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Remembered Today:

Journey's End movie


Steven Broomfield

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As a keen Sherriffian, owner of an original programme for the play, watcher of the earlier filmed versions, owner of a signed copy of the novelisation (with Bartlett), I just couldn't bring myself to see the new film. The play seems to me to be  an example of "A perfect thing apart". 

Edited by David Filsell
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I haven't yet seen the film, but do intend to.  I was looking at the reviews on Amazon and was very amused at the  people who left reviews complaining that the film was a remake of Aces High, eg: The story line for this film is a direct rip off of the classic film Aces High and therefore a very disappointing purchase.  Sadly there are several like that :(

Edited by 593jones
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I am in the reverse position to David Filsell in that having seen the film, which seems unsurpassable, I am not at all sure I "need" to see the play - that said, there is a production on at Selsey soon. 

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  • 1 year later...

This film is on the French tv channel Ciné + Frisson tonight, though for some reason they have called it ‘Men of Honor’ (sic). I had to check the extensive library to find what it was as I missed it when it first came out. I will catch it this time.

 

Cheers Martin B

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Now having watched that, I thought it was very well done. Very atmospheric with some excellent acting, though the final barrage seemed to me a bit weak considering the damage it was supposed to have done. I had seen the play a very long time ago, I can't now remember when or even where.

 

Cheers Martin B

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11 hours ago, Martin Bennitt said:

 I had seen the play a very long time ago, I can't now remember when or even where.

 

Cheers Martin B

 

I saw a production in the West End in about 1972: we went on a trip from school when I was in the Upper Sixth; we were 'doing' Wilfred Owen as part of the English A Level course. Sadly, all I really recall of the outing is that we went with girls (!) from our female counterpart school so, being young and laddish, I fear the behaviour on the bus back left a little to be desired.

On 22/09/2018 at 11:40, David Filsell said:

As a keen Sherriffian, owner of an original programme for the play, watcher of the earlier filmed versions, owner of a signed copy of the novelisation (with Bartlett), I just couldn't bring myself to see the new film. The play seems to me to be  an example of "A perfect thing apart". 

 

It is, actually, very, very good. Everything that 1917 could have been but wasn't.

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  • 3 months later...

I just saw it and liked it very much. All of the characters were interesting. I have two questions for the group: 1.Did the helmets appear to have narrower brims than would be period correct? Narrow brims would make face to face  closeups more dramatic. 2. Addressing the finale, would troops be outside their shelters if being shelled? I understand a German push was expected so see they would be outside and also with the increasing bombardment would be driven below ground.  

BTW, it was on Amazon Prime if anyone has that and not seen the film. 

Edited by Felix C
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  • 3 months later...

Enjoy!!! Still haven't managed to drag Boyfriend in front of the DVD... he wants to see it in French ... :blink::blink::blink: 

 

noooooo way!!!! 

 

M.

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4 hours ago, Moonraker said:

The 2017 version of "Journey's End" is on BBC Two at 2100 on Saturday, November 14.

 

Thanks. Damn fine movie.

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This one's personal.  My Grandfather's cousin Reuben Burge  ( pte 1821 "B" coy" 9/East Surreys) was taken prisoner on 21.3.1918 at Maissemy.  Family story was he was one of five men with a lewis gun in front of the trenches in a shell hole.  Taking fire from three sides, with the gun out of action and three dead, just he and one other made a desperate bid to escape and bolted for it.  But the pair were captured and soon fell in with a large group of prisoners marching into captivity.

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Film deviated quite a bit from the play. 

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  Film also deviated from the film.   The ending I saw at the cinema when it came out was not the ending that was on BBC2 last night.  When the film came out, the film ended with a solitary solider (unseen) ,with the sounds of breathing through a gas mask, in empty British trenches- with the sole exception of one dead British soldier-  The soldier then being revealed to be German.  Last night seems to have had more of an artillery bombardment at the end, then British trenches clogged with dead-and a soldier (then 2) obviously German from the off.

 

    Also, one nice touch I missed again yesterday (Must have blinked) was when the company were in the line and the attack was coming,  the Trotter character ( great bit of acting by Stephen Graham)- the tough commissioned-up NCO- is smoking a cigarette-which he lets the man next to him have a  draw on.  Probably just missed it-or the anti-smoking lobby is more powerful than I thought.

