TimR

I do indeed - and I'll be sure to give you plenty of space......

Fareham_Bee

I enjoyed BOB, enjoyed it enough to make me research more into the subject and to my mind it that means it worked. It entertained AND got me interested in the subject.
The most acurate historically and maybe the best war film has to be Escape From Sobibor. Follows the book as closely as it possibly could, well acted and the mock up of the camp was shown to escapees who broke down when they saw their hell had been rebuilt. Recomended.

Back to the main thread, I was really disappointed with Secrets and Lies. I usually like Mike Leigh stuff and maybe expected much more because of the hype surrounding it. Ducks head to avoid missiles being thrown!

orpheum

also Operation daybreak about the assination of heydrich.I have just come back from Prague and there is an exhibition,which,i visited to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the assassination.The film is painfully accurate and unsensationalist.Directed by my fellow gooner Lewis Gilbert.

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batman

Excellent film which deserves a 'proper' DVD release. Did you get any 'feedback' on how the citizens of Prague view the assassination today, considering its terrible aftermath?

Bats.

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Steve Crook

I'll second that recommendation for Escape From Sobibor. Stunning film. Humanity at its worst and at its best. As it happens I was just watching it last night.

Survival is revenge

Steve

orpheum

to me the fact that it is being celebrated on its 65th anniversary speaks volumes.The assassination also has a special section in the Military Institute.This includes the briefcase and a pullover,with lots of holes,of Gubcic.By the way Heydrichs car is currently on show in Bratislava

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Fareham_Bee

Top film and as you say, very accurate. You could also try Massacre in Rome for accuracy. Have been to Via Rassella where it happened, where the Romans say "Where that thing happened" if you ask directions to Via Rassella.

Am reading book about the Great Escape at the moment, The aftermath would make a great film on it's own. If they followed what happened to the letter people would say it was great work of fiction Extrodinary stuff.

batman

I will continue the recommendations for Escape From Sobibor which is superb. Massacre in Rome is also very good as is the TV mini-series about the 'Great Escape' and its aftermath. Christopher Reeve was in it with Ian McShane as the real 'Big X'. Donald Pleasance also appears but this time on the other side.

Bats.

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Steve Crook

I'm not so sure that WWII would fall into the general "futility of war" category. There are some wars that are essential however distasteful.

And I thought that Battle of Britain did show the director's viewpoint quite well by including things like the Dowding quote I mentioned before, "the essential arithmetic is that our young men will have to shoot down their young men at the rate of four to one, if we're to keep pace at all." That gave a good idea of how close and how desperate it was. And things like Ian McShane going home to find his family had been bombed out and the scarred face of the pilot caught in the burning Spitfire (or Hurricane) added to the personal touch showing how it affected individuals.

I certainly wouldn't classify it as an adventure along the lines of Where Eagle's Dare or Von Ryan's Express. Remember the invasion barges that were shown in BoB in the French harbours. And remember that we didn't have much of an army at the time after Dunkirk. If the RAF hadn't defeated (or at least fought to a draw) the Luftwaffe and shown that this little island still had plenty of fight in it, then we might all be speaking German now.

To quote Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff from The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, "Dear old Clive - this is not a gentleman's war. This time you're fighting for your very existence against the most devilish idea ever created by a human brain - Nazism. And if you lose, there won't be a return match next year... perhaps not even for a hundred years."

Steve

Andy Chambers

my choice for most disappointing British film is quite a new one.

its straight heads

it had a promising cast and promising storyline.

however when i went to the cinema i was disappointed to find that its script, the quality of the film making and most of all the acting was absolutely diabolical.

i was a massive fan of danny dyre before hand but his last 2 films ive seen which is straight heads and outlaw have both been disappointments from his contributions.

NappieB

Steve: - First, let me say that I'm a huge fan of (Sir) Hugh Dowding and I thought that Olivier did a fine job of portraying him. Let me say, too, that I agree totally with Churchill's "finest hour" sentiments.

It's just that I think the actual Battle of Britain was shortchanged by such a fairly weak film characterization. In answer to your earlier question, No, I wouldn't have preferred a documentary, but howcome both "ZULU" and "A NIGHT TO REMEMBER" had true events as their subject matter the outcome of which was universally well known, and yet those films were superb, edge-of-seat, white-knuckle soul stirring docu-dramas thanks to pure skillful film-making which surely elevated the artform to its highest level.

How I wish that BATTLE OF BRITAIN had been made to that standard.

The title of this thread is: "Which UK film disappointed you most", and I'm afraid for me BOB was it... I said in my original post that I expected to be flamed. Despite a stellar cast and good acting, plus a storyline second to none, this movie disappointed me as being "inadequate" at best.

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ChristineCB

I don't use 'antidote'. I think both try to achieve a more credible retelling of war (LETTERS FROM) and the aftermath (FLAGS) on survivors who may or may not tolerate their being marketed.

In the States, FLAGS was mostly ignored but occasionally torched, and I think the only reason was its rather ELEPHANT-MAN-esque exposure of society as the monster, despite a well-argued case that the bond-drives must go on.

In Japan, the LETTERS' interview sessions contained the repeated comment, "It's strange that it took an American to make this film for the Japanese market." Well, it does cover territory that NOBI (1959 Fire On The Plains) such as the pleadings for materiel support, but both NOBI and LETTERS showed soldiers trying to preserve their power by murdering civilians. No big surprise there. Welcome to Mankind.

Wolfgang

"Full Metal Jacket" really examines war's dehumanising effect rather than its 'futility' - its take is quite unique really because they are desensitised to human emotion during training rather than through combat. It portrays war through state of mind which makes it far more interesting - not just in regards to other war films - but within Kubrick's work which is quite Brechtian when you think about it. "Full Metal Jacket" probably takes us about as close to soldier's mentality as any film can, because Kubrick in all his films emancipates his audience, and invites us to make purely intellectual judgements without becoming emotionally involved in its fiction.

penfold

I think I'm with you there, actually....the film soars in the footage of the aircraft swooping and rolling, with Walton's music to match...but despite some moving moments - like the ones Steve mentioned - it's a bit pedestrian on the deck. Part of the problem being, as in The Dambusters, the flying cast, the pilots, are just too old; and their hair way too long incidentally!! They simply don't look right, and they seem uncomfortable. The two rookies who arrive at the very end of the film, looking shockingly young? They should be the rule, not the exception....

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

Bruce

My most disappointing British film is undoubtedly Lindsay Anderson's 'Britannia Hospital'. After the magnificent 'If....' and the ambitious and intriguing, if flawed, 'O Lucky Man!', I was expecting something special from Anderson. Sadly, what we got was not much more than a tired and muddled rant with some scenes that could almost have have come out of any TV sitcom of the time. Such a let-down!

Run! Run in the corridor!