Passchendaele Movie

[spence]

A Canadian company has filmed a new movie to be released in Canada on Nov 11 this year called: PASSCHENDAELE. It apparently focuses on the efforts of the Canadian Corps which finally captured the village.

http://www.passchendaelethemovie.com/about.php

[flintlock]

Appreciate the heads-up. Definitely one to keep on the radar.

[Sionnach]

Looks good. Hope it makes it to Europe at some stage.

I visited Vimy Ridge last year, location of another proud Canadian achievement, and got to go into some of the World War I trenches. Fascinating.

[WallysWorld]

Filmed right here outside of Calgary where I live. Stars Paul Gross, the actor who played the Mountie in the TV series "Due South".

[Sewerlobster]

I loved "Due South" and am sure this will be an excellent movie as Paul Gross had a a big hand in that too. Since his grandfather fought in the battle, he'll have a vested interest in authenticity. Hope it gets a US release or at least a DVD release.

[dossettd]

I was thrilled to be an extra in Passchendaele. I travelled from Kingston Ontario to Calgary and stayed there five weeks to be a background extra. For those who are wondering about how well it will be received, I would like to assure you that what I saw was thrilling. When special effects, musical score and all the other goodies are added I am sure that it will make all Canadians proud. To see some pictures of the shoot visit my website at http://www.daviddossett.com[/align]

[Sewerlobster]

The movie has been awarded the Opening night Honors for the Toronto Film Festival (September 4,2008).
http://www.dose.ca/movies/story.html?id ... 48e612501c

This movie looks great.

[boogada]

Its out now in Canada. Any Canadians here? 

[BK6583]

Natuarally with all due respect to all soldiers who fought in that war, weren't the Canadiens arguably the best army on the TE side?

[hjaco]

ORIGINAL: BK6583

Natuarally with all due respect to all soldiers who fought in that war, weren't the Canadiens arguably the best army on the TE side?

I am not old enough to have been around but perhaps you have me at a disadvantage there ? [:D]

[OrvalB]

ORIGINAL:  BK6583

Natuarally with all due respect to all soldiers who fought in that war, weren't the Canadiens arguably the best army on the TE side?

Yes, we were. The big advantage of being an all volunteer army with no conscripts. The Aussies were pretty good too, for the same reason.

(And those racist times, we had a somewhat segregated army, with a few largely Aboriginal/First Nations/Indian units, which racked up insane achievements and impressive medal counts, and scared the crap out of the Karl May influenced Germans; once they realized the effect they were having, they played it up, with Hollywood war-paint, drum beating, singing, etc. ...  a little known but fascinating bit of Canadian military trivia.)

And what does that get you? The "honour" of being in the front row in every offensive, that's what. And a higher butcher's bill than we racked up in WWII.

I haven't caught Passchendaele yet, partly scheduling issues and partly dread. It was one of the most miserable, bolixed up tragedies of a war and front that had no shortage at all of that kind of thing. A very sad bit of history indeed. I am partly scared they won't get it right, and partly scared that they will, because it was such an unrelieved tragedy.

[waynec]

ORIGINAL: OrvalB

ORIGINAL:  BK6583

Natuarally with all due respect to all soldiers who fought in that war, weren't the Canadiens arguably the best army on the TE side?

Yes, we were. The big advantage of being an all volunteer army with no conscripts. The Aussies were pretty good too, for the same reason.

(And those racist times, we had a somewhat segregated army, with a few largely Aboriginal/First Nations/Indian units, which racked up insane achievements and impressive medal counts, and scared the crap out of the Karl May influenced Germans; once they realized the effect they were having, they played it up, with Hollywood war-paint, drum beating, singing, etc. ...  a little known but fascinating bit of Canadian military trivia.)

And what does that get you? The "honour" of being in the front row in every offensive, that's what. And a higher butcher's bill than we racked up in WWII.

I haven't caught Passchendaele yet, partly scheduling issues and partly dread. It was one of the most miserable, bolixed up tragedies of a war and front that had no shortage at all of that kind of thing. A very sad bit of history indeed. I am partly scared they won't get it right, and partly scared that they will, because it was such an unrelieved tragedy.

i think the best army in ww1 was the british bef as deployed in august 1914. of course, after the "race to the sea" and ypres, the orginal bef, manned completely by professional soldiers, was a shadow of itself.

[Harrybanana]

ORIGINAL: waynec

i think the best army in ww1 was the british bef as deployed in august 1914. of course, after the "race to the sea" and ypres, the orginal bef, manned completely by professional soldiers, was a shadow of itself.

I don't disagree that the BEF was the best trained army at the start of the war. But what made the Canadian corp so exceptional is that it was composed primarily of non-professional volunteers. The Canadians took huge losses in battle after battle for over 3 years and were continually having to train replacements; yet they continued to be the TE's most effective fighting unit for the entire war. For whatever reason the morale of this corps always remained high, or at least higher than that of other units.

[Shawkhan]

...I think you must be mistaken about the Canadian pre-eminence in martial abilities. When I was last in Australia there were any number of books, some of which I read, that clearly showed that Aussies were far and away the Best troops in both WWI and WWII.
...As an aside, it was the Aussies who take the credit for training US troops in Armored Combined Arms tactics that forced an end too the war. I saw it in print in Sydney, so it MUST be true.