Testament of Youth: BBC Films announces a new dramatisation

[rose of picardy]

If anyone is desperately interested in the new version of Testament of youth, and/or Vera Brittain's time at Somerville, I have an invitation to a literary dinner there (Sat. Nov. 15th) and could add on a guest or two in addition to Other Half. Speakers are Baroness Shirley Williams, biographer Mark Bostridge, and the producer, director and screenwriter of the new film.

PM if interested, but only if really interested please!

sJ

I am desperately interested, but also desperately far away! It would be great to get a report from those who do go.

[Michelle Young]

I would love to but I'm working that day, drat

Michelle

[MichaelBully]

Sea Jane - I'm desperately interested and have sent a message.

Off to see Testament of Youth movie tomorrow in London. Looking forward to it a great deal but slightly apprehensive, Will report back.

Regards

Michael Bully

[MichaelBully]

Still digesting my impressions of 'Testament of Youth' -the movie.

On the plus side the movie acknowledged the lives of the four young men close to Vera Brittain who died during the Great War, Roland Lieghton, Victor Richardson, Geoffrey Thurlow and Edward Brittain, also Vera's own struggle to get to Oxford University, her dedication as a VAD nurse. I was impressed by the acting and a lot of the scenes in the film were moving.

But what took a bit of getting used to was the cutting up of the narrative of Vera's original memoir and storylines added to or re-arranged.

For example Vera in the movie finds that Edward her brother is amongst the wounded at Etaples where she was nursing in 1918, when in the book Vera finds her brother amongst the wounded that have been sent to a hospital where she was working just after The Somme in 1916. In the book Vera waits for Roland Leighton's return from leave for Christmas 1915 only to learn that Roland died from wounds at Louvencourt on 23rd December 1915. In the movie Vera is to actually marry Roland when he returns , in real life they were engaged for the duration of the war with no plans to marry at this point.

And similar attempts to create a love triangle with both Victor Richardson and Roland Leighton pursuing her seems an unnecessary attempt to add a lot more to the narrative of Vera's memoir.

George Catlin is portrayed as someone who served with Roland Leighton, whom Vera meets briefly after Roland's death, then meets again in the 1920's via her interest in the League of Nations Association. George really was an American academic who got to know Vera via sending her a fan letter after reading 'The Dark Tide' novel, Vera's not very successful first novel and there is not record of them meeting during the Great War. And so on.

Whole sections are left out such as Vera's nursing in Malta 1916-1917 and the circumstances surrounding Edward killed in action on the Asagio Plain on the Italian Front in June 1918.

I tried not to look out for historical errors but some grated, Particularly how the Spanish flu epidemic seemed to have appeared in 1914.

But the audience I was part of at the BFI film festival showing seemed moved even to the point of tears. So Vera Brittain's attempt to show use 'Testament of Youth' as a tribute to the men that she lost and the impact of the Great War on women has been realised.

[rose of picardy]

Thanks for the report, Michael. I am a bit upset at the liberties taken with George Catlin. ( In context, I lost the desire to see the LOTR film of "The Two Towers" when I heard they had tampered with Faramir's character. LOL.) I have always felt that it was important that George had far less involvement in the War than the other men and was less marked by it.

I knew the length of a feature film was going to cause a good bit of cutting, but I hoped it wouldn't mean actual changes. I am glad that the acting was good.

[MichaelBully]

Yes George Catlin was in the London Rifles for a few months in 1918 but arrived in France too late to see any fighting, so different from the four young men featured in 'Testament of Youth' : Perhaps it was also hard for him to feel in the shadow of Roland Leighton, and in 'Testament of Youth' (the book) George is mentioned as 'G'. George and Vera tried to maintain separate professional lives .

Indeed- the length of a feature film meant that there would have to be cuts. The TV series tried to include everything in via five one hour episodes but a two hour movie meant that some things had to go. Looking back though, I am not so sure why the main narrative had to be changed . For example Vera waiting ( in vain) for Roland's return from the Front in Christmas 1915 is dramatic enough without having to contrive the additional story that they were intending to get married then.

[DIM]

Indeed Michelle, I have found it very hard to read Marie Connor Leighton's 'Boy of my Heart' - memoir to Roland Leighton, 'Boy of my Heart' : Published anonymously in 1916, -it's available on the WWW.

Regards

Michael Bully

http://openlibrary.org/books/OL13997070M/Boy_of_my_heart.

