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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Battle of the Somme on TV


johnboy

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I hope this is the right section,

Tonight Sky channel 520 8pm and

channel 521 9pm.

The trailer shows it to contain some black and white film.

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Most appreciated Johnboy - I would have missed this but for you.

Anne

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Cool - just set the Sky box - thanks for posting.

Ant

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The trailer said that new methods of identification were being used to put names to faces. Sounded interesting. It turned out to be a programme of aprox one and a half hours which could have been shown in half that time. There didn't appear to be any new footage of the time. I am sure others have taken photos and film and stood at the same spot as the original cameraman. Basically then and now shots. Spending time on looking at a piece of film of soldiers being shot and trying to decide if it was 'real' made no sense to me. If it was filmed elsewhere, did it really matter? It was taken at long distance and was probably as real as it gets. As it happens it was decided that it was real.

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I too found the programme less than illuminating, in fact I gave up after half an hour. To present the Sunken Road at Beaumont Hamel as the "discovery" of a place in Malin's film was I felt stretching the point. I am afraid to admit I can't comment on the rest of the programme as I gave up at that point.

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i found it OK for explaining Malins filming of the event on the 1st July to the General public!

but to the GWF not deep enough or interest keeping enough. and as other posters have said TO LONG for the content

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I hope this is the right section,

Tonight Sky channel 520 8pm and

channel 521 9pm.

The trailer shows it to contain some black and white film.

No doubt including THAT sequence of men going over the top. . . . .It really should at least carry the caption- "Reconstruction"

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I hope this does not set the standard for things to come during the centenary.

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should not have been called 'battle of the Somme' as they only covered about 1km of the front!

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I hope this does not set the standard for things to come during the centenary.

Sadly, I think it may.

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should not have been called 'battle of the Somme' as they only covered about 1km of the front!

You should take it up with the BTCWF :)

I should like to see some (any) of the footage shot by McDowell on that project.

Put a cameraman in charge of a cutting room and it's no great surprise that he wants to use all of his material and none of the rest.

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Sadly, I think it may.

The date of "2006" gives the game away. This was one of a number of documentaries produced to commemorate the 90th Anniversary. Then, as now, I was teaching the Great War to Year 9s so taped all these programmes for possible use in the classroom. The Malins film section was good for that purpose and students were delighted when we visited the Sunken Lane on a subsequent school trip.

The one I used the most at the time, and still watch occasionally was called simply "The Somme" and was on Channel 4. It was poorly reviewed at the time, but its focus on a handful of soldiers (predominantly Captain Charlie May and Sergeant R H Tawney of the 22nd Manchesters), made it good for engaging students who would be a little lost with a grand review of the strategy.

I think we just have to accept that we are not the intended audience for many of these programmes.

David

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Hi David,

I too used that video of 'The Somme' to teach my Scottish Standard Grade pupils. Interestingly Peter Hart uses Captain May's letter in his recent book 'The Great War' and very touching it is too.

Len

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Hi David,

I too used that video of 'The Somme' to teach my Scottish Standard Grade pupils. Interestingly Peter Hart uses Captain May's letter in his recent book 'The Great War' and very touching it is too.

Len

Len

Coincidentally I used it today and we watched the section that included May's letter to his wife on the eve of the battle. It's power, nearly a century on, is undiminished - you could have heard a pin drop.

David

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