Tell England

This was a surprisingly gripping film. Although the start was shaky (the two young men larking around during the school hols, and talking with plum orchards in their mouths, and being very much mummy's boys), in fact what this did was to paint a contrast with what follows, and the speed with which they had to grow up and assume life and death responsibilities for the (much older) men under their command. The scene where the son has just gone off to Gallipoli and a neighbour comes in with vacuous chatter, and the camera focuses on all the emotions a mother would feel at such a moment was better than anything I've seen out of Hollywood of the period. Then the scenes on the boat where the officers think its all going to be a doddle, and then get mown down while trying to land was very telling. As to the camera work, there were some startlingly modern touches, particularly when a low slung camera follows the troops through the water as they rush ashore. Finally, the way the camera viewed the battle front from a very narrow perspective emphasised the way frontline troops are often in the dark about what is going on just 100 yards away (a brilliant effect in Battleground (US c1949).

"Ray" (Tony Bruce) and his lifelong friend "Doe" (Carl Harbord) are enjoying the upper class privileges of life in England. Punting on the river, playing tennis and generally lolling about enjoying the most pleasing of bucolic lifestyles. Suddenly, the outbreak of the Great War arrives and, like so many across the land, they enlist. Now being from the upper echelons of society, they are given commissions that put them in command of soldiers older and wiser than themselves, and are sent to serve in various theatres of war as the film progresses and shows the startlingly sudden fashion in which these spoiled young men have to grow up. It's told using some actuality, but for the most part is actually quite a compelling drama the watches these two boys become men - amongst some of the most gruesome and terrifying circumstances. It's not devoid of comedy - not least their musical names - Doe, Ray... and their wise cracking batman who has catarrh - "his nose runs in the family!", and that also helps to authenticate the stoic and optimistic attitudes taken by many who hadn't the faintest idea of what they were letting themselves into at the start of the war that would be over by Christmas. The production is basic, indeed it looks quite often as if it were originally intended to be a silent film (it uses captions occasionally to update us on where we are) but it still works fine and I couldn't help thinking, as I watched it, that if it had been widely circulated around the European continent at the time, perhaps folks might have been more wary of Nazi rearmament.

This film is currently available to view at the Mediatheque at the BFI South Bank.It is really a companion piece to Journeys End.However this film contains many gripping battle scenes.The first few scenes are set before the war and show the friendship between the two leads.They both enlist and are sent to Gallipoli.The film follows similar lines to Journeys End.What comes through is the senseless slaughter.The performances are very stilted.There is some fluid camera-work.In some instances it sounds as if the actors have been recorded in a bathroom.As the film has co directors it has to be said that the film is slightly uneven but it is well worth viewing