The East movie

[Lang]

Mike

I don't think we can be too critical of costumes and equipment in period movies. Not only are they getting harder to source but all movies have budget constraints.

Julius Caesar would be rolling in his grave if he could see how Hollywood dresses Roman soldiers.

As a flyer I am totally amazed that Spitfires did not glide from UK to Berlin before starting their engines to protect the bombers after seeing the "amazingly accurate" latest Dunkirk movie. The British soldiers crowded on the pier after weeks of battle and retreat would warm a sergeant major's heart with their spotless helmets and immaculate outfits.

The outrageous overacting in the latest SAS series comes to mind. Of course every movie has to have a woman invented for a major role whether they were there or not. I say a damn good thing too, women do not get enough credit for things they have not done.

I think there were less than half a dozen stand in the street face-off "fair fight" gunfights recorded in the whole history of the wild west. John Wayne did that many before breakfast.

It is interesting, and fun, for enthusiasts to pick errors in things, times and places but the story is there for the 999 out of 1,000 who would not know. It is annoying but just entertainment "based on fact" as they say.

Even the news docos made in the field at the time were regularly staged and orchestrated with training exercises largely filling the battle scenes.

It is all smoke and mirrors and let us hope they keep making them so we can grit our teeth when the bloke in the fifth row steps off on his right foot.

Lang