The Hill

[Dame Starry]

name='Steve Crook']What a surprise, the Daily Hate Mail has got hold of the wrong end of the stick and is reporting the wrong story



It's not a case of the 4 recruits just being "bullied to death".

There are strong suspicions that at least one of them was murdered. The bullying that went on there is almost a sideline to some of the more serious events



Steve

Wasn't an officer also convicted of abuse sometime during the investigations at Deepcut?



YDSL x.

[Moor Larkin]

name='Dame Starry']Wasn't an officer also convicted of abuse sometime during the investigations at Deepcut?

Yeah. He made them all read The Guardian - the swine!

[Steve Crook]

name='Moor Larkin']Yeah. He made them all read The Guardian - the swine!

Is that what you would consider to be the worst possible punishment someone could inflict on you?



I got a call yesterday from a market research company on behalf of the Torygraph. Poor chap didn't know what he was letting himself in for.



Hello Mr Crook, do you regularly read The Telegraph?

No

Which newspaper do you read regularly?

None of them

Where do you get your news and information from then?

From places where I believe them. Not from newspapers



Shame I was so busy. When I have time I do like to give market researchers deliberately incorrect and misleading answers. Just to mess up their averages a bit.



Steve

[stevie boy]

Harry Andrews & Ian Hendry were very good in this film, fine actors.

[economy]

My father transferred from searchlight duties and became an MP in PAI Force you won`t find much info on it (the real forgotten army).

He certainly did not have an easy time and witnessed plenty of death and misery and came back with a body like some of the survivors of the Burma Railway.

One of his duties amongst others was to take convoys from the southern ports to the Russian border.

I remember him saying the only people he cracked down on were `black marketers`. As they were making a living out of others misery..

The Hill a cracking film specially the opening sequence from inside the compound to the outside a distance away, all filmed in one shot, I seem to recall something about the technique being developed by Orson Welles but suspect I am incorrect..

[Moor Larkin]

name='economy'] I remember him saying the only people he cracked down on were `black marketers`. As they were making a living out of others misery..

Nobody likes a spiv.......... except in Dad's Army....... or Catch 22...... or The Third Man......

I seem to recall somsething about the technique being developed bu Orson Welles but suspect I am incorrect..

Batman may know more but he (Orson that is, not Batman) made that movie with Heston and Dietrich that involved an enormously sweeping opening shot........

[batman]

name='Moor Larkin']Nobody likes a spiv.......... except in Dad's Army....... or Catch 22...... or The Third Man...... Batman may know more but he (Orson that is, not Batman) made that movie with Heston and Dietrich that involved an enormously sweeping opening shot........

The Welles film is Touch of Evil and features one continous shot from when a bomb is placed in the car to the second before the explosion. The explosion itself is the first edit in the film. That tracking shot took all night to get right, the take on screen was the last chance they had to get it right and it was the only successful one. Apparently the biggest problem was not technical, but one actor (the customs official) fluffling his lines!



There is also a continuous ten minute take in the scene where the police are searching that guy's apartment. It is the only scene in the film to have been shot in the studio.

[didi-5]

The Hill is a very interesting film, and one where although Connery was clearly the most bankable name, he's outshone by several other actors due to the richness of parts available. Rarely do so many great parts come available within one project. I agree with earlier posts praising Harry Andrews and Ian Hendry in this; Ian Bannen too, and Alfred Lynch, Michael Redgrave.

Although it could come across as simply condemning (or condoning) military brutality - and undoubtedly there are/were some damaged individuals who joined the forces so they could enjoy the power of being thugs, or become that way through circumstance - it is more then that, and the long takes echo some of Lumet's earlier work like Twelve Angry Men.

My only gripe would be that it would have been even more effective in colour, although it could have lost some of its gritty look and feel at the same time. I can see why it has lost some favour over the years with its racism but surely that is an accurate reflection of the time it was made?

A great war film - not an easy watch and you might feel like you need a scrub down after watching - which should be much more well-known than it is. As for Connery, I've never thought of him as a great actor and although he is normally promoted as the film's 'star' I really don't think The Hill has a star role. It has a gifted and powerful ensemble, and is all the better for it.

[Richard_in_wales]

My own father spent six years in Singapore in the 30's and ended up on charges. One punishment was to dig a square hole to a certain depth and measurements and after it was checked he then had to fill it in. Pointless you may say but it gave him something to do and as he said it kept him on the straight and narrow afterwards as he had no desire to do the same punishment again. He left the army in @38 got called up for the BEF and thanked the German who shot him in the shin (although they never met) until his dying day as he had a medical discharge on his return to blighty.

Back on track, I love 'The Hill' its a great film...lots of fiction but none the less great entertainment.

[Mr Oracle]

As you know from previous postings, my Dad, now 83, was called-up in 1946 and sent out to Greece, then Palestine and finally Egypt. When the Brits moved out of Palestine, those 'detention-wallahs' that were in military prisons were just released and then issued to units such as his (Medical Corps). He said that they were an 'orrible bunch of thugs and criminals that had been swept-up by conscription. Once he and another chap were detailed to take a prisoner to the glasshouse, I think in England, and both prisoner AND ESCORT had to march at the double into the prison. Today's remaining military 'nick' at Colchester is tri-service and from what I have seen, being sent instead to a civvy prison, as can happen, would be a much softer option than that frightening place.