Film Review: 1917, 2019

Finally got around to watching this film, having originally intended to do so, pretty much, from when it first came out, some time last year. But despite seeing trailers at the pictures that whetted the appetite, we never actually got round to it. At the time of writing this, however, we'd started out watching The Devil's Own, with Brad Pitt and Harrison Fjord, on Amazon Prime. But didn't get along with that at all.

1917 was much more enjoyable and entertaining. Far from perfect, but at least engaging enough we watched it all, and mercifully nowhere near as annoying as Americans getting dewy-eyed about all things Oirish, even 'Da Troubles'. 

Lance Corporals Tom and Will set out through the wire. [1]

I won't synopsise the plot beyond the barest sketch: two men are sent to take a message across no man's land to a nearby unit, cancelling the latter's planned attack, scheduled for 6am the following day, which intelligence suggests is a trap. One of the two lance-corporals given this fool's errand has an older brother who's an officer in the potentially doomed attacking force, as extra motivation.

It's a strange movie, mixing modern views on The Great War - over representing certain ethnic groups ahistorically, and foisting modern values on to characters (and ignoring class hierarchies, etc.) in a not entirely convincing manner - with an obvious desire to render aspects of WWI believably. 

Van Halen's 'Jump' comes to mind ... 'Go ahead, and  Jump!' [2]

Cameos from a number of famous British luvvies include brief turns from Colin Firth, Mark Strong and Benedictus Cucumberpatch, whose performances sit a little oddly in contrast with the two main protagonists, who are - to me at least - unknown. I found them, George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman, rather lacking in charisma, which lessened any emotional investment.

During the longish trip through no-man's land they prattle away in a manner that I found pretty odd, for two soldiers in fear of their lives in potentially enemy occupied territory. This is followed by an aerial-combat interlude that seems both a bit far-fetched in its ultimate outcome and somewhat heavy-handed. Given what the movie depicts, I found it all strangely flat and uninvolving. I still enjoyed it enough to watch the whole thing. But it's far from being a classic.

Mark Strong, one of the better known faces in the cast. [3]

Reading a bit about it online after seeing it, I discovered that there was something of a fuss being made over the entire film being shot in such a way that it was, or appeared to be, just two continuous takes. I have to say I didn't notice this at all. Nor was the film as a whole particularly groundbreaking in any way, technically or otherwise. At least not in ways that I found notable. Indeed, whenever I became aware of the artifice of the movie, it was usually mostly for looking or sounding somewhat derivative, as is so much modern culture. Or else seeming a bit contrived, such as the aeroplane crash, or the hand-to-hand fight in a barn/warehouse.

Hitchcock is famed for the kind of directorial sleights of hand some seem to be lauding 1917 for, and when he does it - as overly stylised as it very often is (as in the movie Rope, for example) - it's both noticeable, impressive and very beguiling. Here it's more workmanlike, to my mind. And occasionally the balance tips rather too much towards form over content, as during the 'lit by flares' townscape sequence.

Very visually striking... seductively so, even? [4]

All in all, I'd say this is a rather odd and unbalanced film. One minute looking like a shoestring buddy movie - esp. during one segment of their amiably chatty cross-country ramble though no-man's land -  the next like a military epic. And, whilst eminently watchable, it's both patchy and a bit incoherent. And it certainly overlays an overly heavy dose of 'our times/views' over the historic elements, rather weakening its appeal for me.

Learning a bit about the story's roots in Sam Mendes grandfather's WWI experiences was interesting. But, alas, the film itself didn't really get any of that personal aspect across, for me. So, in conclusion... worth watching, perhaps. But I'm certainly not raving about it! And I'm kind of glad we didn't fork out the exorbitant sums cinemas charge these days to see it.

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NOTES:

[1] One of the best things about this film are the mise-en-scene; this one, as they go across no man's land, is very well realised, visually.

[2] At least it does for me. But there are reasons: Eddie Van Halen, the guitarist, recently passed away, and I've been studying Jump and other Van Halen songs with many of my drum pupils since then, in tribute. Eddie's brother Alex Van Halen is/was their drummer, and a very, very good one. A great camera angle, for this shot, by the way. Technically it's a well-made movie.

[3] Sadly not even Strong, Firth or Cucumber-patch can save this film from its own 3rd Millenium failings, chief of which is to treat history to PC Bowdlerisation, and foist local/contemporary sensibilities on other times and places. Indeed, their cult of personality film-star presence might even contribute to such problems, as good as they undeniably are as actors. The particular scene in which Strong's character first appears is, to me, a pretty bizarre and implausible one. Yet it's essential in the overall development of the film.

