War Horse and WW1 movies

Phuckitt

Gallipoli - brilliant
Aces High - ok
All Quiet on the western front - excellent
Sargent Yorke - excellent
The Great Dictator - stunning
The Lost Battalion - really enjoyed this

When you think about it there have been very few gritty WW1 movies

johnny_doyle

Phuckitt wrote: »

When you think about it there have been very few gritty WW1 movies

absolutely. Given the huge potential material, it's a great shame.

mikemac1

johnny_doyle wrote: »

I have a memory of a series called When the Boat Comes In with James Bolam. Touched on the end of the Great War, unemployment of soldiers and there was an episode where his character was being recruited for the Black and Tans.

http://www.zetaminor.com/cult/when_boat/when_boat_s1_v2.htm

I'm halfway through Season One, it's quality
As shown in a previous post, it's up on youtube

Geordie accent ok to follow though I had to replay a few words

Call the pol-is

Morlar

I'd go along with most of the options previously posted. 'All Quiet on the Western front' (original), 'Gallipoli' & 'Lawrence of Arabia' would probably be my favourites. 'Passchendaele' was a good movie for what it was, (if you can ignore the love story the action scenes were phenomenal). It was also interesting to see the story of the crucified candaian laid to rest. 'Paths of Glory' is also exceptional, the performances and certain scenes in that movie really stay with you.

'Red Baron' the 2010 version is one to avoid imo. The effects and aerial fighting scenes were nicely done but the rest was rubbish.

Just as a trivial curiosity other recent movies that had WW1 visual elements were - 'Sucker punch' & 'Wolverine'. Neither are strictly WW1 - but both have short scenes of WW1 battle fields. The sucker punch ones were visually very impressive (though of course completely fantasy). Might be worth checking out if your bored.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-eMsakDuSM

Fuinseog

johnny_doyle wrote: »

with the success of the book and play, Spielberg has now produced the movie :

http://www.warhorsemovie.com/trailer

I've not managed to see the play but hope to see this movie when it's released. Not sure that too many films come out with a WW1 theme.

What WW1 related movies (or TV series) have you watched and how would you rate them?

Not a bad war movie, bit a tad maudlin.
There is a blooper when theyshow a map of Europe and ireland is green as opposed to pink.
Would it be usual for a piper to play for a Devonshire regiment before they went over the top?
Different socal classes seem to be the best of chums, but officers and other ranks did not mix as portrayed in the movie.
Spielberg, being Spielberg portrays the Germans as harsh disciplinarians. They shoot deserters. The english on the other hand are not strict at all and the simple soldier can disobey orders and bring a horse to the rear without asking anyones permission and not suffer any consequences.

al28283

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmXizgy2H-I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsaDeEaQy8Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH3-Gt7mgyM

Not sure how historically accurate these are :rolleyes:

WW1 never seemed to capture the imagination of Hollywood for some reason.
I guess why make a movie about WW1 when you have WW2.

Interestingly these are all set in 1917. Was that a pivotal year in the war? or is it just a coincidence?

It's funny that of these 3 clips I've linked, it's Blackadder that is the most poignant and captures the sense of pointlessness and misery of that particular theatre.

johnny_doyle

Fuinseog wrote: »

Not a bad war movie, bit a tad maudlin.
There is a blooper when theyshow a map of Europe and ireland is green as opposed to pink.
Would it be usual for a piper to play for a Devonshire regiment before they went over the top?
Different socal classes seem to be the best of chums, but officers and other ranks did not mix as portrayed in the movie.
Spielberg, being Spielberg portrays the Germans as harsh disciplinarians. They shoot deserters. The english on the other hand are not strict at all and the simple soldier can disobey orders and bring a horse to the rear without asking anyones permission and not suffer any consequences.

cannot imagine any reason why the Devons would have a piper.

