ivan

Hi, This is my first post on this site as i have only joined today 27/2/08. Does anyone rember the film Objective Burma with Eroll Flynn starring in it, if so can you tell me what was unique about it. There may have been countless other films as unique but i only remember this one.

batman

Welcome Ivan.

First off, it is not a British film but a US one made by Warner Bros.

Apart from it being one of the better US war films of the period, it is unique in that it upset people in Britain by 'suggesting' that the Americans played a more significant part in that arena of the war than they actually did. Warners had to withdraw the film from cinemas in the UK and re-release it with a diplomatic introduction that was designed to appease the British.

The film itself is an exciting jungle warfare movie featuring one of Errol Flynn's best performances.

Jingle bells Batman smells ... I heard that at school Daddy.

BAT QUIZ 16 HAS JUST BEEN POSTED IN THE COMPETITION THREAD - 06/01/09

Moor Larkin

When I first saw it, I was blown away by the real-life footage of stuff being picked out of the jungle clearings by passing aeroplanes. It was incredible.

When I mentioned it to my dad, he commented that the thing him and all his mates used to laugh about was a scene where the platoon emerge from the undergrowth, Errol glances quickly at the compass and confidently says, "It's that way!".......... Apparently dead-reckoning aint that simple.......

It was on TV the other week. I meant to catch it again, but forgot on the day. Dunno when the old man saw it, but it must have been after the Banned-in-Britain farago..........

How could anyone take offence if Errol was in the movie..... sheesh..... And they say PC is a new invention.

Get that film off now!

batman

IIRC it wasn't re-released until the early 50s.

Jingle bells Batman smells ... I heard that at school Daddy.

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Steve Crook

It is if you're just following a compass bearing
If you know you have to head North you just need to glance at the compass to see which way North is - and then go that way as best as the terrain allows

Dead reckoning isn't really about following a course but about figuring out where you are based on your course and the time/distance from a previously known position

Sorry Moor's dad

Steve

penfold

That sounds fine in theory, but less so in practice if, as in a dense Burmese jungle, you can only see five to ten yards in any direction at any time....far easier if you can see distant points or the horizon. A thousand five-yard courses rather than one five thousand yard bearing= a thousand slight potential errors, compounded....

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

Steve Crook

Which is why you wouldn't use dead reckoning in the jungle. It'd be much better to follow a compass as best as you can. Then, when you do emerge, as Errol did you can carry on following that course or head for some high, open ground to take proper bearings and find out where you are.

Now if only they'd had GPS

Steve

kelp

I think that it was also a problem with us English, especilally those that were serving, in that Errol Flynn didn't serve in the Military at all.

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR...YOU MAY GET IT!

Steve Crook

It wasn't just a problem for the English, there were a lot of Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish people that served in Burma who were equally upset

In a case like this it's better to say "British", not just "English"

Steve

dylan

After the initial UK ban it was released under the title I CONQUERED BURMA!

When I saw it at a film society the accompying notes said that it had been used as a training film by the Israeli Army.

D.

kelp

I apolgise profusely to anyone that I upset, by saying English. I of course did not mean to cause any offence or hurt to anyones feelings. I stand corrected, and in future shall choose my words more thoughfully.

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR...YOU MAY GET IT!

Moor Larkin

He must have seen it at the time then, because he'd've been in the army by then.
That sounds a bit more like what my old man was on about. When I said dead reckoning, that's probably more illustrative of my ignorant use of words than anything my dad said........

Interesting that the Israeli's used it as a training film. They seem to have been pretty good at what they did, from a militarily effective perspective.

I still can't believe how that 'plane picked that jeep up off the ground as it flew past and what does it feel like to be picked up as a man in a bag, by a passing 'plane????......... Beats any Bond stunt I've ever seen.........

Windthrop

The press did turn on Flynn thought he was innocent of the charge of draught dodger. He tried to get in all the services but failed all the medicals due to brittle-bones, TB, heart disease and malaria. The press made a big thing about the apparantly ahtletic looking Flynn not doing war service when even Jack Warner himself was in the US Coast Guard. The studio were not in a position to come out with the facts about Flynn being turned down for fear it might affect his bankability and OB simply worsened matters for Flynn in the eyes of the public.

John Wayne who was older than Flynn and had family so could, and did, claim deferrals got off without criticism from the press. He made a significant number of war films, even the notorious Green Berets where he looks fit for a zimmer frame, without comment being passed on his lack of actual war service. While not technically a draught dodger, Wayne never made the effort to participate in the war. Flynn was just very unlucky.

Thats the joke that killed the Music Hall !

D Cairns

It's worth bearing in mind that, despite having a swashbuckling star, OBJECTIVE, BURMA is quite serious and grim stuff -- I can sort of understand people being upset if they felt it put across inaccurate information in such a convincing way. But actually the film doesn't really downplay British involvement, it just concentrates on an American platoon, as one might expect in an American film!
The most worrying part now is when the reporter character calls for the extermination of all Japanese people!

Buffalo_Chuck

Of course, the Japanese leaders were very willing to exterminate their entire population as long as they could keep their leader roles (and they did, for the most part - and I'm not referring to the Emperor).