Steven Broomfield Posted 18 December , 2016 Share Posted 18 December , 2016 Sorry if this has been raised previously, but a chum sent me this link from The Grauniad about a forthcoming film of Journey's End. The article is slightly hyperbolic and makes rather juvenile comparisons with modern affairs, but the film would be worth looking out for. A search of the Extensive Library found THIS and THIS I'm rather fond of the 1930 version, so it will be interesting to see how this shapes up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Filsell Posted 18 December , 2016 Share Posted 18 December , 2016 (edited) Effectively there has already been a remake - set in the RFC. Some like it some don't The play is a pretty perfect piece of work - but every 'remake' (can anyone suggest a really worthwhile one?) has a rewritten script and we've seen to often how almost everything filmed now on the Great War has to have a new 'perspective'. Let's face it a shot at dawn officer who has lost his nerve could be a possibility!! More relevant is that there's also a biography of RCF about to be published Edited 18 December , 2016 by David Filsell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolt968 Posted 18 December , 2016 Share Posted 18 December , 2016 The BBC did a good production about twenty (plus) years ago with Jason Connery in it. I think it was rebroadcast once. I wonder if it is one of those recordings which has been lost. Roger M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 18 December , 2016 Share Posted 18 December , 2016 There have been a number of GWF members involved in this project, and I think some of the doubters will be pleasantly suprised. As I go back to cleaning a mountain of muddy WW1 kit, I'll leave you with an image of what's sat on my desk as I type this... https://postimg.org/image/r44hcla1z/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 18 December , 2016 Author Share Posted 18 December , 2016 Thanks, Andrew: I'm not doubting, to be honest. It's a play I very much like and as it's not been made for the cinema for over 80 years, probably not going to upset anyone who remember the original (which is, IIRC, rather stagey and clunky, as befits a film of its age!). I'm rather looking forward to this. I am surprised it seems not to have been discussed here sooner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 18 December , 2016 Share Posted 18 December , 2016 (edited) On 12/18/2016 at 19:55, Steven Broomfield said: I am surprised it seems not to have been discussed here sooner. Those involved were issued the usual strict secrecy instructions at the start - which were promptly ignored by quite a few of the leading cast, who almost immediately started putting pictures on social media and the like! Those of us rather further down the chain of command have naturally been a little more hesitant in drawing attention except where leaks have already occurred... such as this picture, which was taken by one Sam Claflin and posted by him on his Twitter feed. A particular favourite of mine, it shows dead centre (looking viewers left and in specs) one Private Upton, with some bloke called Paul Bettany immediately to his left... https://postimg.org/image/4b0sih5vmz/ Edited 5 October , 2017 by Andrew Upton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 18 December , 2016 Author Share Posted 18 December , 2016 Andrew, that photo and your comments make me feel quite optimistic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Foster Posted 19 December , 2016 Share Posted 19 December , 2016 Here is a link to the 1988 TV version, which Roger M refers to. I remember watching the first time around. And then again a couple of years ago, when I found it on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y98QdRmLfbQ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 19 December , 2016 Share Posted 19 December , 2016 I haven't come across negativity towards the film in particular. What has infuriated quite a lot of people is the claim by the theatre critic Robert Gore-Langton that women made up a large part of the original audiences because they wanted to find out what the war had been like, but now “.... Women might not buy history books about the first world war, but they would go and see that play.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoppage Drill Posted 19 December , 2016 Share Posted 19 December , 2016 18 hours ago, rolt968 said: The BBC did a good production about twenty (plus) years ago with Jason Connery in it. I think it was rebroadcast once. I wonder if it is one of those recordings which has been lost. Roger M I didn't know the Beeb had done a version with Connery, J. but I saw him playing Stanhope onstage at the Whitehall in the late '80s. Nicky Henson was Osbo(u?)rne. The play ended with a great coup de théâtre, a sudden, huge crash which made the audience jump, and cutting of all lights as the dugout received (we assume) a direct hit, killing all the occupants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 19 December , 2016 Author Share Posted 19 December , 2016 1 hour ago, Dragon said: I haven't come across negativity towards the film in particular. What has infuriated quite a lot of people is the claim by the theatre critic Robert Gore-Langton that women made up a large part of the original audiences because they wanted to find out what the war had been like, but now “.... Women might not buy history books about the first world war, but they would go and see that play.” Not very patronising, then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
