First Friday Filmclub

Well, dear history hangers-on, June brings with it a significant date. Few among you will not already have guessed... June 6th, "D-Day", and the onset of Operation Overlord, when the allies sought to break through the Atlantic Wall built by the Germans. 

It was also my father's birthday. He often spoke of the landings in some detail, taking it all quite seriously and making sure that we all knew how significant a movement it was by the combined forces. He seemed to be quietly proud of having this tenuous connection to the date. He was eight on the day when the radio reports were coming through, and he never forgot them. He, it was, who bought me my first Airfix model - a Hawker Hurricane. The Spitfire may have been all fine lines and dash, but the Hurricane was every bit as fit and had a friendlier demeanour. The Lancaster bomber was next, then for balance, a Messerschmitt 109, and so it went on. Dad had been thwarted from joining the airforce due to a blind left eye and partially deaf right ear, but he ensured my interest was encouraged. (Yet again, I digress!)

This documentary is very, very worth your while. Comprehensive coverage with much offered that has not been seen before. It is 1hr 40 minutes in duration, so you may wish to bookmark it. Entirely created with archival footage remastered and colourized, it was written and directed by Jean-Christophe Rosé and was produced for France Télévisions as part of the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings in June 2014.

It is expertly brought into life from the original black and white footage, much of it shot by some talented cameramen, who are named and honoured during the film. The narration is pitched perfectly, and the added soundtrack (apart from the awful 'bagpipes' [spoiler - no, they aren't] for the Scots soldiers landing 😬) lends a sense of presence that would have been lacking before. I did not feel the length of this, for the quality is so high, and there was a real sense of truly 'seeing' the men and preserving the memory as they made their mark on history.