Thanks for mentioning this memoir. Michael. I read it through quickly yesterday. Really very enlightening, although the style is too cloying for today.. Obviously the mother is overcome by grief and idolises her boy, but there's nothing new about that. I wonder if anyone knows anything about Roland's younger brother (don't think his name was mentioned)? Unlike Vera Brittain and her parents, whose only son/brother Edward was killed in action, this family still had a male survivor (or did in 1916).

[DIM]

Still digesting my impressions of 'Testament of Youth' -the movie.

George Catlin is portrayed as someone who served with Roland Leighton, whom Vera meets briefly after Roland's death, then meets again in the 1920's via her interest in the League of Nations Association. George really was an American academic who got to know Vera via sending her a fan letter after reading 'The Dark Tide' novel, Vera's not very successful first novel and there is not record of them meeting during the Great War.

Just for the record: George Catlin was a British academic who spent a few years lecturing at American universities. In Testament of Youth he says in his first letter to Vera (1923) that he thinks he has just glimpsed her (again) in Oxford (she was there with Winifred for a Gaudy celebration in June 1923) and remarks "You won't remember me but I used to see you at Somerville debates". Was G.a student at Oxford during Vera's first stay there (October 1914-June 1915)? If so, the film makers could have used that instead of making up a meeting of G. and Roland. I also hate filmmakers taking unnecessary liberties with historical truth!

[Michelle Young]

Thanks for mentioning this memoir. Michael. I read it through quickly yesterday. Really very enlightening, although the style is too cloying for today.. Obviously the mother is overcome by grief and idolises her boy, but there's nothing new about that. I wonder if anyone knows anything about Roland's younger brother (don't think his name was mentioned)? Unlike Vera Brittain and her parents, whose only son/brother Edward was killed in action, this family still had a male survivor (or did in 1916).

Evelyn Leighton served in the navy, joining in 1915 aged 13. He went to the Naval college at Osborne. He died aged 68 leaving a son and daughter

Michelle

[Michelle Young]

Just for the record: George Catlin was a British academic who spent a few years lecturing at American universities. In Testament of Youth he says in his first letter to Vera (1923) that he thinks he has just glimpsed her (again) in Oxford (she was there with Winifred for a Gaudy celebration in June 1923) and remarks "You won't remember me but I used to see you at Somerville debates". Was G.a student at Oxford during Vera's first stay there (October 1914-June 1915)? If so, the film makers could have used that instead of making up a meeting of G. and Roland. I also hate filmmakers taking unnecessary liberties with historical truth!

I believe George Catlin went up to New College after the war, but was destined to go as war broke out.He spent much of the war looking after his father who was in poor health following his wife (a much younger woman and a suffragette) leaving the family home. Catlin was rejected by the army when he tried to join and subsequently worked a a clerk, but following the casualties of the March 1918 offensives, he was as he put it in his memoirs "rehabilitated " and deemed fit for military service.

Michelle

[DIM]

Thank you, Michelle!

[MichaelBully]

Oops ! I seem to have taken liberties myself as far as George Catlin was concerned ! Yes Catlin was to become an academic with a connection to American universities but 'American' academic would be incorrect. Catlin was born near Garston, Merseyside,spent his younger years in Stourbridge, then Kew- looking at 'Vera Brittain-A Life' Paul Berry & Mark Bostridge (1995) .

Yes 'Boy of My Heart' is a difficult read, almost too private and personal. Marie Connor Leighton was understandably distraught at Roland' s loss. Perhaps it was cathartic for her to write, she was already a know novelist, though 'Boy of my Heart' was published anonymously.

[MichaelBully]

Official first screening introduction of 'Testament of Movies' .... speakers include director James Kent and Shirley Williams ( Vera Brittain's daughter).

[MichaelBully]

'Testament of Youth ' movie is being previewed again at the 'Duke of York' cinema Brighton Sunday 7th December - and marks the closing night of the Brighton Film Festival.

http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Duke_Of_Yorks/film/Testament_Of_Youth/

[MichaelBully]

....and a new trailer

[MichaelBully]

Thanks for Vera Brittain Facebook group ...

link to LSE lecture....Shirley Williams and Mark Bostridge on Vera Brittain.

http://www.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/videoAndAudio/channels/publicLecturesAndEvents/player.aspx?id=2759

[Michelle Young]

Saw the trailer in the cinema last night, I don't think I will bother

Michelle

[Steven Broomfield]

I am glad that the acting was good.

