You choose the next WW2 Documentary

Discussion in 'Books, Films, TV, Radio' started by rosstcorbett, Jul 28, 2011.

  1. Auditman

    Auditman Senior Member

    What about a series that looks at a different unit in depth each week with an overview about what they did.

    Most people, history fans or not will have heard references to various units, such as the Sappers, Coastal Command, Minesweepers, Landing Craft (as mentioned earlier), Russian convoys, RASC and one of certain interest to me The RAF Regiment. But do most people know how they work or what they did that contributed to the eventual victory. (By the way I know this list is incomplete sorry if I've missed out other that deserve inclusion).

    Alternatively look at a particular battle and drill downwards. Progs about the Battle of Britain (as an example from many) inevitably, and this is not intended as any form of criticsm of them, tend to look at the planes and the pilots, sometimes the Operations Room get a MID, the observers and the radar get "an assist" from time to time but rarely do the armourers, fitters, the Cooks, the General Duties that filled in the holes inthe runways, Fire Crews, the Ground Defences, Medics etc get a mention, along with the Administrative functions that pull it all together and make it work (yes I work in an office).

    Just some thoughts

    Jim
     
  2. Alan Allport

    Alan Allport Senior Member

    In the first few minutes there is footage from " Listen to Britain" ( 1942) [corrected date - AA] which the commentator refers to as an " early masterpiece of the British Documentary Movement, very simply made without "voice-over" telling you what to think, it presents itself as documentary truth."

    Made by the great Humphrey Jennings of the Crown Film Unit, who was also responsible for I Was a Fireman/Fires Were Started (1943). Listen to Britain is definitely worth seeing in full, and is available on the Land of Promise DVD compilation.

    Best, Alan
     
  3. Assam

    Assam Senior Member

    I would dearly love to see something of Kohima, I have yet to see a doco on that or the battle at Imphal.

    It was once said that "Kohima was a battle made for Hollywood but nobody has the guts to make it"

    Any doco on that North East Frontier would be good.
    Regards

    Simon
     
  4. Wills

    Wills Very Senior Member

  5. papiermache

    papiermache Well-Known Member

    Made by the great Humphrey Jennings of the Crown Film Unit, who was also responsible for I Was a Fireman/Fires Were Started (1943). Listen to Britain is definitely worth seeing in full, and is available on the Land of Promise DVD compilation.

    Best, Alan

    Thank you for the link. The films appear to have been made effortlessly, but I had not realised that "Nightmail" had been made following months of research and that the scenes in the "sorting carriage" supposedly on the train were actually shot in a studio. The sound recordist needed a G.P.O truck full of equipment with valves aglow. All now replaced by a pocket "HD" camera available for very little money, compared with the cost of a 35 mm. camera.
     
  6. canuck

    canuck Closed Account

  7. tedfromscrubs

    tedfromscrubs Junior Member

    Given its the 70th anniversary of the Italian Armistice in 2013 it would seem the time is ripe for something on the Italian Campaign. I'd go for the "untold story" (sorry mate) of PoWs in Italy who escaped in Sept 43 in their thousands and either yomped over teh mountains down to Allied lines/stayed and fought with Italian partisans or (most commonly) were taken in and hidden by Italian peasants and became part of the family.

    It seems to me a prime example of ordinary humanity overcoming the hard facts: ie - they were enemies; the peasants were illiterate and poverty-stricken; reprisals were very harsh.

    Although escape and assistance stories may be commonplace, the "unique" (sorry again) thing about what happened in Italy is that lads from entirely different cultures ended up living with their saviours for up to a year or more - learning the language, working the land, going to the cinema. This was under the noses of the Germans and the Fascists (the more dangerous of the two) - and in some places almost every outlying farmhouse seems to have been housing a PoW or two. My neighbours in Italy certainly all did.

    It would be an interesting angle to take, and also give the D-Day Dodgers some well overdue time in the limelight.

    I have actually written up my basic research into a TV treatment which I'm hawking around to anyone remotely media-connected, so here's hoping........
     
  8. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD


    .Back again on iplayer, the story of the Documentary Film Movement and the Crown Film Unit during WW2, including a mention of Target for Tonight.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b012p53d/britain-through-a-lens-the-documentary-film-mob
     
  9. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    Chaplains - could be fascinating subjects in themselves and might shed interesting light on the thoughts, fears and beliefs of those at imminent risk of death.
     
    dbf likes this.

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