The Battle of the Somme

1916
1h 14m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Documentary (with some re-enacted footage) of the British army's participation in the Battle of the Somme in France during World War I.Documentary (with some re-enacted footage) of the British army's participation in the Battle of the Somme in France during World War I.Documentary (with some re-enacted footage) of the British army's participation in the Battle of the Somme in France during World War I.

Director
- Geoffrey Malins
Star
- Beauvoir De Lisle

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

482

YOUR RATING

Director
- Geoffrey Malins
Star
- Beauvoir De Lisle

See production info at IMDbPro

Top cast1

Edit

Beauvoir De Lisle

Self
(as General Beauvoir De Lisle)

User reviews10

Featured review

4/10

Important Footage that works more as a Morbid Curiosity rather than a Propaganda

A documentary about the Battle of the Somme - a World War 1 fight between Germany and UK in Somme, France.

This is important since it is probably the earliest videos of War that ever existed. In fact, it made 20 Million Ticket sales and has now enshrined by UN for its historical importance.

I personally did not care for it. I guess by 1916, the documentary genre is like just plainly taking videos. There is no view point in this film, just plain videos of the war with very descriptive intertitles. Clearly, if your British you would feel happy and at least enliven with how things went BUT this does not feel as propagandic as what was described. The famous scene in this film is literally about a troop that have massive fatalities not little after 30 minutes in the field. It feels more like a morbid curiosity (now and then) to be honest.

Kudos though for making the British middle class interested in films, which is nice. I guess having to see war is such a curiosity for early film audiences, since this was the same commentaries for All Quiet for the Western Front. They probably heard a lot of broken down veterans and think that can be that tough.

Recommended for Historical Reasons only.

akoaytao1234
Jun 25, 2024
Permalink

Photos2

More like this

6.8

The Regeneration

6.4

Jeanne d'Arc

6.1

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

6.6

6.7

7.0

6.5

6.8

6.7

Le mystère du poisson volant

6.8

The Battle of the Somme

6.6

Une idylle aux champs

7.7

J'accuse

Storyline

Edit

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
According to official sources, 20 million tickets for this film were sold (in the UK) in the first 6 weeks. That would equal about half the population of Britain at the time (43 million). It has been said that this record was not broken until the release of Star Wars: Épisode IV - Un nouvel espoir (1977) more than 60 years later.

Goofs
In the "over the top" sequence one of the "dead" soldiers turns his head towards the camera and then shifts his leg into a more comfortable position showing that the scene was staged/re-enacted.