Absolutely Astonishing!
Entry posted by KH1
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I have just got back from seeing the premier screening of Peter Jackson's new film in conjunction with the Imperial War Museum and as the title suggests my astonishment knows no limits! I actually only found out about this at the weekend but obviously wasn't a complete secret as I certainly wasn't alone in the cinema. Unfortunately I wasn't invited to the real premier but went along to one of the two hundred odd simultaneous screenings across the country.
The film is made up entirely of original movie footage from the IWM collection but beautifully restored and colourised in a most convincing fashion. Perhaps the most astounding thing is that with a bit of computer wizardry it has been made to run smoothly and at a realistic speed. I have not previously been a fan of colourised film but as the director himself said in the Q&A afterwards this is usually because they have been done on a very small budget which was certainly not the case here. There is no narration except for audio library recordings of veterans telling of their experiences in their own words. Sound has been added in a most convincing fashion and even using the exact words spoken in some clips that have been analysed from lip reading.
There is a short section on narrow gauge railways, all clips I am familiar with but looking very different in colour. One interesting point is that the artists has gone with grey or plain wood wagon bodies with white letters. One of the few things I disagree with though is that there is a well known still shot of a Hunslet included and it has been rather badly colored in green - quite out of sync with the overall standard and in a colour of which there is no evidence I know of whereas there is evidence of them being black.
Possibly the most useful thing to the WDLR modeler is the wealth of detail scenes that are just waiting to be recreated. I admit that the colours used are the artists interpretations but I would say that they have been researched very well and such things as the colours of shells are spot on.
To be very picky I do think that the colours are sometimes a bit too intense particularly where grass or other greenery is concerned but overall very, very impressive.
Unfortunately it was a one night only screening but I believe that it has been taken up by the BBC and I for one would buy a copy if the IWM make it available. A glimpse can be seen here though
https://www.iwm.org.uk/events/peter-jackson-they-shall-not-grow-old
To get the full impact of the film however, I did something I have been meaning to do for a long time and properly visit the Regal in Tenbury Wells. I was not disappointed - I superbly restored small traditional building run on a semi volunteer basis. Look at the link below but maybe scroll down to the gallery section at the but first.
http://regaltenbury.co.uk/RegalCinemaTenbury.dll/Page?PageID=4&SubListID=1&SubPageID=0
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