LOTR director Peter Jackson restores WWI footage for new documentary, "They Shall Not Grow Old."*

I would get the blu ray in a minute also.

I only ask because I read that it is getting an American theatre release in December to qualify for Oscars. He has also prepared a 3D version which tells me he intends a theatrical release due to the lack of 3D tvs in homes. Well at least I don't have one so that's why I was hoping for a theatre release. It is a bit of an event.

 

It's on BBC2 tonight at 9:30pm GMT

 

Thank you.

 

Hmmm...I assumed it was already broadcast, because I have a copy in 1080p. I haven't watched it yet, though. Saving it for tonight.

Well, anyway, as soon as it comes out on BD it's mine. I'm sure there will be extras and such on the physical release. I just pray they make it all regions.

 

I spoke to some folks at the WWI museum about this film, and hopefully we can make a showing happen in Kansas City. "Oscar showings" usually only happen in New York and Los Angeles for a week.

 

It's funny you mention this. The Civil War is big over here, WWii and Vietnam as well. WWI is glossed over plus, to a certain extent The Korean War. I recall in both HS and College History, WWI was not touched on as much outside the rise of Hitler. I'm looking forward to this film

 

This would be a great, I assume, traveling Museum presentation (much like Titanic). The full movie and then an exhibit of WWI artifacts, letters, stories, weapons..you name it. I know the whole Titanic thing drew big crowds at museums across the world

 

The one I visited today is a permanent museum, in Kansas City Missouri across from the train station. The museum is located underneath the national WWI memorial. When I was a kid, it was only two halls, very minimal and dusty, but a decade ago, they built a world class museum.

 

There were a number of areas in the museum about African-American troops in WWI, who were mostly sent to fight with the French. But I have no idea if any Māoris from New Zealand served, and didn't see any mention of it. But while it was a big museum that I spent more than four hours at, it is a huge subject. Heck, Sgt. York only got one tiny paragraph and he was one of the baddest badasses who ever lived. From Wikipedia:

In October 1918, as a newly-promoted corporal, York was one of a group of seventeen soldiers assigned to infiltrate German lines and silence a machine gun position. After the American patrol had captured a large group of enemy soldiers, German small arms fire killed six Americans and wounded three. York was the highest ranking of those still able to fight, so he took charge. While his men guarded the prisoners, York attacked the machine gun position, killing several German soldiers with his rifle before running out of ammunition. Six German soldiers charged him with bayonets, and York drew his pistol and killed all of them. The German officer responsible for the machine gun position had emptied his pistol while firing at York but failed to hit him. This officer then offered to surrender and York accepted. York and his men marched back to their unit's command post with more than 130 prisoners. York was immediately promoted to sergeant and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross; an investigation resulted in the upgrading of the award to the Medal of Honor. York's feat made him a national hero and international celebrity among allied nations.​

 

I just found out that it is getting some US showings. Three Kansas City AMC theaters are showing it, but only in ugly and hateful 3D. Like 12% of the population, I cannot resolve forced 3D, so I'll have to wait until this is released on home video.

Mon, Dec 17

AMC Town Center 20
3D
4:00pm
7:00pm

AMC Independence Commons 20
3D
4:00pm
7:00pm

AMC BarryWoods 24
3D
4:00pm
7:00pm

 

Another cool behind the scenes clip, this one from the BBC:

 

U.S. Limited Theatrical Release
December 17th & 27th
Fathom Events | They Shall Not Grow Old ​

 

Cool, looks like they will have 2D showings!

 

Amazing work. A revelation.

 

They Shall Not Grow Old (2018)

Peter Jackson directed documentary about WW1.

The big deal is that he’s taken creaky black and white footage and colourised it and dubbed on recreated soundtracks (including dialogue identified by lip readers). The intention is to make the Charlie Chaplin figures of war documentaries come alive and feel less like old people from a very long ago time. The technique works and looks great (if a little 40s Technicolor) with only the very occasional odd looking moment (one man’s black hair looked like an oil slick). It achieves the desired effect and brings the footage to life with an immediacy that it previously lacked.

A large portion at the start and a small section at the end are in black and white with maybe an hour in the middle coloured.

The soundtrack is made up of voiceovers by servicemen reminiscing about their experiences. I assume they were recorded several decades after the events described. These voiceovers dominate and we get very little of the newly dubbed soundtracks, but little dialogue is said by the people on screen so this is not an issue.

My only complaint is that there is little sense of time. They train for war, seem to fight their first battles and then suddenly Armistice Day arrives. There is no sense of the passing of years.

It’s a good documentary and the colourising of the footage works wonders to make the war far more immediate than it has been before. It might technically be a gimmick but it’s a good one that serves a very worthwhile purpose. I wouldn’t be in the least bit surprised if it sets a precedent of future documentaries colourising creaky footage and dubbing on recreated soundtracks.

Good

 

Gary Cooper got a Oscar for his portrayal of Sgt York.

 

Small correction: the "Spider sequence" from King Kong is gone forever, so what Jackson did was to recreate it from scratch based on the script and some of Willis O'Brien's drawings. That's not a restoration.



(The recreations start at around 3 minutes in.)

People in the film restoration business take umbrage at how the term "restoration" is thrown around a lot, but there's a line that gets crossed when things are recreated, altered, changed, and presented in a way that fools the audience into thinking what they see is real. You might compare it to a rock & roll soundalike, where an old rock group re-records a hit song and releases it, and some listeners might be fooled into thinking it's the original hit. But it's not -- it's just a clever fake.

I have mixed feelings on what Jackson has done with the WWI footage, in colorizing, slowing it down, adding voices, and cutting together recreated scenes (taken from silent films of the 1910's and 1920s) to tell a more complete story of what WWI soldiers endured in those battles. I think the intent is good and it will educate modern audiences in understanding why that was supposed to be "the war to end all wars," but there's a lot of fudging and artifice in terms of it being a documentary per se. There are rules for strict documentaries where you have to present a true story without alteration... not to "cheat" to take unrelated pictures to present another point of view. But as entertainment, it's fine.

 

Really? There was film used pre and post-war in this film?

 

That's a pity. 3D media would be appreciated.

 

According to some reviews I've read, there were scenes shot at one battle and then intercut with a different battle, passing it off as happening at the same time. That kind of thing happens with projects like this, especially non-documentary films like rock concerts, where they grab shots anywhere they can and shove them in wherever they need to go.

I get that you need lots of coverage in order to provide editorial options, but again this goes back to being a "historical document" vs. entertainment. Again, I think the intent was honorable and Jackson clearly has great respect for the soldiers of that era, and I can forgive the artifice used to tell an entertaining story.

 

Must have scared the bejesus out of cinema goers in 1933.

 

I don't think the original "Spider sequence" was shown more than once or twice, and it was quickly removed and destroyed before the movie was actually released to theaters. They knew it kind of crossed the line for that level of disturbing violence. (Note this film was made before 1934, when movie studios started enforcing the Hays Code, which limited violence, sex, and foul language.)

 

A lot of sexual innuendo with Wray/Kong.

 

Not sure I necessarily agree; or rather it's something I didn't notice. But I'm not sure how you could portray the passing of the years in a film like this? Men did train, go to the front, come back on leave for a bit, spend some time in the reserve trenches, and then either get killed or come home after the war. I'm not sure how you could you portray those 4 years at the front without endless battle scenes. One thing that fascinates me is what it would've been like to come home from the front on leave knowing you'd have to go back - that was briefly touched on with the bloke receiving a white feather, but I guess this film wasn't about the home front so just a minor quibble on my part.

 

Definitely get the BD3D.