They Were Not Divided

The BBC recently aired this on a lazy Monday afternoon in mid-August when probably not many were watching. But as this was made by Terence Young (future director of some prolific Bondmovies) I happened to tape it.

What a great surprise this proves to be. Probably about the sole movie account of a (chiefly) British tank battalion journey into France and Belgium after D-Day.

I will admit it's all very "stiff British upperlip" (jolly good show boys and so on)and especially the romance segments have dated badly, but there is a true feel of authenticity, not only that it's made about 4 years after WWII, but the director gives a realistic and almost documentary-like style to the battle scenes.

It all moves along at a brisk pace, and being a bit of WWII buff, it gave me a very rare insight and almost 'behind the scenes' view of a tankbatallion in action in 1944.

I'll doubt if it is available on DVD so you will maybe have to wait till the BBC airs it again, in 10 years or so !

This is an early work of Terence Young, the director, but a well-made, engrossing and ultimately very moving British war drama of World War II. Interestingly a very young Desmond Llewelyn has a cameo role as a Welsh tank commander, and when it came time for Young to find a new Q for the second James Bond movie, the original no longer being available, he remembered Llewelyn and cast him in what is now the longest running continuous role in the James Bond saga.

THEY WERE NOT DIVIDED is a near-forgotten British WW2 movie, directed by none other than Terence Young, the man who would later helm DR NO and FROM Russia WITH LOVE amongst other well-remembered movies. By comparison, this is the kind of film that few people bother watching and even fewer remember these days. It doesn't help that the script is quite dry, the narrative fairly stodgy, and there's a distinct lack of big-name actors to give audiences a reason to watch. Instead, THEY WERE NOT DIVIDED goes for a low key, almost documentary-style approach as it follows new recruits as they join a Welsh Guards battalion, train, and eventually journey to France to see action in their tanks.

This kind of template is familiar from the modern-day likes of BAND OF BROTHERS but the execution is only so-so here. There's a lot of talk and back-and-forth dialogue, but when it comes to the action, the big set-pieces that everybody remembers are hurried through. Stock footage is also used quite liberally. I didn't mind the unknown lead actors, although the heavy-handed messages smack of propaganda (basically, America and Britain should work together as one) which is bizarre given that the war had been over for four years when this was shot.

Most of the fun comes from spotting future actors in support. Michael Brennan (LUST FOR A VAMPIRE) is particularly good fun as the enthusiastic Welsh soldier, and there's a cameo from real-life RSM Brittain, who adds some humour. Christopher Lee only has a couple of lines but is in the background in almost every scene in the film, while future Q Desmond Llewellyn plays a tank driver.

Typical British WW2 film but made interesting with battle scene of Tiger tanks - must have been war loot and what happened to it after the film was made? Sadly the film shows just how smallminded and nitpicking the officers are towards the men during training and then battle. Tank driver being told to button tunic up to chin despite heat in tank! Romantic scenes are very believable. It is well worth watching though!

An interesting movie due to its quick overview of the trials and tribulations of a British armored division during WW2. And when I say quick, I mean in every sense: the events narrated, the editing, the dialogues. Everything seems to be rushed, and events unfold one after another at breakneck speed. Surely, it's part of the film's objective to showcase the swiftness of an armored division, in contrast to infantry, which has a slower, more tedious pace if you will. But in haste, it's very easy to make mistakes, and this film has a few. I understand that everything advances so rapidly, but advancing the Anzio landing to 1943 when it actually occurred in 1944 is pushing it too far.

Nevertheless, the film manages to pique some interest; the fast-paced editing appears quite contemporary and appealing, although modern filmmaking tends to overuse this narrative device. The cinematography is spot-on, with good shots and evident artistic ambition, featuring deep and dramatic black and whites and pronounced chiaroscuro that would easily meet the basic requirements of any selection for the Magnum Agency.

In terms of storytelling, it falls quite short in depth, with the typical snappy dialogues that don't delve into the psychology of the characters. Perhaps the problem lies in trying to encompass the entire geographical journey of this armored division in a single movie spanning more than four years of war across Europe. From a war cinematography perspective, the film is interesting due to its display of resources; it's even possible to catch a glimpse of an original German Tiger Tank, something that cinema would take decades to see again. However, like the rest of the film's resources, this aspect is also treated superficially; there's no time for more. There's no time for real battles, no time to face the enemy head-on, hardly any casualties, and the enemy is almost invisible, nearly nonexistent, an enemy that offers no resistance to the frenetic advance of the swift division.

But of course, the director doesn't want to show us the bitter face of war; he only aims to cement the already evident Anglo-American relations with a propagandistic film. In its final sequence, with the two flags, the British and the American, overlapping, it definitively seals this alliance.