They Shall Not Grow Old (1 Viewer)

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Deleted member 5849

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Probably deserves its own thread as there's enough angles to interest many people.

There's the significance of 100 years of the armistice.

There's the historical record of archive footage.

There's the technical achievement of colouring and synching words to images.

Let's see if it lives up to the hype...
 
Alan Dugdales Moustache

Alan Dugdales Moustache

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Seen some clips of this already. Absolutely amazing how they have transformed the old footage. Looks like it was filmed yesterday and looks as good a quality as when I watch some shows from the 1990's on the Yesterday channel . Apparently they used computers to "fill in " the bits between the pictures to smooth out the film. A few years ago they were able to colourise old black and white film but for anyone who hasn't seen this yet this is a step way beyond that. Well worth a look.
 
Nick

Nick

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When is it on? Wanted to see this. I assume it's the documentary they have upscaled and coloured?
 
Alan Dugdales Moustache

Alan Dugdales Moustache

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BBC2 tonight 9.30
 
Otis

Otis

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Will catch it on the iPlayer, as I am maxed out tonight and cannot change channels.
 
I_Saw_Shaw_Score

I_Saw_Shaw_Score

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Just watched it, I genuinely struggled to take it in as 100 years ago due to it being in colour!
The colour gives it more of a ‘reality’, how they kept going I will never know.

Amazing watch I’ll have to watch again in a few weeks to try and take it all in properly!
 
Johnnythespider

Johnnythespider

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The moment it goes from the black and white juddery image to colour and controlled speed is amazing, i watched a clip of Jackson saying the reason the original film is so flickery (if that's a word) was based on the speed the camera operator was winding the camera, it brought the soldiers to life. As already mentioned what a waste of life.
 
Gazolba

Gazolba

Well-Known Member
The problem with all war footage is you hardly ever see anyone killed or dead bodies lying around. Anything inconvenient was censored out.
This gives the false impression that war is glorious and heroic and anesthetises us from the the destruction and carnage which war largely consists of.
 
rob9872

rob9872

Well-Known Member
Watched this last night on iplayer - amazing. Can't imagine how many painstaking hours went into every detail to get that produced as if it were recorded today. Horrific graphic scenes that were in no way tasteless and added yet another level. Actual scenes of conditions that looked so far fetched, you simply cant imagine but were there to physically see. A great piece of history that some are now calling to be used in the classrooms and would be hard to argue with that.
 
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SkyblueBazza

Well-Known Member
Sky Blue Pete said:
Think he has a point about remembrance. You have to ignore the faith bit if you don’t share the faith but the rest is spot on

Read priest's controversial Remembrance speech in full
Click to expand...
He is spot on about the big picture. Maybe he needs to talk to those who used to be regarded as 'pillars of society', his own church leaders to start with, to get things moving?
For example - why do people need such lavish places of worship (which they mostly seem to find funds for to expensively build &/or maintain) to pray to their all-seeing God? Is it more relevant to their God? Surely an open field, house, etc suffices. Muslims don't care much where they are...they find some quiet spot & strut their stuff.
And lastly, faith such as his own is mostly a feature in war. Even if it is over disputed territory...you can bet differing faith or religious doctrines will come into it somewhere.

Fair play to him for saying it as it is though.

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SkyblueBazza

Well-Known Member
The film itself - I had no preconceived idea of what to expect as it simply appeared on TV. Having had no awareness of it's existence previously, I quickly became rivetted.
Extremely well put together to evoke all kinds of emotions & thoughts. Seeing the bulldog spirit before signing up; comradery in the training; horror of arriving at the front to see unrecoverable bodies tangled in barbed-wire; the terror of bombardment; the frostbite; the dead; the injured; the post war desolation on return as fighting for many was all they knew.

I think every 12yr old should be sat down & made to watch this as part of the curriculum to raise the value of human life in their eyes...might instil some respect for others (especially elder generations), & then again on the eve of their 18th birthday to overshadow the shoot-'em-up games & DVDs all too readily trivialising & glorifying battle, & death, & killing!

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clint van damme

clint van damme

Well-Known Member
SkyblueBazza said:
The film itself - I had no preconceived idea of what to expect as it simply appeared on TV. Having had no awareness of it's existence previously, I quickly became rivetted.
Extremely well put together to evoke all kinds of emotions & thoughts. Seeing the bulldog spirit before signing up; comradery in the training; horror of arriving at the front to see unrecoverable bodies tangled in barbed-wire; the terror of bombardment; the frostbite; the dead; the injured; the post war desolation on return as fighting for many was all they knew.

I think every 12yr old should be sat down & made to watch this as part of the curriculum to raise the value of human life in their eyes...might instil some respect for others (especially elder generations), & then again on the eve of their 18th birthday to overshadow the shoot-'em-up games & DVDs all too readily trivialising & glorifying battle, & death, & killing!

