The Battle of the Somme: A Filmographic Records

The Battle of the Somme: A Filmographic Records
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The Battle of the Somme: A Filmographic Records
Introduction
The movie industry and business have humble beginnings. As early as the 1800s, inventors like the Lumiere Brothers and Thomas Edison developed machines that projected images resulting in the silent movie era of 1894 to 1929 (Kornhaber, 2020). The silent era describes a period in which movies were produced without an audio feature (movies without talking or music). In such films, drama and excitement were provided by live music that was calibrated to match the images in the film (Groot, 2018). Despite these humble beginnings, some of the movies produced in this era have had far-reaching consequences still discussed in academia in the modern world. The Battle of Somme is an example of the silent era film whose influence is still discussed by modern-day scholars focusing on the issues of patriotism, propaganda, and the realities of war.
Filmographic Record
Title & Year of Production: The Battle of the Somme
Alternate Titles: NA
Genre: War Documentary
Director: Geoffery H. Malins
Producer: William F. Jury
Writer: NA
Cinematographer: Geoffery H. Malins and J.B McDowell
Production Company: British Tropical Committee for War Films
Distribution Company: British Tropical Committee for War Films
Cast: Charles Urban, J.B McDowell, William F. Jury, John McDowell, and Beauvoir De Lisle
Running Time: 74 minutes
Music: J. Morton Hutcheson (1916) and Laura Rossi (2006)
Synopsis: The Battle of the Somme
The Battle of Somme was produced in 1916 by Geoffrey Malins and John McDowell. It is a British Documentary and propaganda war film that depicts the British Expeditionary Force in the early periods of the Battle of the Somme between July 1 and November 18, 1916. Historians have argued that the Battle of Somme (the war) is among the most bitter and costly battles of World War I. In this battle, British forces suffered more than 57,000 casualties, out of which 19,000 were killed on the first day of the battle alone (Roberts, 2016). By the end of the battle (five months later), more than 3 million soldiers on both sides had perished. Critiques (Feldman, 2018) have referred to the documentary as a propaganda film because it strived to hide the realities faced by British soldiers to sway the British public to support the war.
The film is a black-and-white silent depiction of the battle divided into five parts (Jury, 1916). The first part focuses on war preparation behind the British front line. There are scenes of troops matching on the front while French peasants continue farming in the background. There is also stockpiling of munitions and an address by Major-General De Lisle. Other key activities in the first section include preparatory bombardments. The second part highlights revamped preparatory efforts, where troops move into the frontline trenches, take positions, and intensify the artillery barrage. In this part, there is also the detonation of the mine under the Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt (Jury, 1916). Part three focuses on the first day of the battle. Key scenes include bombardment, artillery action, recovery of Briti...