The Somme | |
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Directed by | M.A. Wetherell |
Written by | Geoffrey Barkas Boyd Cable |
Produced by | E. Gordon Craig |
Cinematography | Sydney Blythe Freddie Young |
Edited by | Geoffrey Barkas |
Production company | |
Distributed by | New Era Films |
Release date |
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Running time | 80 mins (8,100 feet) [1] |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
The Somme is a 1927 British documentary film directed by M.A. Wetherell. It re-examined the 1916 Battle of the Somme during the First World War.
The film was made at Isleworth Studios using a docudrama format. It involved a number of the personnel who had previously worked on a successful series of documentary reconstructions of First World War battles by British Instructional Films released between 1921 and 1927. British Instructional Films had finished their series with The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands , and Geoffrey Barkas moved to the newly established New Era films to carry on the cycle. When Barkas fell ill, Wetherell was brought in to take over the project. Although Wetherell received the directors credit, much of the film was made by Barkas and Boyd Cable. [2]
Toronto ads touted that the Imperial Army Museum provided the footage; its actual name is the Imperial War Museum. [3]
The following year the company released another docudrama, Q-Ships .
Toronto, Ontario theatre Tivoli hosted the first Canadian showing, with hundreds of people being "turned away" from the theatre daily.
A "masterpiece of British pictures," a "press agent" for the film told The Toronto Daily Star . "[M]ere words fail utterly to describe even one scene of this mighty picture taken from the battlefields of France. Judging by the excitement and enthuasiasm created in its first Canadian showing, The Somme will undoubtedly duplicate its effect every time it is thrown on the screen. The Somme is more than a war picture. It deals with humanity in the war, the bitter and the sweet, the fineness and the hellishness, the friendliness and the hate. It is utterly free from hokum, but full of sentiment. It you are a red-blooded Britisher, you will not want to miss The Somme. It is something superb in motion pictures." [4]
War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war films often end with them. Themes explored include combat, survival and escape, camaraderie between soldiers, sacrifice, the futility and inhumanity of battle, the effects of war on society, and the moral and human issues raised by war. War films are often categorized by their milieu, such as the Korean War; the most popular subjects are the Second World War and the American Civil War. The stories told may be fiction, historical drama, or biographical. Critics have noted similarities between the Western and the war film.
The Battle of the Somme, is a 1916 British documentary and propaganda war film, shot by two official cinematographers, Geoffrey Malins and John McDowell. The film depicts the British Expeditionary Force during the preliminaries and early days of the Battle of the Somme. The film premièred in London on 10 August 1916 and was released generally on 21 August. The film shows trench warfare, marching infantry, artillery firing on German positions, British troops waiting to attack on 1 July, the treatment of wounded British and German soldiers, British and German dead and captured German equipment and positions. A scene during which British troops crouch in a ditch then "go over the top" was staged for the camera behind the lines.
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