RIP Brian Hutton
Discussion
If you have to ask who Brian Hutton is, hand in your man-badge at the front desk!
http://variety.com/2014/film/news/brian-g-hutton-d...
http://variety.com/2014/film/news/brian-g-hutton-d...
I love "A Bridge Too Far". Up until the likes of the more recent "Saving Private Ryan" and "Band of Brothers", I always looked on it as probably most realistic portrayal of the real events of a World War 2 battle, both on the larger strategic and tactical scales and on the scale as experienced by the individuals involved.
I also like "Young Winston" which, for its day, was a bold and innovative way of portraying a biography on film - as well as being a very good pictorial telling of Churchill's own book "My Early Life" (if fairly heavily abridged).
When I was younger, I was very moved by the film version of "Oh! What a Lovely War". I now know that it told the story of WW1 from an extremely one sided view of the events but it is still an interesting piece - both as a play and film.
I also like "Young Winston" which, for its day, was a bold and innovative way of portraying a biography on film - as well as being a very good pictorial telling of Churchill's own book "My Early Life" (if fairly heavily abridged).
When I was younger, I was very moved by the film version of "Oh! What a Lovely War". I now know that it told the story of WW1 from an extremely one sided view of the events but it is still an interesting piece - both as a play and film.
A Bridge Too Far is a reasonable documentary, but not a good drama, I think. The same can be said of The Longest Day and Battle of Britain. Where Eagles Dare and Kelly's Heroes are escapist tosh, with little realism, but great fun.
Best WW2 films? My top five -
Attack, by Robert Aldritch. Jack Palance's greatest performance, and Lee Marvin dominating every scene he is in. Heavily borrowed from by Spielberg for the climactic battle in Ryan.
Ice Cold in Alex - no combat scenes, brilliant movie.
Went the Day Well? -not quite the stiff upper lip - quite violent and dark original for the greatly inferior Eagle Has Landed.
Play Dirty - sour, cynical, gritty, written by Melvyn Bragg, of all people.
The Cruel Sea- title says it all. Amazing ensemble cast.
Best WW2 films? My top five -
Attack, by Robert Aldritch. Jack Palance's greatest performance, and Lee Marvin dominating every scene he is in. Heavily borrowed from by Spielberg for the climactic battle in Ryan.
Ice Cold in Alex - no combat scenes, brilliant movie.
Went the Day Well? -not quite the stiff upper lip - quite violent and dark original for the greatly inferior Eagle Has Landed.
Play Dirty - sour, cynical, gritty, written by Melvyn Bragg, of all people.
The Cruel Sea- title says it all. Amazing ensemble cast.
PS:
Hon mentions for
- The Wooden Horse, which has amazing German Expressionist style camerawork by Laurie Lee's brother.
- Carve Her Name With Pride, an unbearably moving and true SOE story.
- In Which We Serve, which was really directed by the great David Lean despite the credit going to Noel Coward (who deserves credit for screenplay and lead role). Valuable as a portrayal of a vanished class system, too.
Hon mentions for
- The Wooden Horse, which has amazing German Expressionist style camerawork by Laurie Lee's brother.
- Carve Her Name With Pride, an unbearably moving and true SOE story.
- In Which We Serve, which was really directed by the great David Lean despite the credit going to Noel Coward (who deserves credit for screenplay and lead role). Valuable as a portrayal of a vanished class system, too.
I actually enjoy the drama in "A Bridge Too Far" - there are even some great one liners - many based on what people actually said. In fact, some people criticised it for straying too far from some accepted facts. So it can't really be called a documentary.
I think it was "honest" in that it portrayed, in a reasonable amount of time (despite what some say), what generally happened.
I hate "Where Eagles Dare" with a passion. It is a false, lying, comic book travesty of a war film and generally an insult to the experiences of real war fighting.
It may be escapist, but when watching a war film set against the background of a real conflict, the last thing I want it to be is escapist.
