History vs Cinema

[The Ace]

"Downfall," was based on the memoirs of Traudl Junge, Hitler's youngest secretary, bridesmaid to Eva Braun, witness at their wedding, and the Bunker scenes are based on her eyewitness account (the ending is fiction, because the real story's a bit boring). She was in hospital dying of terminal cancer when the film was made, and it's reputed that when the rushes were shown to an invited audience, one of the crew visited her when it was over and told her of the audience reaction.

She reportedly said, 'My story has been told, I can let go now." She died hours later.

While Scottish history wasn't taught in Scottish schools for a long time, stories of Wallace abound - it's just unfortunate that the real story is rarely told. "Braveheart," is junk, but that's nothing new.

After all, some English scribbler once wrote a play that turned traitor and double regicide Malcolm III Canmore into a hero, just because his patron was descended from the ******* of Forteviot (Malcolm's youngest son, David I, was the fourth great-grandfather of Robert I (the Bruce) - grandfather of Robert II - founder of the Stewart/Stuart Dynasty).

 

[BigBadBob141]

History and Cinema ?
I think the fact that Morgan Freeman's character in Robin Hood Prince Of Thieves had both gun powder and a telescope says it all!

 

[paranoid marvin]

It always amuses me how people seem to put Richard I on a pedestal as the epitome of English bravery, when in fact he was a Frenchman who only used England to fund his wars; and to at the same time denigrate John who spent most of his life actually ruling England. It's amazing how people's perceptions can be moulded by the media, regardless of any actual facts.

 

[thaddeus6th]

I think we still had a fair share of France back then, so what is today considered French was back then part of the Angevin realm (so it's not really fair to call him French). It's like Greeks today claiming Alexander was Greek (he certainly was not, half-Epirot, half-Macedonian. Demosthenes wrote that the Macedonians were so barbaric they didn't even make good slaves) because part of his ancient kingdom was in modern day Greece.

 

[BAYLOR]

It always amuses me how people seem to put Richard I on a pedestal as the epitome of English bravery, when in fact he was a Frenchman who only used England to fund his wars; and to at the same time denigrate John who spent most of his life actually ruling England. It's amazing how people's perceptions can be moulded by the media, regardless of any actual facts.

Ruled 11 years spent only about 6 of them in England.

 

[paranoid marvin]

6 months that is! And the language he spoke was French. Yet every time I've seem him portrayed in film and tv he's had a very British accent.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Das Boot seems very good.

Select German audio and English Subtitles.

 

[Venusian Broon]

6 months that is! And the language he spoke was French. Yet every time I've seem him portrayed in film and tv he's had a very British accent.

Best Richard the first must shurely be the nuanced Edinburgh-French of Sean Connery's portrayal in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Best Richard the first must shurely be the nuanced Edinburgh-French of Sean Connery's portrayal in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

Coincidentally he's played both sides - he was Robin in Robin & Marian.

My favourite Connery is the Scottish captain of the Red October - he never even tries to hide his accent!

 

[thaddeus6th]

I do wonder, though, at the director insisting everyone affects a Russian accent. Except the captain. It's like wearing a tuxedo and clown shoes.

 

[Venusian Broon]

Coincidentally he's played both sides - he was Robin in Robin & Marian.

My favourite Connery is the Scottish captain of the Red October - he never even tries to hide his accent!

I think this is proof that we Scots in fact colonised the whole world, before it was all stolen from us. Who could forget as well the refined Spanish accent displayed in Highlander?

 

[thaddeus6th]

Venusian, that was augmented by the Frenchman pretending to be Scottish.

 

[Venusian Broon]

Venusian, that was augmented by the Frenchman pretending to be Scottish.

If they world was to go up in a nuclear conflagration and every scrap of information was destroyed apart from a DVD library of a couple hundred movies like that, just think of the mental gymnastics archaeologists might go through trying to make sense of our history and world from them...

Actually I think that's the basis of an Alfred Bester short story

 

[AnyaKimlin]

I'm not sure it'd be all that much harder than the work archaeologists do using historical documents.

 

[paranoid marvin]

If they world was to go up in a nuclear conflagration and every scrap of information was destroyed apart from a DVD library of a couple hundred movies like that, just think of the mental gymnastics archaeologists might go through trying to make sense of our history and world from them...

Actually I think that's the basis of an Alfred Bester short story

One thing would be for sure, Morgan Freeman was definately President of the US - and at the same time God!

 

[Venusian Broon]

One thing would be for sure, Morgan Freeman was definately President of the US - and at the same time God!

Well the US motto is: In God we trust.

There would be a big debate though on whether he became president after being in Shawshank State prison or before...

 

[paranoid marvin]

Well the US motto is: In God we trust.

There would be a big debate though on whether he became president after being in Shawshank State prison or before...

The President of the United States a crook? Surely not!

 

[BAYLOR]

Edison The Man 1940 staring Spenser Tracy. His portray is at odds with the real Edison who was really not a very pleasant man.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Edison was indeed very unpleasant and caused Holywood due to his vindictive enforcement of his eventually proved to be invalid Cinema patents. Nor did he invent the light bulb. His phonograph (cylinder with a clicky seam) was before Berliner's gramophone (pressed disk) but became obsolete overnight. His row with Telsa was crazy.
He did admire Marconi, but only because Edison had no radio interests. Marconi was a similar (Irish - Italian) entrepreneur rather than true inventor who was much more modest and friendly. Marconi was upset about getting nominated (several times) and eventually getting a Nobel Prize as he publicly admitted he was no Scientist but saw the Commercial opportunities. He admitted to William Preece of UK P.O. that his apparatus wasn't a new invention, but he had realised by experiment that a big aerial wire and good earth instead of the loops used in lab demos would make the difference for range. Edison never admitted he was only an entrepreneur and no scientist or engineer at all.

 

[BigBadBob141]

REF: Venusian Broon.
I think there is a story by Arthur C Clarke in which Venusians explore an Earth destroyed by nuclear war.
Every thing is gone except a reel of film found in the ruins, when they work out how to play it they see what they think are Humans for the first time.
But unknown to them it's a Donald Duck movie!