war films

[Kveto from Prague]

[quote=""LoveHistory""]Kveto, have you read the book We Were Soldiers was based on? My Dad says it's way better than the movie. The full title is We Were Soldiers Once, and Young.[/quote]

the books usually are better

I just thought the film was incredably wooden. all of the characters seemed cardboard cutouts.

anyway, im sure some liked it. it just seems a bit cartoonish compared to full metal jacket or platoon, for me. but tastes differ of course.

[chuck]

[quote=""Kveto from Prague""]the books usually are better

I just thought the film was incredably wooden. all of the characters seemed cardboard cutouts.

anyway, im sure some liked it. it just seems a bit cartoonish compared to full metal jacket or platoon, for me. but tastes differ of course.[/quote]

I agree with your remarks on "We Are Soldiers"...Reminded me of John Wayne's "Green Berets"....Right Wing fodder....

[Ludmilla]

Don't know whether it belongs on this list, but my husband is quite fond of Kelly's Heroes with Clint Eastwood and Donald Sutherland. There's quite a bit of dark humor and absurdity in it.

[parthianbow]

@Kveto and @Chuck: I couldn't agree more about the film We Were Soldiers - it was a load of nonsense. I can't speak for the book.

@Ludmilla: I agree that A Very Long Engagement was excellent! Very close to the original, wonderful book.

@Kveto: your post about Czech pilots in WW2 made me remember the great film Dark Blue World (Czech: Tmavomodrý svět). Are they one and the same thing?

[Kveto from Prague]

[quote=""parthianbow""]@Kveto and @Chuck: I couldn't agree more about the film We Were Soldiers - it was a load of nonsense. I can't speak for the book.

@Ludmilla: I agree that A Very Long Engagement was excellent! Very close to the original, wonderful book.

@Kveto: your post about Czech pilots in WW2 made me remember the great film Dark Blue World (Czech: Tmavomodrý svět). Are they one and the same thing? [/quote]

Actually, Riders in the Sky was in my opinion a lot better than Dark Blue World, but they both dealt with the Czechoslovak RAF pilots. I doubt you can buy "Riders" in the UK, but if you think you'd be interested I could post you a czech copy with English subtitles for Xmas, Ben.

[parthianbow]

[quote=""Kveto from Prague""]I doubt you can buy "Riders" in the UK, but if you think you'd be interested I could post you a czech copy with English subtitles for Xmas, Ben. [/quote]

That's very kind, Kveto, thank you! I would like to see it, yes. In return, I'll post you a copy of one of the films I mentioned. Which would you prefer - Days of Glory, Come and See, or Beneath Hill 60?

[Kveto from Prague]

[quote=""parthianbow""]That's very kind, Kveto, thank you! I would like to see it, yes. In return, I'll post you a copy of one of the films I mentioned. Which would you prefer - Days of Glory, Come and See, or Beneath Hill 60?[/quote]

that sounds fun. I'll PM you.

[Kveto from Prague]

Ben,

I posted you the film. I just wanted to include a footnote or two for things that might be confusing.

First off is the accents. The film is about 50/50 English/Czech but you will notice that some of the actors who play the Canadians and Brits have accents. thats just because there werent a whole lot of czech actors who could speak with believable english accents back in 1968 when the film was made.

In an early scene, you will see the czech pilots interacting with Polish pilots in the RAF. They are able to understand each other because Czech and Polish are close enough to each other to be generally understood without major difficulties.

You might recognise the pilots singing a familiar song "the beer barrel polka". This was a popular song during the war. It is originally a Czech song (called "Skoda laska" which translates to wasted love). Aparently the Czech pilots sang it so often that the british RAF pilots picked up the tune. They set it to English lyrics "Roll out the Barrel, we'll have a barrel of fun" and it became a popular drinking song for the RAF pilots. Just shows how much comraderie there was amonst the groups at the time.

Lastly, theres a scene where a british officer points to the Czech flag that a pilot is wearing and says "that'll get you a bullet in the head if youre shot down." this was true. If British or Canadian pilots were captured by the nazis they were generally inprisoned. if Czech pilots were captured they were usually executed on the spot. The reason being that since Czechoslovakia was occupied by the 3rd Riech and considered an annexation to the fatherland, all of the czech pilots would be considered traitors to Germany and subjected to executions. RAF officials tried to convice the czech airmen to hide their nationalities but most pilots continued to wear the czech flags, knowing they were a death sentence when captured.

If you have any questions please ask. im really curious to get your impression of the film. Its really depressing but well it should be.

looking forward to receiving "come and see"

Cheers again
K

[Ash]

They set it to English lyrics "Roll out the Barrel, we'll have a barrel of fun" and it became a popular drinking song for the RAF pilots. Just shows how much comraderie there was amonst the groups at the time.

Thats very interesting to know where it came from. Didn't know about the Czech uniform; how awful, tho I can't say Im surprised.

[parthianbow]

[quote=""Kveto from Prague""]Ben,

I posted you the film. I just wanted to include a footnote or two for things that might be confusing.
If you have any questions please ask. im really curious to get your impression of the film. Its really depressing but well it should be.

looking forward to receiving "Come and See" [/quote]

Hi Keny - thanks a lot for posting it and for your footnotes! I hope that your DVD arrives soon - I posted it about 8 or 9 days ago now...

Likewise interested to know what you think of Come and See. It's also really depressing, and like Heaven's Riders, has good reason to be. (I didn't let my wife watch it - not that she'd have wanted to - because it was so graphic. Or at least the implication of something graphic was so so awful. Humankind. :mad