[4] But looking more like a scene from a pop video than real WWI. The whole scene, despite the mud and ruins, is way too pristine. Where's all the detritus of war: materiel, clothes, dead bodies, etc?

Book Review: Battlecruiser Repulse, John Roberts

This is the second one of these Seaforth 'original plans' books I've got, the first being on the German WWI-era battleship Helgoland. Like that, this is astonishingly detailed. Many stunning diagrams are beautifully reproduced, including several four page spreads. Some of the latter are, I believe, scaled down from original draughts as much as 12 feet in length!

I'm not an expert on matters maritime. Books like this are therefore, for me, both splendid, feeding a growing interest in naval warfare, and somewhat bewildering or overwhelming, in the degree of detail. This book is slightly easier to digest than the Helgoland one simply because the original draught sources are in English, not German.

Repulse, 1916.*

Two sets of draughts detail how Repulse was fitted out at two points in her life, the first in 1916 (with later amendments taking her up to 1921), and the second in 1936. A Renown class vessel, built according to the visions of Admiral Lord Fisher, she was intended to be fast and heavily armed. This was accomplished, however, at cost of overly light armour. Indeed, the draughts are very largely a record of the continual up-armouring of this WWI-vintage ship.

As with the Helgoland book, this is mainly a technical description, both textually and visually, with the emphasis on the latter, via the diagrams. There's plenty about the historical context as well, especially re the naval philosophies that lead to the Repulse being designed and built as she was. But, again as with Helgoland, there's less about her actual service; it'd certainly have been nice to have had a few images of her in action.

Repulse, 1936.*

Whereas Helgoland was scrapped after WWI, Repulse was subjected to the renovations covered herein. She even took part in the famous pursuit that lead to the eventual loss of the Bismarck. But, due to that infamous lack of armour, and despite all the upgrades, she was sunk in '41 by the Japanese. This book shows her in incredible detail, and is a real gem reference wise. Definitely recommended.

* Neither of these images appear in the book; it's all just 'Admiralty draughts', i.e. diagrams.

Book Review: Creating Hitler's Germany, Tim Heath

This is a very exciting and readable collage of firsthand accounts, telling the story of ordinary folks, mostly German, and their experiences as part of the evolving story of how Nazism came to take over German society.

Rather unusually for a book of this sort there's no massive lists of official records and bibliography, etc, as the author says all his material was gathered personally, through interviews, letters, email correspondence, and so on. This means we have to take his word on the authenticity of his materials. For now I'm willing to do so. But this does compromise this book somewhat, as the field of Third Reich studies is known for controversy, including the faking of 'evidence'.

But for now I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt. If the materials quoted herein are all genuine, and they all seem plausible enough, the resulting stories are very stirring indeed. They range from folk who were enthusiastic racist Nazis, to those who got caught in the middle, right through to those who were able to escape Germany and observe her self-destruction from elsewhere.

Many would agree that the roots of WWII are embedded in WWI, and that the Allied handling of postwar Germany helped contribute to the unstable situation that gave the Nazis a foothold on the ladder to power. This book follows that line and works through from pre-WWI, WWI itself and the subsequent fallout, through the 'happy days' - at least if you were part of the 'in group' - when many inside and outside thought Hitler's was just what Germany needed, on into and through the maelstrom of WWII.

If it's all genuine, and I hope it is, this is a fascinating and very good piece of social history, showing the many nuanced facets of a dark and disturbing time in the world and particularly German history.

Kit Build/review: 1/72 Revell Fokker E.III

A nice vivid green!

I started this kit aeons ago, and I'm not even sure if I documented the first part of the build. Not that it really matters one way or another. At this point I've masked off the propeller and cockpit, and I'm airbrushing the base colour for the body. I looked at loads of Eindekker pictures online, and ultimately decided to freestyle in colours of my own choosing, similar to real examples, but according to my own whims.

The undercarriage view.

I liked the designs that have coloured bands around the fuselage, including as illustrated on the box. So I retained that element of the design. I even copied the decals onto masking tape, to try and get approximately correctly sized stripes. But I goofed on this account, resulting in the central white band not being as wide as it should've been. Still, never mind!

Masking fuselage stripes.

As alluded to above, there were in fact decals for the coloured bands (or the black and red ones, to be specific), but I decided I'd prefer to paint them by hand. And that meant brusha-painting them, not airbrushing them. As usual, airbrushing is both a wonderful and yet tricky and annoying process. In this instance the base green for the body of this plane was mixed from ordinary (not Model Air) Vallejo acrylics. It needed diluting a bit to get the right flow consistency. And I used a custom colour mix, as usual forgetting to make a note of the mix colours/ratios. It was easier than normal or expected on this occasion. But the airbrush did clog up, as it so often does, requiring a complete strip down and clean... again. Ah, the joys of the airbrush.

