Hollywood and Tanks

Re: post subject

I don't know which film, but that's Anthony Quayle sitting second from the right, next to the young lady. Would she be Mary Ure, perhaps?

 

post subject

It was actually Sylvia Syms, co starring with john Mills,Anthony Quayle
and Harry Andrews, the film was "ice Cold in Alex".
Sylvia Syms tells of the desert conditions, flys,lavatory arrangements was a basic "Elsan" bucket in a tent, electricity by generator.
the only treat was being invited to sabratha where Victor Mature was filming a tank film using British tanks stationed in the area in 1958.
They (Mature's film crew)had air conditions and every luxury imaginable.
Also she tells of being invited to an American Forces camp at Tripoli, ice cream and cocktails on the beach!

 

Re: post subject

That was John Mills? Didn't look like him.

 

Post subject

SIR John Mills, please!
And you wouldn't look too good if you,d wound a truck in reverse up a sand-dune by the starting handle!!
You should have seen him as the RTR Sgt. in Waterloo Road!

 

Re: Post subject

I actually have seen him in several films, though I haven't seen him play a soldier. He's an excellent actor.

 

Remember watching a film which showed shermans being cut up for scrap after the war. I think it stared Richard Todd as a tank commander reminiscing of his war. As has been said this is the main problem with making films especially now with getting correct vehicles. Most German vechicles were either blown up or sold for scrap. The German vehicles in Band of Brothers were made from all sort of things. If it was not for the Spanish Air Force what would Battle of Britain have looked like. The film that is.
Most of Battle of the Bulge was filmed in Tunisia by the coast and the tanks really spoilt the film to someone who knows, most people don't. Don't look too deep they are just telling the story. Ice Cold is probably the best anti-war film out. Don't agree? Watch it. It does not ram it down your throat like some.
If you think the tanks are bad what about the tatics or the lack of them. The tank charge in The Bugle and Tigers street fighting in SPR with no armoured block in the driver's visor. Put the generals up against the wall. Not surprised people, politicians and media think conflicts should only take 24hrs by rushing in all guns blazing.

 

The Tigers drivers visor (and that of other Panzers as well) had a thick plate of armoured glass, which would hold out both handgun fire and small-caliber anti-tank gun rounds.

The GI fireing through the visor is completely unrealistic.

Christian

 

Captain Miller was firing at the visor in a vain attempt to dispatch the tank, not through it. And I think he was fully aware of the futility of his effort; it was simply his only defence with a .45 pistol.

 

I wasn't referring to him, rather I remember someone fireing a Thompson into the visor.

 

Yes, but would they know about bullet proof glass? I think it's worth the try if you can get close enough and are not aware of the glass. In any case you're likely to shatter the outer layer of the glass, making it very very hard for the driver to see anything.

 

The thing is, it was missing in the movie - if he had fired like that against a real Tiger, the bullets would have richocheted from cut him apart...

Christian

 

I watched 'Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade' last night.
In the film, the local ruler of a ficticious Middle Eastern Kingdom leant a tank to the evil baddy Nazis (boo hiss).
The tank was very interesting.
It appeared to be a modified Mk8 'International' tank, the joint Anglo-American effort designed to be used in the 1919 offensives in WW1.
Basically a stretched-out Mk 1 with smaller sponsoons,

The modifications for the film included a turret (which seemed incapable of moving...) and the apparent ability to travel at ~30mph!

Some pics...
The original MkVIII pic from Bovvie, circe 1969;


Film Tank:

 

I thought it was something of a Tadpole with a Valentine turret. Very interesting, very fictional.

 

Looks to me like the one they used in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade".

 

:lol:
I refer you to my post above...

 

Further to this - while watching the 'bonus features' on the DVD, they briefly discussed the tank. Apparently they had a very hard job working with it, as it had a top speed of 'around 12 mph' (this is the actors remembering this many years later) but had to be involved in a 'race' with a galloping horse (~25mph!).

Factual note: Liberty tanks apparently went at 6.5mph (10kph) road speed.

 

Well Ricky, I really liked it the last time when you gave the conversions with the imperial values in the same post...

 

I can roughly do feet to metres (as 1 yard is roughly 1 metre) but miles -> kilometres simply defeats me.
Sorry!

 

Simple rule remember 5 miles equals 8 Kilometres.

so

12 mph = 19.2 kph tank speed
25 mph = 40 kph horse speed


You can see why they would have trouble filming a chase.

 

Okay, thanks.

Holy crap! How long can a horse keep running at 40km/h?! That is fast!