 

     It would be hard just to follow the play blindly for modern cinema- R.C.Sheriff wrote it as a play, with all the limitations of the theatre. Yes, the tensions of men under great stress comes across well whether play or film. But the play is,essentially, a "talking heads" event- no trench raid-indeed,no trenches really. Each version of media has a shortcoming but that's the nature of the beast. The stage version could not show the grubbiness, dirt and wet of the trenches-let alone a trench raid. The film version did a splendid job of daily life in the trenches but probably lost a bit of Sheriff's original intention-to show the interaction between a group of officers

 

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Journey's End is the only play that I have ever read and that was about 50 years ago. The film I saw last night on the television set was quite good I normally criticise modern renditions of the Great War but very little of it here. I thought it much better than the epic '1917'.

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Enjoyed the film (didn't see 1917) and presume it fairly authentic, haven't seen other versions so cannot compare. The only query I had was the total absence of artillery/mortar fire from either side until the final bombardment.  I believe it was more sporadic, especially from the Brits targeting the build-up.

 

Peter

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On 25/04/2020 at 09:13, Steven Broomfield said:

It is, actually, very, very good. Everything that 1917 could have been but wasn't.

Spot on observation.

 

According to Wikipedia both Benedick Cumberbatch and Tom Hiddlestone were unable to appear in this production due to a problem with filming rights, which goes to show that the gods can be so kind when they wish to be.

 

I loved this film and would definitely recommend it (which is more than I can say for '1917').

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 Also, one nice touch I missed again yesterday (Must have blinked) was when the company were in the line and the attack was coming,  the Trotter character ( great bit of acting by Stephen Graham)- the tough commissioned-up NCO- is smoking a cigarette-which he lets the man next to him have a  draw on.  Probably just missed it-or the anti-smoking lobby is more powerful than I thought.

 

@ 1:26:44 It's still there ;)

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3 hours ago, mebu said:

Enjoyed the film (didn't see 1917) 

 

Peter

 

My advice? Keep it that way.

Edited by Steven Broomfield
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Watched the film on Sunday night and thought it was excellent and I agree with Mr. B's comparison with 1917.  I was interested to not the Trotter had what appeared to be a M.1911 pistol, presumably chambered for the .455 self-loading cartridge, whereas the other officers had Webleys.  I know this was a film, but I wonder how many M.1911's  would have been carried by infantry officers.

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An infantry officer could carry his weapon of choice- he had to provide it. Whether it could be supplied with munitions through the British Army was another matter.  There were munitions close enough to overcome this. I was surprised to find a local casualty,Captain Loscombe Law Stable, 2RWF,  killed October 1914, had left a collection of published letters in which the Colt comes up. He had one. After a series of retreats south, he was without the pistol but still had magazine clips left. He wrote and asked his father (helpfully, Chairman of the Prudential) to pop down to a gunsmith in Piccadilly buy a replacement and send it over to him. 

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It was the ammunition question I was thinking of, I understood that officers were required to purchase their own sidearm, but the requirement was that it would take the standard .455 round.  I'm not too sure of the procedure for officers obtaining ammunition for their sidearms, but it would presumably entail the rounds being drawn from a supply dump, so would the said supply dump stock rounds other than the standard calibres?

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21 minutes ago, 593jones said:

so would the said supply dump stock rounds other than the standard calibres?

 

    I believe so- I raised this as a thread some years ago and was pleasantly surprised at the response re. ammunition- I think the small adaptation in calibre meant that the British Army did carry ammunition stocks. Of course, choice of side-arm was limited by the availability of munitions and I expect there was guidance or army instruction about it-Regret I am not an ordnance fan in these matters but I am fairly sure GWF colleagues have the answer. (I seem to remember that the British Govt. had already bought a batch of Colt 1911 but my memory may be playing me false on this).  Anyway, it was good to see a Colt 1911 in use-rather surprisingly-with the Brits. at an early-ish date, rather than just see them pop up in "The Wild Bunch" every Christmas:wub:

[Scratching my head on this- I think there is either references to it in histories of the firm of Colt or in the history of the Ministry of Munitions about how much ammunition-and indeed pistols the British Government bought]

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  • 11 months later...
On 06/11/2021 at 18:20, Moonraker said:

The 2017 version of "Journey's End" is on BBC Two at 2315 on Wednesday, November 10.

Had to go to the DVD edition, in order to have the subtitles... Boyfriend's English is not good enough for British TV... 

M.

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  • 9 months later...

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