Getting decals ready to apply.

I'm still sufficiently inexperienced that every time it comes time to add decals, it's (usually) a bit of an ordeal. They stick to my fingers, they won't stay put where I want 'em, no matter what decal fix I use they don't want to lay flat or conform to the surface they're being applied to. But as they really do add a certain crisp level of finish, I want to use them. I hope as time goes by and I get more experienced, I'll get more adept at applying them.

Nearing completion.

Far from perfect, but looking ok.

Yet another kit that's fairly well along, but not 100% finished. Still, I'm happy enough with how it's going. Next, another gloss coat - I did one prior to adding decals - then I need to find and add the propeller, and do the rigging. But all in all, I like this kit, it's a fun little thing.

Book Review: Helgoland, Aidan Dodson

From my initial reading of some of the dustjacket blurb I gather that the subtitle, Detailed In The Original Builder's Plans, denotes this as being part of a series from Seaforth, Pen & Sword's naval imprint, drawing upon original plans from the collection of the National Maritime Museum. 

I'm fascinated by war at sea. But I'm very virginal, when it comes to nautical affairs, so I'm not the most expert of judges on this topic. What I can see immediately, is that in respect of the images reproduced here, this is a five-star affair: chock-full of comprehensive and beautiful draughtsman's drawings of the Helgoland.

Construction of the Helgoland was completed and she entered service in 1909. She served throughout WWI, taking part in the famous battle of Jutland. After Germany's defeat England took custody of her, eventually selling her to be scrapped, in 1924. What a sad fate for such a monstrous beauty, and  what a waste of so much engineering work. But that's what happens to old ships, especially during/after wars.

SMS Helgoland (source: Wikipedia commons).*

I have to confess that the degree of detail provided here, which to me seems quite staggering, is a bit beyond what I require. Consequently I abandoned the complete reading of the text I initially embarked upon, about halfway through, with my head spinning, and instead skimmed through the remainder.

The largest of the reproductions is this four page spread profile.

What I spent more time on were the astonishingly detailed diagrams. Two of the pages fold out, giving two three-page spreads bookending one four-page spread. One could easily spend hours upon hours examining them. The many images run the entire gamut, detailing just about everything, and include plan, profile and sectional views. The combination of aesthetic  pleasure and awe at the engineering (not to mention admin, etc.) that I derive from studying these surprises me. What prodigious feats of construction/destruction we, the human animal, are capable of!

Whilst I'm morally confused about my fascination with war machines and war in general, I know that I'm totally blown away (wah-waah!) by the 'pure' engineering/tech aspects. Guns are great examples of this. Tanks are even better. But battleships? They have to be the ultimate, surely? Or maybe that'd be aircraft carriers... hmmm!?

There are detailed plan views of every deck, and way more besides.

Books like this often presume a certain degree of knowledge on the part of the reader. This one certainly does. Nevertheless, I feel such specialist publications really ought to include glossaries and the like, regardless. It'd be a great help to those readers of such works who, like me, might not yet know their binnacles from their bilge pumps.

However, that one gripe aside, the print quality and the number and detail of the schematic draughts used here are all very high. This level of detail is not, perhaps, for the mildly interested (or fainthearted). But I would imagine that for the nautical buff - and given how much a landlubber like me has enjoyed this - will love this.

26 spreads give 52 images detailing new station by station, from stem to stern.

Reading/perusing this has me determined to turn my hand to some form of naval modelling at some point soon. My only nautical kits are a 1/300 Dutch gunboat by Rod Langton, a U-Boat and the Bismarck (I forget yet make and scale if the latter; and poss you could also include my Arado AR-196 and Catalina flying boat models?), all currently in the attic I think. Anyway, back to the book: I'm no expert in this area, but I'd say this is an excellent book.

* As well as the lack of a glossary, there are no archival photos of Helgoland, which is a pity. Pictures of her under construction and in action would have made a terrific addition.

Book Review: The Jeep, Lance Cole (Land Craft, 1)

With this title on the iconic Jeep, Pen & Sword launch a new series called Land Craft, a companion to their already well established Tank Craft series. The Jeep is an excellent place to start, being one of the most recognisable vehicles of WWII (and beyond). Indeed, it's iconic position is such that it's been used as the logo for the Land Craft series, in the top right corner of the cover.

