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Remembered Today:

Geoffrey Malins Somme film


Ken Wayman

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Apologies for dragging this back to the top, but I have some further questions. I saw the showing in London of the digitised version of the Battle of the Somme, and have recently acquired the 2000 edition of that film and of the "battle of the Ancre" on VHS. Its clear that some sequences were either taken behind the lines, or were performed for the camera, but while I could make some shrewd guesses, I cannot be certain that my judgment is correct.

Does the booklet that was issued with the original VHS release help? If so is anyone of where a transcript or a copy might be found? It doesn't look as if the book mentioned earlier in the thread has emerged yet, but any news on that would also be interesting.

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Interesting point, for the lay person I feel that watching and looking at the film will reveal obvious sequences, but there will be those that fall into a grey area, which might get hotly debated

John

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  • 6 months later...

Bringing this thread up to date-

The film is due for a summer release with an orchestral soundtrack, a book by members of the 'No mans land project' is also due for release at the same time. It will cover the locations/ identities etc covered by the film.

This information was obtained following a lecture I attended last night !

Mick D

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I have just been watching my VHS copy of "Battle of the Ancre" and the one thing I wanted to see or do above anything else was to work on the footage of the Scottish Battalion attacking the wood on the horizon, which was followed by the scenes of the walking wounded returning from it. Cut out the inserted sections of the Tank, and other distractions, which were clearly filmed on a different days, and put the actuality footage back together.

From those clips you would probably get a realistic impression of what you would have seen observing a WW1 battle. You can follow groups out into the distance, and also those returning from a distance to close up so it does not appear to be too hard to restore the footage to the order in which it was shot on the day.

BTW does any Pal with a much better knowledge than mine know who was attacking and where was being attacked?

Gareth

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According to the Smithers volume: if we are in part 3 the Dope sheet from the archives states "battle of Flers and Courcelett. Actual attack commences...... Smithers adds the note "The first shots of the sequence are possibly staged; the "attack" from the trench, shot at considerable distance, lacks coherence but the large numbers of men involved suggests a genuine assault."

After the shot of a tank there is the low angle shot of kilted troops advancing away from the camera into no mans land. Smithers comments Dope sheet 15 Spt 1916 battle of Flers and Courcellette, attack on Martinpuich. 8th Seaforths and 8th and 9th Gordons in a reserve trench just about to go over in support, half an hour after the first attack.

of the shot of prisoners in no-mans land the dope sheet is noted - 6.30am 15th September 1916 Martinpuich.

Hope this helps

keith

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Hi Keith

Yes very interesting, I am glad to hear that there are shot by shot "dope sheets". I did wonder if the opening shots were staged, but as they are not well framed and involve large numbers of men off into the far distance, thought probably not.

Much yet to learn about WW1 filming.

My other pet wish is to discover if any of the post war Recreation films of the Battle for Mons, etc, shot I think by a company with a name like British Instructional Films, or similar were available on DVD or video. You see pieces taken out of them and used in documentaries, sometimes acknowledged, but I have yet to see a whole film.

Thanks again Gareth

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As mentioned on another thread, I have an MS Word version of Mallin's book "How I filmed the war", which gives some interesting background to the whole topic.

PM me for a copy.

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  • 6 months later...

The Somme film I saw tonight at IWM North was said to be only the 2nd showing of the re-digitised version. Screened with music. Very impressive. We were asked to sign up expessions of interest for the DVD, coming out in November this year.

Edwin

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The Mallins film has been digitally re-mastered and is is due out either Oct or Nov this year, there are 2 sound-tracks with it, one with the original score and one with a modern peice of music written, I think you can pre-order it through IWM. There's a book being released next year where someone has researched where most of the different scenes were filmed, there is some of this work in the sleeve notes of the DVD.

At the showing of the film last night they handed out a bit of bumf on the new DVD but I don't have that on me at the moment I'll see if there is a specific website to pre-order the film and inform Pals tomorrow.

Nick

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If anyone finds out where you can pre-order this film can you let me know?

I went to screening of the same film at the South Bank in 2006 and they said it would be out by the end of the year then, so won't hold my breath!

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Will do, as I said though it will be tomorrow or later on this evening at the earliest. (The whole sentence looks like an oxymoron to me)

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I seem to remember filling in a form at the first showing to indicate my interest in a purchasing the dvd when it emerges. Lets hope that it really does emerge this time.

Keith

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The Somme film is being shown at the Imperial War Museum London on 15 and 16 November with musical accompaniment, 2pm each day, admission free

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Thanks for that. Link to info here http://london.iwm.org.uk/server/show/conEvent.2442 .

Be good to hear the original musical accompaniment. I thought bits of the new version were ok, but some of it to me didn't really seem appropriate for a modern interpretation. There was too much crashing triumphalism accompanying the scenes of soldiers marching to and from the trenches. I would've preferred something a bit more understated.

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I seem to remember filling in a form at the first showing to indicate my interest in a purchasing the dvd when it emerges. Lets hope that it really does emerge this time.

Keith

Keith,

I've enquired so many times about this film being released on DVD, each time with " I don't know" kind of answer. If it does come out I'll buy it but I'm not chasing it anymore!

Mick

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello

I notice that this thread on the Somme film has been pottering on for a year or two with some discussion on a proposed book. There is indeed a book in preparation and it will be appearing in the New Year although the exact timing is not fixed. It is entitled "Ghosts on the Somme: filming the battle. June-July 1916" and it is being published by Pen and Sword. The authors are myself, Andy Robertshaw and Steve Roberts. We have been working on a greatly expanded version of our part of "The Battle of the Somme: the true story" which was shown on Channel 5 a couple of years ago. Some of you may be aware that we are members of No-mans-land and have been excavating Great War sites for over a decade. We have applied a number of archaeological techniques to the study of the film with some very interesting results. I am currently going through the galley proofs so things are well under way. I will keep everybody informed on progress.

The IWM certainly has plans to release a remastered verion of "The Battle of the Somme" on DVD. I am not privy to their timing on this but I would think it will be before Christmas.

All the best

Alastair Fraser

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Bringing this back to the top of the list - any news of the Andy Robertshaw book?

Amazon and Play.com appear to have the DVD listed for release on 03 October 2008. Information is a bit sparse but I assuming this is it.

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Two dvd's suggests a lot of additional material as the previous release fitted happily onto one vhs tape. Lets hope that this is it.

Keith

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Two dvd's suggests a lot of additional material as the previous release fitted happily onto one vhs tape. Lets hope that this is it.

Keith

I admit this is pure speculation on my part, but it could be that one is with the original (or at least one that sounds contemporary for the time) soundtrack and the other is with the newly recorded orchestral soundtrack. I realise that you can have different audio tracks on one DVD, but this is usually in the form of foreign language dubbing or some sort of commentary, however, I'm not sure if the there is enough space for two full blown orchestral soundtracks on a single DVD, although I'm prepared to be corrected!

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Alastair,

I look forward to the publication of your book in the New year. Its going onto my wish list

Regards

Chris

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  • 1 month later...

Just checked the IWM website, it lists the DVD as being released 3/11/08 !

Mick

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