quite well. Of course, many plot points are missing, but that's inevitable when transforming a lengthly book to the screen, even when you have five hours to work with! I watch Piece of Cake at least once a year and I never tire of it. In fact, I find new things to enjoy each time. There's actually some extremely funny moments in there; I especially like the interaction between the intellectual intelligence officer "Skull" Skelton and the snobbish Squadron Leader Rex. If you happen to love WWII aircraft, then I can recommend this film to you on that basis alone. The shots of the Spitfires in the air are fabulous and the accompanying musical score is right on.

This made for television series is a good telling of Derek Robinson's novel. A character driven story about the early years of the war. Piece of Cake was shown on Australian television in an edited version during the 1980's. This is a restored version that fills out the story in 6 episodes very nicely. Although there are one or two scenes I remember differently. One particular scene where Fanny Barton uses his CO's cheque book to pay for a flyer's send off stands out. When it is discovered the payment is not kosher, Fanny threatens the restaurant owner, which seemed out of character for me. I remember it as the owner forgiving the debt without the threat. 'However much you owe, monsieur; I will always be in your debt.' A much more heartfelt, and revealing scene, in my opinion. Apart from that, it's a wonderful show with some great flying sequences. Yes, Hornet Squadron is equipped with Spitfires, not fitting with history, but where are you going to find any airworthy Hurricanes these days? All in all a great purchase with some wonderful characters. The earnest, if little bland Fanny in the video is an Aussie, not NZ as in the book, but still well drawn by Tom Burlinson. Neil Dudgeon's take on Moggy is a great, if cruel character. The whole cast do justice to the nove. Until they bring out a Blu ray with commentaries and the deleted scenes, this will fill the void. I recommend this to all Derek Robinson fans. They did a good job.

Attention le dvd n’est pas anamorphique (contrairement à l autre édition dvd mais sans sous titres) et donc l’image apparaît en tout petit dans une lucarne. Sinon, une superbe série sur un escadron fictif de la RAF

Prompt delivery, excellent series,if you're into the second world war as i am, a great addition to any collection.

Not the best quality picture.

OK lets get the critical bits out of the way first! Those in the know will tell you that most if not all of the spitfires shown are much later generation planes and weren't around at the Battle of Britain. Others will comment about wooden characterisation and the slowness of the plot in the first few episodes but this misses the entire point - this is a piece of work that actually recreates the feel of a by-gone age. The issues of class, the boredom of the phoney war and the sudden explosive deaths that came with the Battle of Britain are all captured vividly as is the ambiguity of some of the French citizens towards the Brits. A Piece of Cake captures a pivotal moment - the RAF at the outset of the war is class bound, unprepared and death comes not from German fighters but bad landings ( the first CO learns his lesson the hard way) and mistakes - shooting down your own planes. As the scene moves to France where a new CO takes over and train his men in what can only be described as suicidal tactics in the air, the ground scenes lay bare the brittle class structure. The drama gradually builds with the increasing tension as real war looms, practise becomes more urgent and deadly. When real war break out the results are explosive including allowing their CO to fly to his death rather than follow him and suddenly characters who seemed safe in the air are falling like leaves. The characters are of their time and are believable - Moggie is wonderful as a class ridden bully with a fine line in quiet sneering. The ariel scenes are stunning thanks to the late Ray Hanna and the famous flying under the bridge is for real ( no CGI here) and the palpable sense of relief when he makes it is genuine. This is a slow burn drama but it does burn deep. An excellent cast, stunning scenes and real people facing stark choices and not always getting it right. Story telling at its best

Wrong mark of spitfires were used in the series but the acting and story are first rate. I saw this originally on PBS in the late 80's and was pleased to fined some scenes PBS deleted for time. A great unknown series to discover.