Movie Topic

Originally posted by Peter Nenadovich

I feel that the new yardstick for depicting the experience of ground combat in WW ll is "Band of Brothers". Part of what made that work, apart from the 100 million dollar budget was the miniseries format. By watching the story span the war in Europe from D-Day to VE -day you had a better appreciation for the level of attrition as these characters endure there time on the line.

What would I like to see in a two hour format? I'd really like to see a decent depiction of Dieppe.

Peter and Geoff (who posed the question in the first place),

BoB succeded for many reasons, perhaps a written and detailed first-hand record for reference; and a real military man as a tech adviser who was allowed to both advise, act, and train the players. Of interest the actors were made to live like WWII soldiers for some time previously and actually self-generated their own band of brothers. Also of interest is the use of minor actors who really tried hard and of course we didn't immediately see them as household figures, surprisingly almost all were British too.

They did well with the vehicles generally for the larger audience although I believe all the Shermans were actually Canadian Grizzlies, half-tracks were IHC and never used by the US and of course the first glimpse of a 432 sprocket masquerading as a StuG III tends to spoil the effect for the admitted MV anorak. Then of course some of us knew which German truck "The Baron Paulus von Hocking" was driving. . . . . . . . . . .

Dieppe, now don't get me started; I think the "establishment" here wouldn't allow a truthfull depiction of the senior commander or his incompetence and arrogant chicanery.

Geoff and I have been here before, I'd like to see an accurate dramatisation of the events around Caen which seems to be either a forgotten or wholly mis-understood area. Correctly done though the censor will have trouble perhaps, since the struggles here surpassed the previous carnage yardstick of The Somme.

However, without an American interest, and therefore Hollywood multi-millions, it seems likely to never happen.

R.