28 replies to this topic

[kenf48]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008ly1y



another excuse to shout at the telly


Ken

[Rayessex]

Hi Ken,

Is it going to be worth throwing a sickie for?

Ray

[geraint]

Thanks for the notification. Seems an odd time to broadcast something as topical as this.

[kenf48]

Hi Ken,

Is it going to be worth throwing a sickie for?

Ray

Not seen it, I've set the video but I fear it may be a bit 'over the top'  sorry, I'll get me coat  

Ken

[Rayessex]

Decided, sickie thrown!! No wonder the Country is in a state!!

[Geoff Greensmith]

Thanks Ken.
Rang home to get it recorded.

Geoff

[seadog]

Also known as "Joyeux Noel" and released in 2006. In my opinion pretty dire, the best part being the final credits which at least show that someone has a modicum of talent. If we ever get a film the equivalent of the quality of "Paths of Glory" I will be very surprised.

Norman

[GRUMPY]

Thanks for the notification. Seems an odd time to broadcast something as topical as this.

What, like Christmas?

[Anthony Bagshaw]

I like the film's description- ''On Christmas Eve 1914, soldiers from opposing sides met in No Man's Land....''  

[geraint]

Naahh!
1:25 on a Tuesday?  

[27thBN]

Film is pretty good but you had better brush up on your french as the subtitles get a bit annoying as they do in any foreign film ..MC

[Rayessex]

I should have gone to work!!!

[IPT]

I should have gone to work!!!

Especially as you drive a snow plough.

[Rayessex]

IPT,

Ssssssssh we get a bad enough press as it is!

[matthew lucas]

total crap
matt

[squirrel]

My wife thoroughly enjoyed it.

[geraint]

If it was as bad as that; perhaps that's why it was shown 1:25 on a Tuesday!

[Marco]

My wife thoroughly enjoyed it.

Then you know it is historically incorrect and has a love-twist somewhere. NEXT!

Regards,

Marco

[phil w]

I was kicking myself for missing it. It seems from the comments above I can stop kicking myself.

[Geoff Greensmith]

Have not watched it yet.
Was leaving it until I broke up for christmas to enjoy while I had a beer!
Seems from the comments I should have a few first.


Geoff

[CROONAERT]

Have not watched it yet.
Was leaving it until I broke up for christmas to enjoy while I had a beer!
Seems from the comments I should have a few first.

Watch it simply for what it is Geoff... entertainment.  I did that and thoroughly enjoyed it. OK, it may be a little corny and 'cartoonified'...even completely improbable (after all, it is a supposed conglomeration of several Christmas truce stories rolled into one), but have to admit that I enjoyed watching it (and my kids thought it was wonderful).

It's possible to pick holes in practically every TV/film production ever produced if we're so inclined but, as my wife keeps telling me...what's the point watching anything at all if all I'm going to do is rip it to bits?

Now...I'd like to see someone do a 'Christmas 1914' story based around the 140th Infantry Reg down near Lihons one day... think it'd go too against the grain for most watchers though!

Dave

[Geoff Greensmith]

Watch it simply for what it is Geoff... entertainment. I did that and thoroughly enjoyed it. OK, it may be a little corny and 'cartoonified'...even completely improbable (after all, it is a supposed conglomeration of several Christmas truce stories rolled into one), but have to admit that I enjoyed watching it (and my kids thought it was wonderful).

It's possible to pick holes in practically every TV/film production ever produced if we're so inclined but, as my wife keeps telling me...what's the point watching anything at all if all I'm going to do is rip it to bits?

Now...I'd like to see someone do a 'Christmas 1914' story based around the 140th Infantry Reg down near Lihons one day... think it'd go too against the grain for most watchers though!

Dave

Dave thanks for the advice will watch it anyway (and will not pick holes in it )
Have a good christmas

Geoff

[ulsterlad2]

I have this film on dvd. Got it in town a while back for about £4.
I've watched it a couple of times and enoyed it. It's only story
based on events and should be watched as entertainment, a
way to pass a few hours with the feet up. It isn't nor is it meant
to be a Pathe Newsreel.

[kenf48]

It's reassuring to know the critical faculties are so finely tuned.
I saw the original listing in the Sunday Times listing magazine where it was a 'film choice' and just for the record I wasn't encouraging anyone to take a sickie or record the film. As is pointed out above, at 1.25p.m on a Tuesday it was always going to be a minority interest, and it was buried in the repeats of xmas specials past.
The majority reaction was predictable hence my comment in the original post, which was also a clue.

Having now seen it I have to agree it was a bit cheesy but no more so than some of the Great War Fiction published in the last ten years, or indeed some of the more dubious 'recently discovered' diaries of the 'common soldier'.   I wonder is this a reflection of what A.A. Gill, in the same newspaper, called the 'decade of the amateur'.
I agree with the last posting the film was just entertainment, a fiction struggling to represent the motivation behind a unique historical event which in reality had no impact on the conflict.

A more interesting question is this how the Great War will be represented in popular culture in the 21st century now that the war has passed from living memory?  Perhaps it's time for an update to Paul Fussels masterwork  http://tiny.cc/bZsQL to reflect this.

btw unlike the film I would recommend everyone takes time to read this book.  The first chapter is on the above link.

[Matchless650]

I welcome any Film on WW1 , otherwise we run the risk of the great war disapearing completely from the modern thinking of the masses.

Rick.