Restored WW1 film

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Restored WW1 film

Post by Horus »

On this Sunday 11th November at 9.30 pm on BBC 2 they are showing some old black & white film that has been digitally restored and re-coloured by Peter Jackson who did the Lord of the Rings & Hobbit films, looks very interesting. :up


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Re: Restored WW1 film

Post by Grandad »

Something to record and save I think H for sometime when we are short of something to watch.

We did watch the annual Remembrance Service at the Albert Hall this evening. That can be a bit repetitive but this year they seem to have given it a more contemporary arrangement. It turned out to be very good TV. :up
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Re: Restored WW1 film

Post by Grandad »

I have recorded it H and from todays reviews I look forward to watching it. It has been given wide acclaim :up
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Re: Restored WW1 film

Post by Horus »

Grandad I watched the Peter Jackson film and it was so much more hard hitting when seen in colour, it takes about 20 minutes into the program before it turns into colour, but worth the wait. He has done an amazing job of creating authentic colour and cleaning the images to a really good standard, in some you can actually hear the words the soldiers are speaking, so the soundtrack is also authentic. I believe that they did this by having expert lip readers translate what was being spoken in the silent film and then spoken by an actor, the result was that it added reality to the men in the trenches as they waited to go over the top or just trying to exist in that hell hole. The sharpened image and colour made the battle grounds so commonly seen as just a grainy black and white film into a horrific scene of dead and churned up bloodied bodies half buried in the mud and lying in the trenches along with the living soldiers, everyone should have to watch that film, especially politicians.
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Re: Restored WW1 film

Post by Grandad »

We watched it this evening H. OMG, at last a real record of what it was really like in WWI. What an amazing job with all that old footage that has not been seen before because of the vivid content. That must be archived forever.
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Re: Restored WW1 film

Post by Horus »

Another thing I saw Grandad (and this is not a criticism of those brave men) was a fleeting look of fear or even terror on some faces in the moments after they thought the camera had passed them by, as if they were desperatly trying to retain control as they waited to go over the top, the misery they experienced in those trenches is beyond belief. :(
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Re: Restored WW1 film

Post by Grandad »

The sheer power of those high explosive shells clearly explained to me WHY the whole battlefield was pock marked with shell holes. The scene where a shell explodes near a column of mounted horses and when the dust settles, some horses lay dead.
And the tank that had been hit in the WRONG place and had exploded. So many real life scenes, this was not Hollywood, this was real life or death.
Everybody, and in particular the young people, SHOULD see this. And let's not forget the cameramen with large heavy equipment who saved these images.
History that must be preserved.
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Re: Restored WW1 film

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

Wish it would be shown here.
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Re: Restored WW1 film

Post by Horus »

LLL, this will give you a very small snippet :up
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Re: Restored WW1 film

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

Definitely interesting. My dads dad (my paternal Grandfather) was in that war in France. He was wounded early on and returned home. He never talked about it other than to confirm it was a stomach wound that periodically bothered him through life.
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Re: Restored WW1 film

Post by Mad Dilys »

I do find the way really dreadful stress like war, accidents or natural disaster is treated these days, compared with the times when there were no experts is very interesting. Far be it from me to criticise experts but my generation spent a lot of time with grandparents and older members of the family who had been through harrowing ordeals and carried on an apparently normal life afterwards.

The men in my Mother's family were mostly in the Navy only a couple in the Army and they were always "at the sharp end". They would talk about their experiences if directly asked, but tended to take the attitude "That was then, can't change it and it's past. I'm grateful to have a future whatever that may bring."

My Grandfather was born in 1878 lied about his age and joined the Royal Navy at 15 years old. He spent many hours with me as a child telling me so many tales that my Mother dismissed as myth, but subsequent research shows was fact.
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Re: Restored WW1 film

Post by Grandad »

My #1 grandson is 25 and lives with his girlfriend in Norfolk. He works at the University of East Anglia. I sent him this text early last evening and I have also posted his reply later in the evening. I think his observations are quite interesting from a young man.

My text: Hi Alex. Knowing that you have always shown an interest in WWI I wondered if you had watched Peter Jacksons film They Shall Not Grow Old on the BBC. It is digitally reworked video from the front line and and is a must see IMO. Well worth a watch. Gd xx
His response: Hi grandad. Funny you should say that. I have just watched it this evening. I thought it did a very impressive job of communicating the experience of the war, something which up until now I have found to be difficult to grasp as fully as that of the second war and afterwards. It never ceases to amaze me how ancient WWI seems, how unprepared they were in many ways for what was in store - still relying on horses and bayonets. A terrifying confusing mix between the primitive and the mechanical. Alex xx
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Re: Restored WW1 film

Post by Horus »

And of course Grandad he is maybe not aware that even though the two armies were using horses and very few of the new mechanised tanks were in existence at that time, the British army still fought as they did in previous wars. The slow advance with fixed bayonets was still the accepted method method of advancing towards your emery, unfortunately by then the Maxim gun had been invented and put to good use by the German defenders who were able to just mow down the British troops like scything wheat in a field, the old tried and tested methods of horse drawn warfare and soldiers with bayonets against machine guns caused most of the casualties.
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Re: Restored WW1 film

Post by Mad Dilys »

The mention of the horses made me think of meeting a very old horse when I was about four years old which had a big scar across it's shoulder. He was over 40 years old, had been injured in WW1 and brought back to Kent by his owner. He was pretty much revered locally.

Then later when I worked with horses the Head Groom was full of stories about taking wagon loads of ammunition to the front. Frequently the wagon was hit, or maybe just the horses and finally both. They had to keep a tight hold on the horses as they bumped their way to the front line then raced back as fast as they possibly could. Often wagons would overturn on the way back - both horses and men were terrified. Loose horses had to be recovered, often shot to put them out of their misery, wagons repaired and returned to the amunition dump with the air full of flying metal.


Part of the time he was in the Mesopotamian campaign, which few hear much about. He and a friend were scouting and were captured I think by Arabs? Anyway the two men decided to go with the flow until an opportunity came to escape. They simply waited until the two chaps guarding them had an argument and while they were distracted, overcame them took their clothes and walked back to the British Line. When he told me this I asked "Surely the Brits would shoot you?"
"Well," he said "My mate called out to them first and they welcomed us back............ Not many Arabs speak with a strong Cornish accent!"
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Re: Restored WW1 film

Post by Grandad »

I spent my last 25 years working for a company based at Richborough on the east coast of Kent. Just north of our works was Richborough Port. This was an important embarkation point for troops and supplies to the northern France and Belgium theatres of war. A major dock facility was created there and the innovation of Roll on Roll off (RoRo) shipping was created there.
My grandson observed the contrast between the primitive, use of horses and bayonets, and the mechanical, tanks and heavy weaponry.
At Richborough Port there were dockside cranes loading ships and barges. This map of the area, dated 1920, includes pictures of a ship and some of the gantry work. All of this is long gone.
9793

This is an image of a RoRo loaded with military vehicles and a hospital train in 1918.
9792

A method used very successfully to get supplies to the front line was by barges loaded at Richborough Port, towed across the north sea, then towed along the canal system of Belgium and northern France.

Although the film showed the actual horror of the trenches and the front line, there was in place a sophisticated logistics set up to provide supplies and to repatriate the wounded.
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