15 replies to this topic

[Moonraker]

Some of us have sniffed at the films "Merry Christmas" and "The Red Baron", both of which have been screened on TV in the past week or so, and some of us have sneered at "Downton Abbey" for its goofs in depicting the Great War, but on Channel 5 at 2240 on December 31 there's a film about the war  which has has attracted only one notice of a goof from the discerning members of the International Movie Data Base, so it must be pretty realistic:

Read about it here


Moonraker

[hesmond]

Oh rember it well ,the Can Can bit aint bad !

[FitzroyPC]

Not as good as ... The Prologue

[hesmond]

Woe is me !

[Jim Smithson]

Oh Maddy Smith!  My adolescent years are returning to haunt me.

[DrB]

...Searching for the Holy Grail. WW1 movies are the delight of the rivet counters. Mistakes in history, uniforms, gear and all else. Please remember that this stuff is a movie and the gear used is probably the cheapest the producer could buy. If you want to peruse reality, go to a reenactment. There the gear is authentic. But then the reenactors are taken to task for being either tattooed, too old or too young (or overweight!)
First hand accounts, like "The Somme" are panned they are not not "modern" in the sense of the movie world because that was the state of the art in 1916.
   Suck it up, folks, and dream of unlimited finances to make the "Dream movie" of your choice.
DrB

[John Hartley]

hesmond, on 27 December 2011 - 09:41 PM, said:

Woe is me !

Woe, woe and thrice woe.

[hesmond]

Fantastic dear Maddy in Up Pompei thank goodness for pause on the DVD

[geraint]

Infamy! Infamy! They've all got it in for me!

[kenf48]

DrB, on 28 December 2011 - 02:55 PM, said:

But then the reenactors are taken to task for being either tattooed

As the plot rests on the fact the hero has the German war plans tattooed on his bottom I think we can say it is authentic and tattooed renactors have nothing to fear

mind you there were cracks in the Schlieffen  Plan

I'll get me coat...


Ken

[alex falbo]

kenf48, on 30 December 2011 - 06:18 PM, said:

As the plot rests on the fact the hero has the German war plans tattooed on his bottom I think we can say it is authentic and tattooed renactors have nothing to fear

mind you there were cracks in the Schlieffen  Plan

I'll get me coat...


Ken

[DrB]

....tatoos, ok, great point, but not "The Grateful Dead" or an F-14 Tomcat.
Dr B

[MartinBennitt]

but did anyone watch it?

cheers Martin B

[Moonraker]

Er, yes. I didn't mind the first half but then it got even sillier. As background decoration there were several authentic looking war posters, and also a number of resonant references to popular conceptions of the war.

Given that our hero seems to have enlisted fairly on in the war, the steel helmets that featured when he got to the Front might have been before their time, though one can always imagine that he spent 18 months or so in England before crossing the Channel.

Given the overall fatuity, I don't suppose anyone could be bothered to identify the hero's cap badge or the sergeant-major's decorations. And was the hero's underwear WWI issue?

Moonraker

[kenf48]

In the interest of cultural exploration of the 'Great War and Modern Memory' I confess I watched it last night. (In spite of the listings describing it as 'useless' or not one of Frankie's finest'.)

I tend to agree with the comments above especially when the German Intelligence Colonel Von Kutz  infiltrated the British HQ wearing a kilt and mess uniform sporting an Iron Cross was kicked up the backside by a lady in stocking tops and big pink knickers stretched credulity somewhat. although I did think, where are the button counters when you need them?  Then again it was probably in the music hall tradition of ENSA concert parties and their predecessors of the Great War

The regimental goat wandering in no man's land seems to be a recurring theme in animals at war as discussed in a more recent film which does seem to have excited the aforesaid counters even before it's release in the UK.

Ken

[Scalyback]

Could of been set in 1714 or 1814.............Utter tosh and I loved every moment of it!

I did note the iron cross, surely any switched on "tommy" would of noticed?