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 British wounded soldiers, and confinement of German prisoners of war. The fourth part dwells on the aftermath of the first day of battle, where the wounded are tended to, and the battlefield is cleared. The concluding part highlights scenes of devastation, ruins, and the resting British soldiers in preparation for the next advance.
Description: Patriotism and Propaganda
According to UNESCO (2004), the Battle of the Somme is uniquely significant for two reasons. Firstly, it is a compelling documentary record focusing on one of the most important battles of WWI. Secondly, it is arguably the first feature-length documentary film focusing on combat. As a result, it remains one of the most successful films ever made. According to Nelsson (2016), the film's purpose was to ‘make people realize that war is not merely a lively game in newspapers.'
Researchers like McKernan (2002) have argued that films of the silent era formed the foundation of techniques of modern official propaganda. Ideally, films like the Battle of the Somme were intended to paint a good picture of the country and gain public support for the war, partially to justify war and show nationalist superiority. Welch (2014) further adds that the British placed immense reliance on propaganda to help promote recruitment into the armed forces and convince the masses that sacrifices made in the war would be rewarded. Indeed, in his book, Patriotism and Propaganda in the First World War Britain, Monger (2012) documented that the propaganda and patriotism activities of the National War Aims Committee remained vigorous in Britain until the last year of the war. Films like The Battle of the Somme were part of the NWAC projects.
In his analysis of cinema, spectatorship, and propaganda, Reeves (2006) describes The Battle of the Somme's audience as largely passive, powerless, and ill-placed to resist the seductive power of the images presented. There are several reasons for this characterization of the audience. Firstly, as Trottman (2019) argued, it was the first time that the mass audience, a majority of which had never had a film experience, saw films like The Battle of the Somme. The fascination of this new experience found a population that could not analyze or articulate the film content and perhaps interpreted it as propaganda. For a majority, the film depicted Britain's prowess in warfare. The second reason, Hodgkins (2008) argues, is that people believed the government...