593jones Posted 20 December , 2016 Share Posted 20 December , 2016 On 19/12/2016 at 10:12, Chris Foster said: Here is a link to the 1988 TV version, which Roger M refers to. I remember watching the first time around. And then again a couple of years ago, when I found it on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y98QdRmLfbQ Thanks for posting the link, I wasn't aware of this production. I shall watch it later at my leisure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolt968 Posted 20 December , 2016 Share Posted 20 December , 2016 On 19/12/2016 at 10:12, Chris Foster said: Here is a link to the 1988 TV version, which Roger M refers to. I remember watching the first time around. And then again a couple of years ago, when I found it on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y98QdRmLfbQ I was wrong about who played in it. I wonder where I got Connery, J from. I didn't see him in the West End production. I do remember Edward Petherbridge as Osborne in the TV production. Roger M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Margosh Posted 5 October , 2017 Share Posted 5 October , 2017 On 19/12/2016 at 12:39, Dragon said: I haven't come across negativity towards the film in particular. What has infuriated quite a lot of people is the claim by the theatre critic Robert Gore-Langton that women made up a large part of the original audiences because they wanted to find out what the war had been like, but now “.... Women might not buy history books about the first world war, but they would go and see that play.” Just reading this thread for the first time. Ha, ha, ha. Robert should take a look at some of my collection of WW1 books currently (by coincidence) spread out around me. Not to mention the new ones I just ordered this evening! Margaret (woman and inveterate book buyer :-) ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
593jones Posted 7 October , 2017 Share Posted 7 October , 2017 Thanks for resurrecting this thread, Margaret, I'd completely forgotten about it. I took the opportunity to watch the BBC production last night and was quite impressed. An excellent cast, I was particularly impressed by Edward Petherbridge as Osbourne, a splendid performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knotty Posted 7 October , 2017 Share Posted 7 October , 2017 Just for info the 1988 version is being broadcast on the Yesterday channel next Saturday 14/10 at 21:00. John ps - have just watched All the Kings men again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 8 October , 2017 Author Share Posted 8 October , 2017 10 hours ago, Knotty said: John ps - have just watched All the Kings men again Why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knotty Posted 8 October , 2017 Share Posted 8 October , 2017 My late brother in law was an extra soldier when it was filmed in Spain, missed him the first time and missed him again last night - But its recorded this time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolt968 Posted 8 October , 2017 Share Posted 8 October , 2017 (edited) 12 hours ago, Knotty said: Just for info the 1988 version is being broadcast on the Yesterday channel next Saturday 14/10 at 21:00. John ps - have just watched All the Kings men again Thanks for letting us know, I will make a note of that. Unfortunately I missed All the Kings Men last night (mixed views about it but would have watched). RM Presumably the story about Noel Coward playing Stanhope opposite John Mills as Raleigh is well known? RM Edited 8 October , 2017 by rolt968 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
593jones Posted 8 October , 2017 Share Posted 8 October , 2017 1 hour ago, rolt968 said: Presumably the story about Noel Coward playing Stanhope opposite John Mills as Raleigh is well known? RM Not by me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolt968 Posted 8 October , 2017 Share Posted 8 October , 2017 (edited) On 08/10/2017 at 13:20, 593jones said: Not by me! I got this from Gyles Brandreth's "Great Theatrical Disasters". John Mills was appearing as Stanhope in a touring production of Journey's End which reached, I think, Singapore, where Noel Coward was appearing in production of his own. Noel Coward prevailed on the producer to let him play Stanhope one evening as he had always wanted to play the part. All went well until the last scene when Stanhope bends over the body of Raleigh lying on the bed in the dugout. Coward's helmet fell off and struck Mills somewhere extremely painful. The corpse reacted most unconvincingly. Incidentally Journey's End gets a mention in The Art of Coarse Acting, in that the very end of the play is a disaster waiting to happen. The final stage direction stays that there should an explosion and then the dugout collapses. Actually I have never seen this happen in a modern production - usually something like explosion - flash - blackout which is almost certainly better. Green describes a production where the obstinate set defied all the efforts of the stage crew to make it collapse on cue, but it fell in on the cast while taking their curtain calls. It perhaps says a lot for the 2004 West End production that knowing both those stories, neither came into my mind throughout the evening. RM Edited 9 October , 2017 by rolt968 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
593jones Posted 9 October , 2017 Share Posted 9 October , 2017 Hmmm, painful! However, I'm sure they carried it off like true professionals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 24 October , 2017 Share Posted 24 October , 2017 (edited) They have released the full length film trailer for the film - with some very fine acting in the back of the trench in the opening scene from an unknown soldier cowering from the blasts... : Edited 24 October , 2017 by Andrew Upton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norrette Posted 11 November , 2017 Share Posted 11 November , 2017 Just watching the '88 version on Yesterday. It's excEllen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 13 November , 2017 Share Posted 13 November , 2017 Another clip released... lots of familiar faces as usual: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now