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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

IWM & Peter Jackson Restore Film Footage - They Shall Not Grow Old


Derek Black

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1 hour ago, Madmeg said:

Of course by later in the war there would have been more men commissioned from the ranks. 

Imagine having tootthache to add to all the other troubles of the trenches!

One of my grandfathers (a Sapper) had to take out four of his own teeth out using pliers as no dentists were around in the trenches or the back areas.

Edited by Gunner Bailey
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1 hour ago, Madmeg said:

a link on another thread just sent me here- the second postermade me giggle....

https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/11-amazing-first-world-war-recruitment-posters

So if you had bad teeth you were banned from drinking pleasures?:lol: 

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I emailed the IWM to ask about their plans for the 100 hours of additional footage that Peter Jackson's team 'enhanced' as part of making the film. I believe it's been visually enhanced but not colourised nor sound added. Their reply was that they are working with his film company to arrange its deposit at the IWM and, once they have it, will look at ways it can be made available to the public. 

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16 minutes ago, simond9x said:

I emailed the IWM to ask about their plans for the 100 hours of additional footage that Peter Jackson's team 'enhanced' as part of making the film. I believe it's been visually enhanced but not colourised nor sound added. Their reply was that they are working with his film company to arrange its deposit at the IWM and, once they have it, will look at ways it can be made available to the public. 

 

Good to know,

 

There must be little aired footage among all that?

 

Derek.

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Does anyone know how much of the footage taken by Malins and others has been made available. There must have been footage taken that was deemed unsuitable,. Was this destroyed or is there hours of film still locked away somewhere, that even Jackson was not allowed access to?

 

Mike

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P1750842upload.jpg.280f8cac630092b184419bf99ad6b6b3.jpg

 

Oh dear.  Didn't mean to stop this thread in its tracks!

Edited by Stuart T
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  • 1 month later...

I went alone to this last night, finally, and it didn't disappoint. I very much enjoyed it and it is quite unbelievable what Peter Jackson was able to accomplish with this film. It gave me the urge to somehow reach out to him so I could offer him a wholehearted thank you. 

- Jordan

Edited by Canadian J
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15 minutes ago, Canadian J said:

I went alone to this last night, finally, and it didn't disappoint.

 

Well worth buying the dvd, and you can watch it as often as you want!

 

BillyH.

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I was able to see the latest, 21 January, theater showing in the US.   I was impressed and moved, as I could picture my grandfather, a German war veteran, as a young man going through those horrors.   One piece that particularly stood out to me was during the Peter Jackson interview at the end of the film, which covered a British unit in a sunken road that was about to make an attack.  Jackson described how many of the unit members were killed about 30 minutes after the filming.  The film then cut away to a modern view of the site.   Does anyone one know what unit was depicted, and the circumstances that followed?

 

Best Regards, John Rieth

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John,

It's the 1st Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers (29th Division), at the Sunken Road, Beaumont Hamel, Somme 1 July 1916.  The unit had fought at Gallipoli from the first day of the landing there, before coming over to France earlier in 1916.  See http://www.webmatters.net/txtpat/index.php?id=61 for some modern pictures of the site and a map.  

 

The original footage (with other shots of the battalion) was taken by cameraman Geoffrey Malins and incorporated in the official 1916 film Battle of the Somme, which is available on DVD.  

 

Clive

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Clive, thanks you very much for this response, very helpful.   I will be visiting the Somme in late June, and will have make stop at this site.   Regards, John

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I saw the Peter Jackson film on the evening 28 December 2018 in Regina, Canada and was impressed on several levels.

Firstly, I arrived early for the first of two showings and could barely find a seat in the large theatre. This was my first positive impression - as I was surprised at the level of interest. The audience was mixed with aging "Baby Boomers" down to persons in their early 20's. Obviously, there is far more interest than I would have thought and across several generations.

Secondly, the treatment of the very broad theme was addressed in the opening statements by Jackson and this provided the viewer with a general understanding of how he decided to treat the subject. It also gave me the impression Jackson has been a student of the Great War for many years and was sincere in a genuine and honest treatment of the subject material. We also now know that he owns a small arsenal in uniforms, firearms and artillery.

Thirdly, the large screen, the measured impact of high quality sound and the editing with the Great War soldiers telling their stories brought me into the show. As was explained in the post-film monologue; the sensitive colourization was defended, the frame-rate was standardized, selective panning within the restored images etc. all worked to create the illusion these 100+ year old filmed scenes were more contemporary. Lip-reading experts extracted phrases captured in the silent films and actors with the appropriate local accents were hired to read in the short dialogue. Collectively, Jackson coordinated a number of special effects through an extra effort.

Finally, as a long-time reader on the Great War, I was left with a number of questions regarding the film at the end of the regular show. However, Jackson provides a post-show commentary which answered many of these questions and provided a clear indication of how he decided to present the material. I was left with a warm sense that Jackson was giving us a personal product and not a commercial product - there was no "Hollywood" factor. Much like the approach of the CEF Study Group - it was not about battles and tactics - it was able letting these soldiers re-tell their personal stories in a Remembrance. I hope Jackson does a volume 2.

 

Similar sentiments are being recorded across North America.  A second series of showings have occurred in recent days, however, with little advance notice and smaller crowds. I suspect the DVD will have strong sales in North America.

Borden Battery

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To be repeated on BBC 2 tomorrow (2 Feb 19) at 9 pm.

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On ‎26‎/‎01‎/‎2019 at 20:35, Borden Battery said:

Similar sentiments are being recorded across North America.  A second series of showings have occurred in recent days, however, with little advance notice and smaller crowds. I suspect the DVD will have strong sales in North America.

 

I got to see it in Virginia on 28 Dec and I was surprised to find the cinema was absolutely packed.  For the most part, people were respectful and some were visibly moved by the experience.  

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Showing again on BBC2 tonight at 9pm

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17 hours ago, stripeyman said:

It is without doubt an excellent work, However I don't think British Army boots were black........

 

They could be:

 

 

Edited by Andrew Upton
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That is very interesting Andrew, as they say you learn something new every day.

BTW shall I mention another discrepancy in the colourisation ?..........

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I recorded this and watched it last night.  Absolutely impressed and will keep it to watch again.

Anne

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My understanding (from Wikipedia) is that the original tanks had a camouflage scheme but by the end of 1916 were just painted brown. However, this Mark IV in the Royal Museum of the Army in Brussels is apparently in it's original paint.

 

image.png.5c85c0c906d1307909f83a676c894b6f.png

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I read an article once by an ex-officer in the Armoured Corps in WW2. He said he was fed up with reading that colour schemes were wrong. In his experience, and paint was better then none, and so most tanks he came across in Africa were painted any colour they could get hold of. Maskeline, devised Worcester sauce (a few cases were found washed up on the beach) mixed with camel dung was a common choice for a while.

I would have thought that in all the mud brown would be an obvious choice, if they weren't just that way from ploughing through the mud.

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