NEW BATTLE OF BRITAIN FILM!!!

I know what you mean about the Romans etc, the thing is that the way it is taught in Britain, you study Roman history, if you are studying something from the Roman point of view you are bound to be biased. More to the point, the Romans won, however as I remember the Celts (everyone is proud to be decended from them, they are very much in vogue at the mo) were portrayed as quaint peaceful little tribes who lived in lovely little villages etc whilst the Picts and Caladonians were horrible viscious barbarians who wore no clothes.

As for the Greeks and so on, well we never covered it much in school so I had to teach myself after a fashion, though I alwas did rather get the impression that the Greeks were viewed as being 'good' because they were democrats and all the barbarians who came to romw were evil yada yada yada. All rather irritating if you ask me.

 

well as to the original topic this film wil be a load of bull, as hollywood makes a mess again with there films as in the Enigma capture all by American as the film tells us (lol)

but BoB was a british affair and the brits were not all pompus and upper class yes there were some american and checz and french and polish i think good films should be left as good films and be shown over and over, as this new fil THE FEW which is alabout the american will be shown to kid who will then then the bloody war was won single handedly by the american forces,

as to the best film to come out of HOLLYWOOD is a Bridge too Far as they only paid for it and
david attenborough directed it and kept things in shape with the help of colonel Frost the commanding officer at Arnhem bridge as a adviser.

hollywood should leave brit film alone unless they make them true to fact as the brits dont go arround making films how we took Omaha... etc

TTFN that all men stand at ease

 

I'll be the first one to slam the rewriting of history. I came all the way from Australia to learn a bit more about REAL ww2 history from Brits, esp RAF. I Also wanted to see the other side and to research German History, I find the Brits respect the Germans a lot more than the Aussies or the Americans do for some reason. I guess its because they are practically next door to each other.

To the point!! Stefan, I have to disagree with your attack on hollywood for 2 reasons:

1) Brits DID star in some Brilliant movies:
a) Richard burton let an all british operation 'cept for eastwood in Where Eagles Dare...an American film.

b) Bridge too far was about 1/2 1/2 but the "heros" of the day were undoubtably British

c) The eagle has landed...although fictional, had a brit (Caine) as the lead character

2) I do not blame Hollywood...I blame Britain. Why can't the british film industry, instead of churning out crappy bond films every 3 years concentrate on heaping glory for the mighty Empire? Because it is not profitable...pure and simple. Just the same reasoning that Hollywood uses when deciding who will star and what they will churn out.

Not saying it is right, just the opposite, but Hollywood is in America and it's first priority is to promote its own people...what is wrong with that? We in Britain can lobby the BBC to make a british series, for instance about Hill 112. After all we pay our license fees and the BBC end up helping Spielberg make Band of Brothers!

Having said, please don't mistake me for saying that the movies that are being produced are of any quality For instance U-571 was sunk BY THE AUSSIES IN A CATALINA FLYING BOAT . How many people know that?

[ 31. October 2003, 12:24 PM: Message edited by: BratwurstDimSum ]

 

Hello Bratwurst - a very warm welcome & it's great to have another 'Aussie' here !

Minor points - 'Where Eagles Dare' was made in the UK with US money, so it doesn't really count as Hollywood ( well, not to me, anyway ! )

No problem with Hollywood promoting its' own Countrymen - just a bit annoying when they want to start taking credit from others ! ( Why don't they make a really good 'Bulge' movie - no doubts at all there, it was an American 'show' ).

For me, the original 'Battle Of Britain' movie is always the best, and to see the Australians get their fair share of the credit, watch 'The Dam Busters' ( of course ! )....

 

a) Richard Burton let an all British operation 'cept for Eastwood in Where Eagles Dare...an American film.

And Robert Beatty as the ‘Monty’s double’ type general. A great ‘boys own’ adventure story set in WWII, mostly well acted, great stunts, superb music, clever plot. The biggest ‘bollocks’ factor? – the treatment of Lt. Schaffer’s character. OK it was ‘Fist full of dollars/Dirty Harry’ Eastwood in WWII uniform – mmm, bang bang shoot ‘em up, well done, very enjoyable, Eastwood doing what Eastwood did best at that stage and a bums-on-seats money spinner. I really have no problem with this and appreciated him in the film. But, did we really need all that implausible storyline?

Whether or not it's actually specified in the story, IF something like that were to have taken place, it probably would have been an SOE mission and the soldiers provided by the SOE’s Small Scale Raiding Force, or, as the force had to pretend to be Germans, more likely men from 3 Troop of No.10 (IA) Commando. Either way smart, competent and intrepid – or as we say, ‘the dogs bollocks’. Not ‘half a mo guvnor’, ‘cor blimey’ and ’I wish I was back in blighty’.