Damning with faint praise!

[rose of picardy]

Film to be released very shortly ( in UK, I suppose). Here are some articles:

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/11/shirley-williams-vera-brittain-testament-of-youth

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturevideo/filmvideo/11335281/Testament-of-Youth-watch-an-exclusive-clip.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/11182988/Testament-of-Youth-review-stirring.html

I have an abiding fondness for the miniseries as I read the book when I was 18 and saw the series about ten years later when it came out on VHS in the 1990s. I wonder if they can capture the full breadth in a feature film. It will be interesting to hear more reviews.

[Sue Light]

I'm going to a very genteel screening in Worthing on 2nd February - 10.30 on a Monday morning, preceded by tea and biscuits in the foyer

Sue

[MichaelBully]

Sue - really hope that you will share your impressions of the movie here. Particularly about the VAD nursing scenes.

I'm going to see the film again towards the end of January, with a couple of friends who have some interest in the book, but are not Great War pals as such, so curious to see what they make of it.

Rose- Well it is accepted that huge chunks of the book had to be cut to make the film. The TV mini-series had more than twice the length of time than the movie to represent the book.

I wrote about the movie on my blog in a post dated 24th October 2014 ; I thought that it was a shame that the Malta section of 'Testament of Youth ' was left out.

http://greatwaratsea.blogspot.co.uk/

The controversy surrounding Edward Brittain's death on the Italian Front on 15th June 1918 was also avoided but that was understandable as this came to light due to subsequent research into the book.

Thanks for posting the links to the latest article.

Regards,

Michael Bully

I'm going to a very genteel screening in Worthing on 2nd February - 10.30 on a Monday morning, preceded by tea and biscuits in the foyer

Sue

[rose of picardy]

Sony has picked up the North American rights for this film:

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/sony-classics-buys-alicia-vikanders-testament-of-youth-for-north-america-1201407076/

I don't get out to films very much, but I am happy that this means we should get a Region 1 DVD!

[Ghazala]

Despite the inconsistencies I thoroughly enjoyed the film which my wife took me to see last night. It is marvellous that people are going to the cinema to see what happened to this formidable lady a century ago. Vera Brittain never fully got over the death of her brother Edward. When she died in Wimbledon on 29 March 1970, aged 76, her will requested that her ashes be scattered on Edward's grave on the Asiago Plateau in Italy – "...for nearly 50 years much of my heart has been in that Italian village cemetery". Her daughter honoured this request in September 1970.

[MichaelBully]

Interesting to read your feedback on the film Ghazala. Were there spare seats in the house?

It seems that my local Odeon (Brighton seafront) have already relegated the movie to the matinee slot. The Vera Brittain Facebook group has not had a leap in new members as expected. Wondering whilst those of us who are familiar with the book have in the main been looking forward to the film, the rest of the world isn't so bothered.

The film decided not to dwell on the controversies surrounding Edward's death which was probably for the best. Yes indeed Vera described Edward's wounds from The Somme as 'Scars upon my heart' in a poem titled 'To my brother' and the line was used as a title for an anthology of women's poetry of the Great War published in 1981.

This poem was written a few days before Edward was killed in action on 15th June 1918.

[Sue Light]

Sue - really hope that you will share your impressions of the movie here. Particularly about the VAD nursing scenes.

I had my complimentary tea and biscuits this morning and as expected sat among a mainly retired audience. The theatre was about 1/4 to 1/3 full which for a Monday morning probably wasn't bad.

I've never been a fan of Vera Brittain or ToY, so I'm probably biased, but found it very slow and dreary. I'm not sure that it has a lot of appeal outside of those already familiar with the book. The friend I was with, who has read the book, thought that it was excellent and provided enjoyable and non-confrontational viewing for those not wanting too much sex, violence or excitement.

On the positive side, I loved the period clothes, and covet Alice Vikander's waist. And for a 'drama' I thought the nursing bits were pretty spot on. I had a lot of discussion with Polly Kyriacou who was the assistant costume person about nurse uniforms and other than a little artistic licence with Vera's outdoor uniform hat, I couldn't find much to complain about, and that's saying something. I also liked the portrayal of Hope Milroy far more than the previous TV version. And there was a rather elderly nurse in there who conducted Vera to the dead Victor's bedside. That was most welcome as there were so many older trained nurses but so rare to see one in any type of production.

Sue