jancyclops

I really liked Chronicle when I was still at school and it covered history in the way I wish our teachers had done.

It covered archaeology and history from stone age to the Victorian period and did so in an accessible way without particularly dumbing things down (OK, a little bit but certainly not too much!).

Fortunately the BBC have some archived programmes on their web site...

Some of these programmes are a great reminder that Magnus Magnusson was far more than just the presenter of Mastermind.

Having watched the programmes on the web site, it is impressive that the BBC was prepared to back the Silbury Dig and to try experiments such as the Roman Goose March

The problem with this film is that the action it is trying to portray wasn't spectacular enough for Hollywood.

How many shots were actually fired in the real attack? I'll give you a clue -- it was a nice round figure.

Of course Hollywood needs gunfire and explosions or else what is the point of making the film? They don't let the fact that there wasn't any gunfire get in the way of their version of the story.

The romance part of the plot is all made up as well.

Ho, hum...

I suppose it just goes to show that when people complain that Hollywood is trying to rewrite history, there is plenty of precedent, this film being part of that. Why on earth didn't they just set the thing in some mythical place during WW2 and not pretend it was anything to do with a real action (which it wasn't really)?

I understand it was Saturday 16th January 1982 when I first saw this film. Dallas was on BBC 1 and Match of the Day wouldn't start for another half hour or so. So my brother and I decided to watch the beginning of this film on BBC 2 and then turn over for the football. Except we watched the whole thing. It really was that good.

Fast forward to 2006 and I finally got a copy of the DVD in my grubby mitts. I had to get it from the Czech Republic but it's PAL and the same region as the UK. I watched it and couldn't believe just how much I remembered from over twenty years previously.

Petr Koska is brilliant in his three roles: Jan Bures, Karel Bures and Jan pretending to be Karel. In this third role he improves his performance to the other characters as the film goes on because he has figured out how the plot should take shape after nearly mucking things up somewhat the first time round.

For me, getting the DVD has been a delightful piece of nostalgia!