They were ostensibly out to rescue an American general, so, quite reasonably, they could have an American along and again quite reasonably take a Ranger as they don’t need passengers. The eulogy of the character’s introduction, You’ll see his wearing the uniform of a Ranger which speaks for itself and his arrogant attitude is misplaced and overplayed. There is also nothing historically to suggest Rangers officers were in the slightest bit arrogant in the company of SOE or Commando comrades who were their mentors!

Among the force were the podgy, middle-aged double agents which were to be flushed out. However, these desk-bound traitors killed the Commando soldiers among the force? The expression, ‘more chance of getting sh/t from a rocking horse’ comes to mind!

No.9

 

Well, for myself, I always suspend all disbelief when watching 'Where Eagles Dare' - an entire bookfull of questions could be asked, from 'How does the Ju52 fly all the way to Bavaria - unmolested or unchallenged' in the first scene to 'How do those MP40's have 20mm firepower' in the last.


And yet I always enjoy it - maybe I'm just inconsistent or maybe it's because the movie is such unashamed nonsense.....

 

"Eagles" is in my "top 5" fav movies not because of its authenticity or message that it sends, its just blo*dy fun! I have never had a war movie which had that many plot twists and turns in it.
Alistair Mclean was one of the daddys of war fiction at the time. Thats the other thing, it was never made out to be a true story unlike about 80% of the other War movies out there, so I had no expectations

Match that with Eastwood doing at that time what swartzenega did in the 80s, it was a great combination.

Yeah how come the only gun in ww2 appeared to be an Mp40 according to this movie? fortunately the '40 is my favourite weapon so it was easy to excuse

As for Eastwood's acting...come on!!!!

 

'How do those MP40's have 20mm firepower'

I can answer that one Martin, they're using HHA, (Hollywood Hero Ammunition), otherwise known as the 'Smart Round'. Not only do they have variable contact force, decided by the Director, but they are self-seeking and loaded into self-replenishing magazines. When a hero burps off a burst, range is inconsequential and multiple hits are guaranteed.

Now, when enemy ammunition is used, any 'hits' have to be authorised by the Director, the Producer, the Executive Producer, the Script-writer, the Author, the Financial Executive, the Investors Interests Executive and Officials from triple 'A' (Anti-American Activities) and of course, the BOSS (Bums-On-Seats Supervisor). Oh yes, and the recent introduction of representatives of Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, and Pee-Wee Dunghead from Anytown USA who is obliged to ask the question; "Are we having fun yet" on the hour and half-hour, together with his Child Education On-set Supervisor.

It ain’t easy making a film you know? (Or as my old Pappy used to say when the credits ran; “Wot a lot people to do nothing!”)



No.9

 

But the best bit is when ol' Clint fires one MP40 .... in each hand !! ( actually, I remember - yessirree, Sonny! - 'Mad' magazine running a very funny comic-strip spoof of the film. Wish I had that copy still ! )

 

You mean this?

 

GREAT stuff !

And a for finding the image, Bratwurst !

 

And where did he stick his Panzerfaust then???

Hmmm..........original Mad Magazine, and paperbacks! Chuck Connors as Lucas McCain, aka, "The Rifle, man!!!"



No.9

 

Sorry I can't take all the credit.

I got WED on R2 DVD and I just did a screenshot of it.

If you like that you're gonna love this, (wait till the animation finishes loading):

 

Well, whatever, Bratwurst - but I must say that your first 'Schaefer' image makes a very screensaver/background on my computer.

Of course, this is probably breaking a whole raft of copyright regulations and I'm waiting for the SAS to abseil through my window at any moment.....

 

Bratwurst, that is some very cool animation.

Would it be possible for you to do others and place them here?

Regards--Carl.

 

No problem. Here 'tis.



While not particularily difficult, it is very time consuming though, those few frames of clint in my prev post took about an hour to produce, seeing as I had to advance frame by frame on the DVD, snapshot each one, reduce the size to something that won't = silly filesize then run them through adgif which is a gif animator...

[ 03. November 2003, 02:07 AM: Message edited by: BratwurstDimSum ]

 

Thank you again Bratwurst. When I finally do get a computer of my own, I would like to do these for another website but in avatar size. On the militaria collectors site there currently two animated avatars using I think about 5 seconds of film. One showns actual news footage of an iraqu tank blowing up in the desert, and the other shows Col Potter and Capt Pierce in a jeep on a dirt road being shelled.