Film of Somme to be shown

Alice Hutton

July 26, 2008

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Troops from the Manchester Regiment and the Lancashire Fusiliers

SHOCKING archive footage of Manchester soldiers during the Battle of the Somme is being shown at a one-off screening.

The 80-minute film features the Manchester Regiment in a captured German trench as well as Lancashire Fusiliers under heavy gunfire during the First World War.

Released in 1916, while the battle still raged, the film has been digitally remastered to restore lost detail.

Experts believe that this footage is the earliest in existence showing servicemen being killed in battle.

The five-month battle between German and Allied forces along a 12-mile front in northern France was the bloodiest in recent history.

As many as 19,000 British soldiers died on the first day alone - the Army has never suffered such a large loss of life in such a short period of time.

At the time, audiences across Europe and America were both impressed and traumatised by the images of the British dead.

Screened in the Imperial War Museum North's main exhibition space, it will be set against a background of First World War collections and live music.

The footage will run alongside portraits of 125 fallen soldiers and a stop-frame propaganda film made for British Home Front audiences.

Dr Toby Haggith of the Museum Film Archive said: "The Battle of the Somme had an unprecedented impact upon British society, not least because the forces were local volunteers. The north was particularly well represented and played an important part in the battle."

The screening on Tuesday forms part of a series of exhibitions to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War.

Booking required. Tickets: £8 Concessions: £5. Ticket price includes parking.

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ebble (27/07/2008 at 00:15)

Why isn't this film on the internet? And if it is, why haven't we been told where?

Henry Piggot-Smythe, Prestbury (27/07/2008 at 18:40)

I find it reprehensible that this museum should be lining their pockets at the expense of these poor brave lads that lost their lives fighting for King and country. Many of them were nothing but children who volunteered for service by lying about their ages and for a Manchester museum to be trading on these mawkish images is a sickening example of today's money grabbing culture. My grandfather and father both served with The Lancashire Fusiliers in both World Wars. My grandfather a German prisoner for two years after being taken at the Somme. For a city such as Manchester with its strong links with The Lancashire Fusiliers to be charging entrance fees for viewing this carnage when there's plenty of sons and daughters of these poor men still alive such as my mother is an utter disgrace to their memory. Instead of lining the pockets of this museum why not visit The Lancashire Fusiliers own regimental museum for a modest £2 entrance fee which helps to keep the museum open in memory of "The Minden Boys".

“Here let me tell how Minden’s plain was won,
While feats of arms obscured the noonday sun;
The Gallic steeds obeyed their master’s mind,
Spurn at the thunder, and outstrip the wind;
Their crests refulgent shine, their nostrils wide
With foaming bursts emit the fleecelike tide;
The British foot, by equal files were dress’d,
Their panting hearts with love of fame impress’d;
The dreadful charge perceived, with well-aimed fire,
Their squadrons checked, both man and horse expire;
Resistless force the blazing cannon pours,
Her ponderous ball, or clust’ring grape shot showers;
From right to left, from front to rear, was seen
A dreadful carnage, and a sanguined green.”

LookingForLogic, Stockport (28/07/2008 at 02:41)

This should be made freely available. While I appreciate the 'producers' & facilitators need to recoup costs via venues & right's via revenues, the footage itself should be available to view online/at libraries for free.

AH, Manchester (28/07/2008 at 11:21)

why would anyone want to watch people being killed in battle? Why not let these people's souls, and their families, rest in peace.

John Amesh (28/07/2008 at 12:17)

This film was remastered by the IWM in London just over a year ago. They were working from a copy of a copy of a copy, etc, and it involved much more work and took far longer than was expected, so it cost a great deal of money. I read that it was going to be released on DVD but that doesn't seem to have happened. Don't forget that admission to the IWM is free. I don't see it as lining their pockets, just recouping some of their costs so that the museum will be there for future generations. Anything that helps us to understand better that these were real people, not just jerky black-and-white images is to be encouraged.