I've been lucky enough to receive a new copy from the publisher, for review. I'm really chuffed to be getting to review a fair amount of books on a variety of Pen & Sword imprints. And thus far I've loved and been very impressed with pretty much everything I've read. So much so I've rated practically all of them around four to five stars. Alas, this title hits the first bumps on this particular road!

It's still a book worth having, primarily for the visual reference, and secondarily for the model-related sections. This said, the non-model related picture content is not up to the usual Tank Craft standards, mixing WWII period photos with more contemporary images apparently randomly, with too many of the latter. And within the latter there's too much repetition of images of the same vehicles.

A very well known image, of a Jeep in British North African service.

Tamiya's 1/35 kit helped cement (boom-boom!) the SAS image in our minds!

The colour profiles are also not as good as in other similar titles I've received from the Tank Craft line. On the plus side this volume does include aerial/plan views in the colour profile section, which most of the Tank Craft equivalents don't.

But where this particular title differs most is in the text, which is very poor, in my opinion. I mean no offence to author Lance Cole. He obviously loves his subject, and doubtless knows a lot about it. But it simply doesn't read well. I've struggled to about half-way through the written part, and given up. It's headache-inducingly prolix, meandering around aimlessly and constantly repeating information. It could be cited as a definition of the phrase 'lumpen prose'. 

Although the book is structured similarly to the Tank Craft series - listing the chapter titles shows this to be the case (Development and Design, The Jeep in Detail, Camouflage and Markings, Model Showcase, Modelling Products, In Service and in Action, Variants) - it doesn't read that way. Compared with the lucid, well-structured writing of, for example Dennis Oliver, this text is like treacle. Strict and severe editing is required. Judicious editing from what's here would probably reduce it by 50-60%. But it's so poor a total rewrite would be best.

Another Jeep, also in British service; is this Burma?

All the Jeeps in the Model Showcase section are 1/35th. It'd have been nice to see one or two in other scales. Anyway, in conclusion, I'd say that thanks to the imagery herein this is still worth having. But I'd forewarn potential purchasers/readers re the quality of the writing. 'Tis a pity that what will surely be a very useful series (I also have the next one, on the M2/M3 halftrack) gets off to a somewhat shaky start.

If you did think you might want to buy this, now is a good time, as both this and the M2/M3 title are currently reduced from the RRP of £14.99 to just £12.99, over at the Pen & Sword website.

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NB: I used to write regularly for the now sadly defunct Drummer (UK*) magazine. I remember several occasions where the editor intervened to temper my criticisms, usually either on account of personal or professional connections between the subject and the mag. So, for example, I was asked to review a particular CD by a certain band (I forget who now, thankfully). I thought it was awful, and said so. However, our editor was trying to cultivate the drummer of this band as a potential contributor to the magazine. My review wasn't used. 

I also recall having to soften critiques - or finding them having been editorially softened for me - of products. What galled me most about the latter was that I was prevented from speaking the truth as I saw it, and usually re cheapo gear from big manufacturers, whereas there was a freedom to pan the little independent concerns, 'cause that wouldn't threaten advertising revenue unduly. I mention all this because I want it to be known that opinions expressed on my blog (at least by me, at any rate) are genuine.

* Not the US Drummer magazine, by the way, a gay leather/porn mag!

The following photographs include some great Jeep images... none of which feature in this book, alas:

Jeep goes airborne... yeehaw!

UK or Commonwealth soldiers posed as if thumbing a ride.

A US vehicle graveyard on Okinawa, '45.

Jeep ambulance. Not sure where this is, or what nation it's being used by?

Jeeps roll off the production line and onto the transport supply lines.

Maintenance work; is that an engine powered lathe? 

Another Jeep auditioning for the airborne!

Jeep ambulance. Note bullet holes in windscreen!

They sure made a lot of Jeeps!

Jeeps are sexy!

Cole meanders in and out of his timelines all over the place, one minute talking about wartime Jeep history, and often (too often for a book aimed at WWII Jeep modelling) talking about postwar Jeep stuff. But he doesn't include the rather amazing almost James Bond-esque image above.

Media: They Shall Not Grow Old, 2018

Usually I miss this sort of thing, as I discuss on my other blog (here). But at 9.25 pm last night I discovered that at 9.30, that same Nov' 11th evening, BBC2 would be showing a Remembrance Day programme I simply had to see. This is my photo-essay tribute to an amazing film about an amazing time.