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

it's not 12 year olds who need instilling with some respect for human life, it's fucking politicians.
 
Sky Blue Pete

Sky Blue Pete

Well-Known Member
SkyblueBazza said:
He is spot on about the big picture. Maybe he needs to talk to those who used to be regarded as 'pillars of society', his own church leaders to start with, to get things moving?
For example - why do people need such lavish places of worship (which they mostly seem to find funds for to expensively build &/or maintain) to pray to their all-seeing God? Is it more relevant to their God? Surely an open field, house, etc suffices. Muslims don't care much where they are...they find some quiet spot & strut their stuff.
And lastly, faith such as his own is mostly a feature in war. Even if it is over disputed territory...you can bet differing faith or religious doctrines will come into it somewhere.

Fair play to him for saying it as it is though.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Completely agree
 
Sky Blue Pete

Sky Blue Pete

Well-Known Member
SkyblueBazza said:
The film itself - I had no preconceived idea of what to expect as it simply appeared on TV. Having had no awareness of it's existence previously, I quickly became rivetted.
Extremely well put together to evoke all kinds of emotions & thoughts. Seeing the bulldog spirit before signing up; comradery in the training; horror of arriving at the front to see unrecoverable bodies tangled in barbed-wire; the terror of bombardment; the frostbite; the dead; the injured; the post war desolation on return as fighting for many was all they knew.

I think every 12yr old should be sat down & made to watch this as part of the curriculum to raise the value of human life in their eyes...might instil some respect for others (especially elder generations), & then again on the eve of their 18th birthday to overshadow the shoot-'em-up games & DVDs all too readily trivialising & glorifying battle, & death, & killing!

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
The thing that really got me (partly because my mind wouldn’t accept the reality of what my eyes were seeing) were two things

1 - bodies were just left where they died and they were taken by the earth or rats and no one could do anything about it
2 - when they got back they were discriminated against for having fought in the war.

Really need to achieve some changes in our society and let it start with me as Michael Jackson sang
 
S

SkyblueBazza

Well-Known Member
Sky Blue Pete said:
The thing that really got me (partly because my mind wouldn’t accept the reality of what my eyes were seeing) were two things

1 - bodies were just left where they died and they were taken by the earth or rats and no one could do anything about it
2 - when they got back they were discriminated against for having fought in the war.

Really need to achieve some changes in our society and let it start with me as Michael Jackson sang
Click to expand...
Yep - even those returning without obvious injury suffered appallingly throughout the war & were treated appallingly on their return.

Another prog last night showed a PTSD soldier almost in tears after explaining how he survived the major assaults in the Falklands as a Para'

Returned & eventually left the army, nothing really acknowledged & no help to deal with with about how he felt after watching his comrades walking alonside him being cut apart, & the guilt & torment of 'being lucky' getting out unscathed. AND there was nothing else really for him to do on return through his PSTD. They put some of them away for being violent offenders...but as he said "all I know is all I have been taught and trained to do. How to fight, and how to kill"

Something is definitely lacking in the process of adjustment for these guys.

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tommydazzle

tommydazzle

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Catch 'Our World War' on BBC iPlayer. 3 episodes dramatised from soldiers diaries. Found them terrifying and sobering.
 
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Liquid Gold

Liquid Gold

Well-Known Member
That was brilliant, horrific, terrifying and enlightening. The moment it moves from the badly paced old film into the somehow HD quality film with the sound added in gave me goosebumps. We're so lucky not to have lived through it all.
 
tommydazzle

tommydazzle

Well-Known Member
Went out to the Somme a few years ago to track down my great uncle's grave. He was just 22 when he was killed. The whole area has immaculately kept war cemeteries and it's the sheer number of white grave stones that bring a tear to the eye.
 
dancers lance

dancers lance

Well-Known Member
Sky Blue Pete said:
The thing that really got me (partly because my mind wouldn’t accept the reality of what my eyes were seeing) were two things

1 - bodies were just left where they died and they were taken by the earth or rats and no one could do anything about it
2 - when they got back they were discriminated against for having fought in the war.

Really need to achieve some changes in our society and let it start with me as Michael Jackson sang
Click to expand...
Pete, I couldn't agree more, It was hard for my brain to cope with what I was seeing. Like most of us I have seen quite a bit of the footage before but PJ transformed it, I haven't stopped thinking about it since, amazing yet heart breaking at the same time, I hope it gets the recognition it deserves.
 
dutchman

dutchman

Well-Known Member
This is a bit of an aside but the Alexandra Theatre on the corner of Ford Street and Cox Street was built specifically to show the original black & white newsreel clips on which the film is based.
CYsWFxx.jpg


Prior to that they were shown at the Sydenham Palace music hall on the corner diagonally opposite:
FbNuMK5.jpg

Theatres and Halls in Coventry, West Midlands
 
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