A while ago, a TV company had the brilliant idea of getting a lip-reader to work out what the men are saying in this film. It was heatbreaking. One of the Lancs Fusiliers says, "I hope we're in the right place."

Mt great-uncle was taken prisoner in March 1918, and I shall never forget the dear little old man who had endured so much. AH; I don't know why you think we should ignore this. Those men deserve to be remembered. Do the words, "Lest we forget" mean nothing to you?

Mr. Piggot-Smythe; the poem is very moving, but the Battle of Minden was in 1759. I do not think it mawkish to show or to watch this film.

Mr Manchester (28/07/2008 at 12:22)

It is important that these poor, brave men are not forgotten. The film should be available to see within the museum. I don't agree an entrance fee should be paid, but perhaps there's a copyright issue or a facilities bill to be paid to allow it to be shown?

Henry-Piglet: some sense at last.

John Amesh (28/07/2008 at 13:15)

Mr. Manchester; I've just tried to explain that. The IWM employed a company to remaster the film, but the quality had deteriorated so much that they couldn't use the normal method and ended up doing it virtually frame-by-frame. The cost was huge, even though the company (whose name, I'm afraid, I can't remember) waived a substantial sum. There is normally no admission charge at the IWM (although you have little option about the parking fee at IWM North). One of the ways the IWM raises funds is through charging film and TV companies and authors for the use of archive material. It also receives government grants and voluntary contributions and has a small retail income. In the case of an exceptional expense such as this, I think it's fair for them to make a charge.

BTW, isn't the name Mr. Manchester copyright?

Henry Piggot-Smythe, Prestbury (28/07/2008 at 16:14)

BRAVO- "The Minden Boys"

Here's to the gallant Fusilier,
Here's to the Lancashire lad,
Here's to the lass who shed a tear,
Here's to his dear old Dad.
Here's to his dear old Mother,
Here's to the glory he's won,
Here's to his King and country,
God Bless This Mothers Son.

Taken from a near one hundred year old photographic postcard I have in front of me which my grandmother sent to my grandfather fighting abroad.
A regiments history is one of the most crucial things to help inspire soldiers, be it 1759 or 1999.
My own sons army uniform is hanging in his room and his beret on the hat stand whilst he enjoys a weeks leave as I type. Therefore I have no need to search for a long lost distant relative to claim any glory they may have attained and attach it to myself by quoting "Lest We Forget"
I'll donate my £8 and more to the "Poppy Appeal" and "St Dunstans" where it will be put to more use than that sad excuse for a war museum will ever have for it.

Mr Manchester (28/07/2008 at 20:30)

It is, John, so I'll have to levy a small charge your way for using it ;)

Yes, I think it's fair to recoup those costs of retaining and producing such an important source. But perhaps they could allow people to donate an amount they think suitable?

John Amesh (28/07/2008 at 21:36)

Mr. Piggot-Smythe, or whatever your real name is; how dare you make such a remark, you buffoon? I see no glory in my grandfather and great-uncle being sent to live in squalor and mortal danger to defend a system that kept them in poverty before the Great War and returned them to it afterwards.

Glory went out with Rupert Brooke and Rudyard Kipling. Kipling wanted glory for his son, and secured only an anonymous and futile death for him. Kipling finished with glory from that day, as you would be well advised to do. How glorious is it in Afghanistan and Iraq?

My great-uncle was not "long-lost". He was an honest, hard-working man whom I knew well. For defending the disgusting system, seeing his schoolfriends killed and maimed, killing young men with whom he had no quarrel, and being starved in a prison camp, he was rewarded with a council house and a job as a bus conductor.

If you really do have a son in the armed forces, and, God forbid, anything should happen to him, them come and talk about glory.

Don't forget to keep us up-to-date with how much you give to charity.

You are right about one thing: the IWM North is appalling; Daniel Liebeskind indulging himself, dreadful, second-rate exhibits, and a trivialisation of war.

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