[ARC5] films - Entertainment & Understanding.

Wed Aug 15 16:45:46 EDT 2012

Alan, Todd & the group,
This is a very interesting discussion, well OT but personally of great
interest to me.  I have spent a good deal of time thinking about movies,
entertainment, art and the public mind.  Now I have the opportunity to
read what others in the list think about this subject.

Two films became the focus for my thoughts on this subject:  The Dam
Busters and The Great Escape.  I came to the view that The Dam Busters
was art - i.e. the director intented to instruct; he intended the
audience to understand what this exercise to destroy German dams in the
Ruhr meant and what it cost.  It cost a great deal - the lives of young
men.  There was a small amount of radio/morse in the film - but that is
irrelevant to what I write here.  

In The Dam Busters a key sequence depected the bomb-airer navigating to
drop the bomb.  Now the Lancaster is different from the B-17, and we see
the bomb aimer on his belly saying something like, left .... left ....
steady .... etc.  Hardly Hollywood, but this "boring" sequence was (I
think) one of the truly informative moments in the film - because it
depicted the experience of what it meant "to be there".  In my mind, for
some-one like me who can know about this terrible thing called "war"
from the experience of others, authenticity is king.  I don't watch war
movies to be entertained - war is not enteraining.  This is why those
who have experienced war say, with a single voice, "Never again."  When
some-one who has been "there" says those two words, I listen.

In contrast, The Great Escape depicts a heroic event via composite
characters, taking the essence of Paul Brickhill's book as a foundation
for a "ripping yarn".  It IS a ripping yarn, but at the end it's
entertainment.  In the end even the final scene of execution is a
depiction - a mass execution that never took place.  The executions (all
50) took place individually, during a supposed interprison transfer.  As
for the "successful" Australian escape (over the mountains into Spain),
I understand this is wrong in detail too.  All in all Hollywood's best
is entertainment, and after watching this I don't feel I understand the
experience of these fellows (the real inmates of Stalag-Luft III)
better.  

Incidently, the uncle of an acquaintance (Arthur Lamplough) was listed
as person 113 scheduled out of the tunnel, but the escape was discovered
30 before his turn.  Later Alan saw terrible scenes when the German
authorities moved the in-mates to avoid the advancing Russians, and the
POW column was strafed by allied aircraft.  Arthur said his uncle spoke
of these times only reluctantly.  He found it intolerable that he
survived while others literally on either side of him did not. 
Apparently "being there" gives a persepective not avaiable second-hand. 
I see no shame in surviving, as Alan apparently did.  

To sum up:  I'm interested in authenticity and understanding, and I
appreciated the discussion here that focuses on that point.  It's
important to understand, and in the end understanding is much more
rewarding than not-so-innocent "entertainment".

We owe those fellows a great deal, and authenticity is one aspect of
repaying our debt.

  Leslie Smith
  vk2bcu at operamail.com

On Thu, Aug 16, 2012, at 01:21, Todd, KA1KAQ wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 9:28 AM, Alan Morriss <mohawk at clara.co.uk> wrote:
> .
> 
> >  after the scene was over , pete said it was ridiculous. "pete you know that , i know that , but they do not know it in kansas city" was the reply. alan
> 
> And that's the point of it, Alan. 99.9% of viewers won't know the
> difference whether you use the right gear or something 20 years newer.
> Sure - a technically-accurate film is more appealing overall and a
> producer who is interested in a historical reference will make the
> extra effort.
> 
> In the case of Hollywood 'entertainment', would it be worthwhile to
> incur any additional expense to track down and use the period-correct
> equipment when an old toaster oven or welder painted Army green would
> pass without notice for that 99.9%? One film about pirate radio uses a
> HP signal generator as a transmitter.
> 
> More and more so-called documentaries have glaring deficiencies that
> get passed through. While watching a show about the Doolittle Raid I
> saw the B-25s represented by the A-20, B-24s, and B-17s. And of
> course, you can go back to the B&W footage of Pearl Harbor
> re-creations that show Dauntless dive bombers depicting Japanese
> aircraft, complete with meatballs added to the wings.
> 
> 633 Squadron was a great flick. Great to see so many Mossies zipping
> around. Apparently Cliff Robertson who was also a pilot tried to buy
> one afterward but was denied, and ended up with a Spitfire instead.
> Life's rough!
> 
> ~ Todd,  KA1KAQ/4
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