Movie Recommendation

[svensson]

For those you setting your Cthulhu campaigns in the Twenties, let me add a video reference in addition to 'Boardwalk Empire' and 'Peaky Blinders' [along with the several 'Hammer-esque' CoC movies out there]...

If you have not seen the recent German 'All Quiet On The Western Front', see it. If you only ever see one World War One movie, this is the one you should see. And I say that as a lifelong military historian and as a historical reenactor [although I reenact the US Civil War].

Every single point of reference that I know to look for is perfect in this movie, from the use of the correct uniforms and helmets [there are distinct differences between the 1916 Stahlhelm and the later WWII versions] to the rifles [ditto], to even the gas masks. The film goes beyond the book in that it portrays the internal struggle of Germany to surrender from various German points of view [based on rank, social class, etc.] and the intransigence of the French. The film makes the French out to be very vengeful and hard-hearted, but that's hard to argue against that from the German perspective... especially with 20/20 hindsight regarding the influence of the Treaty of Versailles on later history.

As a historian, I have a short list of films and TV series that I think capture their subjects most accurately. 'All Quiet' has displaced a movie that I love and which has been on that list for 30 years... that's how accurate this film is. This is just as poignant an observation of the Centenary of World War One as '1917'.

HOWEVER, COMMA, BUT:

- This movie is incredibly visceral. It does not blink, shy away, or gloss over any aspect of trench warfare. In fact, it demands you look at it. It's as ugly a picture as the Belarus/Russian 'Come and See' from 1985. DO NOT see this movie on a full stomach.

- This movie challenges a lot of preconceived notions about War One... even some you may have been taught in school... but those challenges are backed by the historical record. While a German production of a German story that tells of the German point of view, it makes a laudable attempt at historical accuracy. However, you may find yourself with 'Yeah, but what about' moments.

WHY DOES THIS MATTER IN A GAME:

War One is as central an event to CoC as the US Civil War is to a game of 'Boot Hill'. The War, and its related events [including the Influenza Plague of 1918-20], isn't merely 'within living memory' to your PCs, it is single greatest catastrophe in the lives of your PCs. If they didn't fight in the War, they know someone who did. If they didn't lose someone in the War, they know someone who did. World War One was a man-made Human Species Die-Back event, an industrialized Black Plague, and it effected everybody.

[svensson]

And for the record, my list of Historically Accurate Films is, in no particular order:

Lincoln [I will never be able to think of Abe Lincoln without hearing Daniel Day Lewis voice again]

Arn: The Knight Templar

Downfall /Die Untergang [ditto Bruno Ganz's Hitler]

1917

All Quiet on the Western Front [2022]

Generation War

Pharaoh's Army [a 1995 movie about the US Civil War at the personal level]

The Northman [2022]

Come and See

Honorable Mentions: Cross of Iron, The Revenant, Boardwalk Empire, Downton Abbey, Generation Kill [the occupants of a HumVee singing 'Teenage Dirtbag' is the best version of that song anywhere by anybody], Deutschland '83, Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, The Pacific

Edited November 4, 2022 by svensson

[AlHazred]

Interesting not to see Saving Private Ryan (1998) on that list.

[svensson]

1 hour ago, AlHazred said:

Interesting not to see Saving Private Ryan (1998) on that list.

Probably should be on there, now that you mention it. That and 'The Pacific'.

[svensson]

As an aside, in the late 70's Robert Duvall and Donald Sutherland did 'The Eagle Has Landed'... a Jack Higgins novel about a Nazi attempt to kidnap or murder Churchill.

This was an average effort at best, but what it did have was Donald Pleasence as Heinrich Himmler. Pleasence just plain nailed it. He somehow contrived to seem very 'squishy', almost a milquetoast, and still seem sinister and threatening. Just an incredible interpretation in an otherwise decidedly average movie. In the same way that I'll never think of Abraham Lincoln or Adolf Hitler without hearing their respective actor's voices, Donald Pleasence's characterization of Himmler just sticks in my mind.

[AlHazred]

How about The Guns of Navarone (1961)?

[svensson]

4 hours ago, AlHazred said:

How about The Guns of Navarone (1961)?

Oh, God nope! That's as bad as an episode of 'The Rat Patrol' 😁

[EricW]

The Man who could Work Miracles. It was made in 1936, so it has a very early 20th century feel, provides plenty of glimpses of life in that era, and as an extra bonus it is a movie about immensely powerful alien beings messing with the Earth, the end of the world, and the corruption of a magician's sanity. The special effects are decades ahead of their time. The author of the original story was H.G.Wells, who also wrote The Time Machine.

 

 

Edited November 8, 2022 by EricW