Anyone else just watched WW1 film on BBC2 ?

A remarkable film by Peter Jackson   ( Lord of the Rings)  .  They must have digitally enhanced the footage so that it moves in real time , not that fast jerky look  captured by hand cranked cine cameras , and colourised .   

It covers thousands of men signing up after listening to the massed bull ****  propaganda from the establishment , follows basic training    ( most recruits under nourished & in poor health) .....years in the trenches  ,  finishing with a bayonet charge against the German machine guns .    Even I can see thats not a good idea,  the Generals must have thought we've sat here for two years and achieved nothing  so lets run at them with pointy sticks .     Don't turn back or your own officers will shoot you . 

The action was won with the loss of thousands of lives , most of them under 20 .    Total & utter disgrace , the Generals should have been court marshalled  . 

It was digitally enhanced, they used modern animation techniques to restore and enhance the original footage to improve the resolution effectively, and add the colour, and then to interpolate additional frames between the originals to remove the jerkiness, and how the film plays.

I watched it over the top of my computer screen whilst trying to finish off some work, so I didn't take it all in, but, we have recorded it to watch again later, I think I am going to have to make time once I finish these 4 reports that I'm late with!

I don't think thousands of lives were lost during WW1 Deke, I think it was millions!

I found out yesterday that one of the first Welsh men to die in WW1 may have been a relative, we share the same surname, which is unusual.

Note to self, need to do family tree!

Apparently Peter Jackson's grandfather, who was posted in Italy during WW1, struck up a friendship with none other than J.R.R. Tolkien, from what I have heard.

Andy Guinness

Funny you say that Zeebruge  , apparently he reflected the WW1 conflict when he wrote  Lord of the Rings  , the fighting  between the different factions  . I believe he was affected  by his experiences . 

Did you know that the Shire is actually in Birmingham , where he lived ,  the Two  Towers  were /are  on his route to school ,  also he would have passed a commercial  premises called Gamgee's  .     Last time I was there  I was nearly trampled  down by a bleedin'  Ringwraith ....they're a nasty lot . !!  

See photo of one of the Two Towers  and The Shire . 

I’m still in touch with J.R.R. Tolkien’s biographer, we met through a hobbies website many years ago. Last time we met he asked me to recite from memory Galadrial’s speech at the mirror.

I watched the film, it was both moving and surprising at the same time. What I do get a little annoyed with is the lack of mention of almost anything other than the Somme, there was so much more to WW1 than that.

Tony S said:

Last time we met he asked me to recite from memory Galadrial’s speech at the mirror.

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And could you ?  

I read the book in the '70s  .      

There are some books that , having read them ,  make an impression and never leave you , for whatever reason , this is one of them ,although  in my humble opinion  it needs some expert editing  for the modern mind .     I know he set out to create  a Norse / Icelandic type  folk lore for Britain  but some of the  folklore type  poems could disappear  and some unnecessary  characters  like Tom Bombadil  ,  a sort of wood nymph I thought  would reappear in time of trouble  but never heard of again .  

Yes, and I still can.

You offer it to me freely? I do not deny that my heart has greatly desired this. In place of a Dark Lord, you would have a Queen! Not dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Dawn! Treacherous as the Sea! Stronger than the foundations of the Earth! All shall love me and despair!

I pass the test. I will diminish, and go into the West and remain Galadriel.

Ah!   I remember the last line now you said it .

I did not remember "Treacherous as the Sea! Stronger than the foundations of the Earth!", oops, must read it again.

Stand in the corner  that boy !!!!  :facepalm: