A new "Sink the Bismarck!" movie?

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RF
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Re: A new "Sink the Bismarck!" movie?

Post by RF »

Yes, and also to Norfolk, which was in the chase from start to finish.
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tommy303
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Re: A new "Sink the Bismarck!" movie?

Post by tommy303 »

I am afraid it is all money driven. Cameron has been successful because he has a grasp of what people want to see, even though it may, when history comes into play, be at odds with facts. Then again, movies have usually been market driven, so one might pray for, but dare not hope for the authenticity we as historians would like to see.

Their shoulders held the sky suspended;
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noworkinternational
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Re: A new "Sink the Bismarck!" movie?

Post by noworkinternational »

What the heck? Here are some of my "home" Bismarck shots patched together. There is no sound. A 30 year-old 15-inch battered Revell Bismarck model is used. Definitely not Howard Lydecker here, or polished, but it sure was fun making these.

Ship explosions:
http://www.youtube.com/user/noworkinter ... Y35PECgBQk

Ship sailing:
http://www.youtube.com/user/noworkinter ... OM_zEfdm90

Ship sinking:
http://www.youtube.com/user/noworkinter ... 67pKEI7_Ww
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RF
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Re: A new "Sink the Bismarck!" movie?

Post by RF »

tommy303 wrote:I am afraid it is all money driven. Cameron has been successful because he has a grasp of what people want to see, even though it may, when history comes into play, be at odds with facts. Then again, movies have usually been market driven, so one might pray for, but dare not hope for the authenticity we as historians would like to see.
Whether money driven or market driven, films and documentaries made in other subject areas, especially in unusual or previously uncovered subjects, which are factual and not sensationalised, can be very successful. One example I would cite was the BBC series ''walking with dinosaurs.''
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costas
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Re: A new "Sink the Bismarck!" movie?

Post by costas »

This Bismarck movie thing pops up again and again. I tend to agree with this:
tommy303 wrote:I am afraid it is all money driven. Cameron has been successful because he has a grasp of what people want to see, even though it may, when history comes into play, be at odds with facts. Then again, movies have usually been market driven, so one might pray for, but dare not hope for the authenticity we as historians would like to see.
and to add that Bismarck so far has become a movie only once, in 1960s and since then has evaded all the attempts for a second movie,
blockbuster or not.
Let's hope that she will keep on evading that type of attacks. (and not only Bismarck but Hood+PoW+PG etc. will also evade)
Why there should be a movie about BS? The case is too complex and with countless details and doesn't lend itself to Holywood scenarios,
IMHO.
I am not against Cameron, (or Wolfgang Petersen or any other film director) just I am afraid that facts and history will be adjusted to suit
the modern scenarios.
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RF
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Re: A new "Sink the Bismarck!" movie?

Post by RF »

costas wrote:I am not against Cameron, (or Wolfgang Petersen or any other film director) just I am afraid that facts and history will be adjusted to suit
the modern scenarios.
This is the main problem and this sort of ''revisionism'' needs to be guarded against.
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Re: A new "Sink the Bismarck!" movie?

Post by Skywalker »

I'd like to stick in my two cents' worth in support of the character of Ann Davis in the 1960 movie "Sink the Bismark". Like all good movies this is a movie about 'character' rather than about the strict historicl facts, which in all conscience were dramatic enough. The movie is really about 'moral courage' and the Ann Davis character doesn't serve so much as a romantic interest for Captain Shephard, but rather as the audience's representative and witness to Shephard's moral courage to make the tough decisions needed to track down and 'Sink the Bismark'.

For me the key scene in the movie is where Shephard determines the need to withdraw the carrier Victorious and the battlecruiser Renown from the escort group of a vital troop convoy, and reassign them to the Home fleet at Scapa Flow to give the Commander-in-Chief enough heavy units to cover every passage from the North Sea into the North Atlantic. Ann Davis first gets to express dismay that Shephard seems to be gambling with the lives of 20,000 troops by removing the troop convoy's escort, and in the very same scene she has to revise her estimate of his character when the First Sea Lord ratifies Shephard's decision despite the danger, after Shephard declares that there is '"a difference between a gamble and a calculated risk." And when Shephard expresses his awareness that it isn't an easy decision to make, the First Sea Lord replies, "The important ones never are."

Without Ann Davis, the audience woudn't have a viewpoint to see Shephard's emotional reaction when his son is recovered, revealing his repressed humanity, despite the First Sea Lord's desire for, "a man with no heart at all, just an enormous brain." Later on Ann Davis gives the audience a chance to vicariously make a sacrifice of her own to support Shephard by electing to stay on as his personal aide rather than accept a posting as a Naval Liason to America. Her character isn't fluff and romance, she provides the audience's a viewpoint and a chance for vicarious participation.
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Re: A new "Sink the Bismarck!" movie?

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The thing here is that both Ann Davis and Captain Shepherd were fictional characters put in to spice up the film - just as the character of Admiral Lutjens was blackened to make him look like the typical nazi baddie.

I think that if you want to bring out charachters then lets use real people, real events - lets focus on people like Adolf Eich, ordinary seamen serving on Bismarck, the survivors from Hood, some of the ratings on POW, men on Rodney and KGV, and lets not forget, as the film practically does, the men on Prinz Eugen.
If you want drama then lets have accurate portrayals of Churchill, Reader and Hitler - from the standpoint of their involvement.
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Re: A new "Sink the Bismarck!" movie?

Post by Djoser »

If it was made like "A Bridge Too Far" it could be the best war movie of all time.

I shudder to think of what Cameron would do. But if that was the only way to make a Bismarck movie and he used state of the art graphics, I'd deal with it I suppose. :D

I wound up making my own custom edit of Titanic, without any Leonardo DiCaprio or that actress at all, whatsoever--until the end when he drowns. :clap:

Though it must be said he has really matured as an actor. He was great in the movie about Howard Hughs
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RF
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Re: A new "Sink the Bismarck!" movie?

Post by RF »

Cameron, yes maybe.

Perhaps someone more like Cy Enfield, who produced the Zulu films about Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift.
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Re: A new "Sink the Bismarck!" movie?

Post by Djoser »

RF wrote:Cameron, yes maybe.

Perhaps someone more like Cy Enfield, who produced the Zulu films about Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift.
Yeah both outstanding examples of military cinema done well. Save the historical inaccuracies of the first film perhaps--but it was made at a time when historical accuracy was not a priority in Hollywood. Not that it is today either, but there is a different attitude about it.
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