They Shall Not Grow Old is Peter Jackson's superb WWI centennial commemoration, the heart of which is brilliantly colourised and enhanced archival footage. The 90 minute programme eases us in gently. First there's a slow full-screen fade in, from the stark title, via pale ghostly moving images,  in shades of grey, before the framing and aspect ratio changes to that shown immediately below, evoking old-fashioned TV formatting.

Pre-WWI England, very 19th century.

The soundtrack to the entire film is veterans sharing their memories of their experiences. We start with general memories of involvement in The Great War, before winding back to just before the outbreak, and feelings that arise when that occurs. In a time less saturated with worldwide or even local media coverage of events, a simple conformist patriotism dominates.

News of the outbreak of war arrives.

The rush to join up.

Many lied about their age, in order to serve.

Reality starts to sink in, abroad transports to the continent.

By this point the film has already subtly shifted into enhanced footage, only it's remained black and white. Now, as the troops arrive in France and Belgium, the film goes into colour. Unenhanced archival footage of this era tends to be played back with a frame-rate that produces quick jerky movement, and picture quality is poor. Jackson and co. have achieved a more realistic smoother tempo, with a clearer quality picture. And then there's the colourisation. It really is supremely well done.

Arrival in the zig-zag trenches.

The trench system from above.

It's a new and strange environment.

And not a very hospitable one, at that.

Petroleum flavoured water.

The stench of death is everywhere.

Adding to the fragrant bouquet at the front, the behind.

Camaraderie. When not fighting, or under bombardment, it's an adventure.

Grub's up!

Equine corpses stink, but they make tolerable furniture.

Supplies and logistics.

Food for the guns.

Food for the mincer, delivered by rail.

What were the mysterious 'tanks'?

Aha! So that's what they are!

Marching to and from the front.

Wow! Traction engines in the supply lines.

Sappers at work, maintaining the trenches. 

Getting ready for the push.

Officers brief the men before they go over the top.

Anxiety is clear in the faces of troops about to go over.

The pre-attack artillery barrage, supposed to 'soften them up'

Tanks mass for the attack.

A backward glance. Will I be coming back?

And then it happens, over the top

Tanks roll over the trenches.

The colour restoration is great. 

Tanks also handle barbed-wire better than ground troops.

A direct hit. The iron beast is gutted.

The situation for the wounded is dire.

Medics are greatly appreciated

This guy's had a bullet through the chest, a bad wound.

The guy on the left was clearly shell-shocked. Trembling, and so on.

Wounded Germans are treated.

German prisoners often did stretcher duty.

There was quite a lot of camaraderie between prisoners and captors.

The dastardly Hun.

This one does look a bit like a hobgoblin.

Group pictures often capture the happier moments.

Happy campers, lived like trolls.

The end in sight.

War is over. Many are too burnt out to celebrate.

And finally, at the 'eleventh hour', it's all over. The overall consensus amongst the veterans whose testimony we hear at this point is that there's are two major reactions to the armistice. Several state that there was no euphoria or cheering, or anything like that. Instead there was a kind of shell shocked numbness and exhaustion, and a sense of 'now what?'

At this point the film reverts to the smaller old-fashioned screen shape, and black and white footage, as we hear how veterans returned to indifference, unemployment, and the slow road to incorporation back into normal civilian life.

Troops returning home.

Only to find mass unemployment, sometimes even active discrimination against ex-servicemen.

In many ways, little appeared to have changed.

Another point of agreement was that war is a bad thing, and that this war was, ultimately, a pointless waste of life. Tough things to come to terms with, if you've given some of the best years of you life, or returned physically or psychologically scarred for life. And then there are those millions, and this film is dedicated to the million or so English or Commonwealth service men and women who died in WWI, of whom the title speaks, who gave their lives, and shall not grow old.

This is a terrific piece of documentary film-making that shkws both the positive and negative sides of war. The positive includes the sense of belonging and purpose, the training that builds physical strength, self-reliance, and communal bonds, and the advances in technology, from weapons on the one hand, to medicine and communications on the other. And then there's the social changes that come abought, as women go to work, and as the old class-system crumbles.

The negative include the destruction of so much, both natural and man-made, and the incredible cost in lives, and all over what? For what? The war against Fascism looks a lot easier to justify with hindsight, even though, rather ironically, it helped consolidate the rise and extend the spread of Communism. But World War One? That looks more like the last unadulterated gasp of 19th Century colonialism. 

Anyway, Jackson's technological finesse, the resources he can marshal, have helped him, with the backing of numerous U.K. based heritage organisations, a terrific testimony to this crazy and titanic war, and in particular the part played by ordinary servicemen. Thought provoking, and essential viewing