I'm hoping to see War Horse this week. I don't always pick up on details first time around so may have to plot in a second visit (or wait for the DVD).

johnny_doyle

al28283 wrote: »

Not sure how historically accurate these are :rolleyes:

WW1 never seemed to capture the imagination of Hollywood for some reason.
I guess why make a movie about WW1 when you have WW2.

Interestingly these are all set in 1917. Was that a pivotal year in the war? or is it just a coincidence?

It's funny that of these 3 clips I've linked, it's Blackadder that is the most poignant and captures the sense of pointlessness and misery of that particular theatre.

Deathwatch and Biggles..... shocking.

given that Blackadder was a comedy series out to get laughs, it hit the nail firmly on the head with that clip.

Fuinseog

did the Germans really requisition food and supplies, and steal little girls horses from French peasants in WW1 as shown in War Horse? I know they are supposed to have bayoneted babies in Belgium.
the film did have historical advisors but I did not manage to get their names.
there is a scene with the machine guns after the cavalry charge and there seems to be a german every metre along the line, which historically speaking is probably not accurate.

TerrorFirmer

The Lost Battalion was a made for TV movie, and is actually better than most WWI movies out there - a very good movie that everyone could do with seeing. It's out now too on Blu-Ray, got it recently. Watched War Horse earlier, decent film but not quite excellent as I had expected, but it does pretty well considering the general target audience. Good historical accuracy, note the change in German equipment with each advancement of time, they even had changes to the stalhilm to reflect 1918 camouflage patterns. Was pretty impressed to be honest, they were accurate with what they could be accurate to without affecting the decidedly far fetched storyline of the film.

With regards the Cavalry charge and the placement of German machine guns along the line, the first thing that entered my mind was the inaccuracy, but ultimately we have to remember it's a movie, and it's to be taken with a pinch of salt - it is a movie about a horse that has adventures to put young Indiana Jones to shame, in fairness

Morlar

There is a myers article about this here :

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/kevin-myers/kevin-myers-its-easy-to-forget-the-brave-cavalrymen-2987995.html

Can anyone confirm the comment added to it :

Just to put a little perspective on this, Britain slaughtered almost all of its horses in France at the end of the war rather than bearing the expense of transporting then to England.

Fuinseog

Morlar wrote: »

There is a myers article about this here :

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/kevin-myers/kevin-myers-its-easy-to-forget-the-brave-cavalrymen-2987995.html

Can anyone confirm the comment added to it :

in the movie the horses were sold at auction.

johnny_doyle

finally got to see War Horse last night. Quite enjoyed it. A number of things that didn't sit right and a bit twee in places (a mix of Champion the Wonder Horse, Skippy and Greyfriars Bobby?) but it conveyed the stupidity and waste, hope, etc.

Cardinal Richelieu

Morlar wrote: »

There is a myers article about this here :

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/kevin-myers/kevin-myers-its-easy-to-forget-the-brave-cavalrymen-2987995.html

Can anyone confirm the comment added to it :

I seen this on The Great War forum

Since the signing of the Armistice up to 28th March 1919, 187,539 horses and 56,044 mules had been sold alive at prices averaging over £38 each for horses and £34 10s. each for mules, and 28,008 horses and mules had been sold for meat at an average of over £21 10s. each. No animals unfit for work were sold alive. Diseased horses had been destroyed.

Ref from statement by Winston Churchill 08/04/1919.

Horse meat was also fed to German POWs.

citizen_p

In relation to the War Horse, Channel 4 have a documentry about the actual fate of horse on the westren front on 4od!

LINK Catch it while you can

The truth about the million British horses that served in World War I is even more epic than Steven Spielberg's War Horse feature film.

gonna watch it now....

Snickers Man

Cardinal Richelieu wrote: »

Available on Youtube, quite a strange theme tune.

A very weird version of which appears on the first Horslips album.

Elmer Blooker

King And Country - the only film I know of about soldiers who were shot at dawn for "desertion"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_%26_Country