The fact that Attenborough went on to even greater things and that Hutton more or less disappeared says it all really.
I think it was "honest" in that it portrayed, in a reasonable amount of time (despite what some say), what generally happened.
I hate "Where Eagles Dare" with a passion. It is a false, lying, comic book travesty of a war film and generally an insult to the experiences of real war fighting.
It may be escapist, but when watching a war film set against the background of a real conflict, the last thing I want it to be is escapist.
The fact that Attenborough went on to even greater things and that Hutton more or less disappeared says it all really.
ks from start to finish but some of the best and most enjoyable bEric, you do have a fair point about silly and unrealistic films against the background of a very dark conflict (leaving aside deliberate satire such as the rather good Catch 22). Have you seen "Come and See"? It is almost unwatchable, because of the vileness of the events depicted (Eastern Front, troops come to a village - you can guess the rest). The German Stalingrad movie contains some of the most viscerally unpleasant sequences of close combat that I have ever watched (hand to hand fighting inside a darkened factory). It does rather put the comic book capers into perspective.
Breadvan72 said:
Eric, you do have a fair point about silly and unrealistic films against the background of a very dark conflict (leaving aside deliberate satire such as the rather good Catch 22). Have you seen "Come and See"? It is almost unwatchable, because of the vileness of the events depicted (Eastern Front, troops come to a village - you can guess the rest). The German Stalingrad movie contains some of the most viscerally unpleasant sequences of close combat that I have ever watched (hand to hand fighting inside a darkened factory). It does rather put the comic book capers into perspective.
To be fair, I tend to draw the line when things get a bit too dark and realistic. I'm a bit squeamish.I think films like "A Bridge Too Far", "Saving Private Ryan" and the TV series "Band of Brothers" are about as far as I would want it to go regarding realism in war films. I think "Enemy at the Gates" is a good film from that point of view too.
Breadvan72 said:
Play Dirty - sour, cynical, gritty, written by Melvyn Bragg, of all people.
I was thinking about that film the other day oddly enough. You describe it well. The ending in particular.Michael Caine and Nigel Green were in two other great films together. Zulu and The Ipcress File.
The Ipcress File is one of my favourite films of the 1960s. Such a great counter to James Bond.
Zulu is a super film but replete with historical inaccuracies, not the least of which is that the defenders of Rorke's Drift were mostly from Warwickshire, not Wales.
PS: one of the saddest facts about Rorke's Drift is that the man referred to in the film as "Dutchie", the Swiss guy, died a broken down beggar a few years later, presumably having sold or pawned his Victoria Cross to pay for food. No Chelsea Pension for him.
PPS: that thread-drifts me on a few decades to the Boer War, and Breaker Morant, a cracking film. Knocks spots off A Few Good Men in the Court Martial movie stakes, and the action sequences out on the Veldt are superbly done.
Zulu is a super film but replete with historical inaccuracies, not the least of which is that the defenders of Rorke's Drift were mostly from Warwickshire, not Wales.
PS: one of the saddest facts about Rorke's Drift is that the man referred to in the film as "Dutchie", the Swiss guy, died a broken down beggar a few years later, presumably having sold or pawned his Victoria Cross to pay for food. No Chelsea Pension for him.
PPS: that thread-drifts me on a few decades to the Boer War, and Breaker Morant, a cracking film. Knocks spots off A Few Good Men in the Court Martial movie stakes, and the action sequences out on the Veldt are superbly done.
Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 25th August 11:40
Eric Mc said:
I quite like "Kelly's Heroes". Maybe its "tongue in cheek" approach suits the genre better than the "faux earnestness" of "Where Eagle's Dare".
I think 'Where Eagles Dare' does have its tongue wedged firmly in cheek. It's a lot less earnest than the same author's 'The Guns of Navarone'. And MacLean, if not exactly a combat veteran, did serve on the Arctic convoys so probably had some idea of the horrors of war - as he recounted in 'HMS Ulysses'.Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff