DANG, THE INFLUENCE IS SO OBVIOUS ONCE YOU HEAR IT:

It was The Dam Busters (1955), a comparatively modest black-and-white British war film, that led to Michael Anderson becoming a bankable director of large, commercial pictures. And although he went on to direct such multimillion-dollar productions as Around the World in 80 Days (1956), The Dam Busters remained the film of which Anderson, who has died aged 98, was most proud.

This gripping docudrama described the development of the "bouncing bomb" by the aviation engineer Barnes Wallis (Michael Redgrave) and its implementation by a special squadron led by Wg Cmdr Guy Gibson (Richard Todd), smashing the German dams in the Ruhr industrial region during the second world war. Although the film's special effects climax is rather disappointing, it gave the first indication of Anderson's leanings towards the spectacular, and it was a clear influence on Star Wars 20 years later.

He resists any flag-waving or noble speeches at the end. Instead, there is a slow pan around the mess hall, showing the places set for the men who would never return, and shots of their deserted rooms. Barnes Wallis is in tears ("All those boys! All those boys!"), while Gibson goes to his quarters to "write some letters".

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