"Battle of the Somme" (1916) remastered

In November 2008, following a lengthy restoration process led by the Imperial War Museum, a digitally remastered version of Battle of the Somme was released on DVD to mark the 90th anniversary of the 1918 Armistice.

Battle of the Somme has been registered in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme, formed “to guard against collective amnesia”:

"The Battle of the Somme film of 1916 is the first feature-length documentary to record war in action. The film influenced the course of history as it awakened public consciousness during World War I and marked the development of documentary and propaganda war films. It remains an icon of the period and has also retained its importance as a cornerstone of the film collection of the British Imperial War Museum where the film’s oldest existing master copy is still kept." UNESCO

The Battle of the Somme is a documentary and propaganda film made by British official cinematographers Geoffrey Malins and John McDowell during World War I. The British public responded to the film massively, purchasing an estimated 20 million tickets in two months. On this basis, The Battle of the Somme remains one of the most successful British films ever made. The film inaugurated a debate about the on-screen depiction of combat that continues to this day, and is the origin of some of the most widely used and iconic moving images of the First World War.

Total Running Time: 74 minutes

Choice of three soundtracks in both 5.1 and Stereo options:
1. A newly commissioned orchestral score, composed by Laura Rossi and performed by The Philharmonia Orchestra, conductor Nic Raine,
2. A recreation of the medley of light classics, folk tunes, popular songs and military music that was originally recommended as an accompaniment to the film on its first release in 1916, performed by a small ensemble led by Stephen Horne,
3. An audio commentary by Roger Smither, Keeper of the Imperial War Museum’s Film and Photograph Archives.

The DVD includes an official 36-page booklet with contributions from the Imperial War Museum archive team.

Imperial War Museum Shop

Apropos the film The Red Baron - Der Rote Baron

The 10th April 2008, the German movie about Manfred von Richthofen, The Red Baron (Der Rote Baron), is released.

Photo: Nils Fabiansson © All rights reserved.

Photo: The memorial to the pilot and airplane constructor Louis Blériot (1872–1936) in the city-park Jardin Public in Cambrai. Ernst Jünger, who wanted to become a pilot himself, visited this memorial in 1917. It is only slightly repaired, but seems otherwise to have escaped remarkable undamaged through the war.

Aufname: Das Denkmal für den Piloten und Flugzeugkonstrukteur Louis Blériot (1872–1936) im Stadtpark von Cambrai. Blériot wurde in der Nähe von Cambrai geboren und überquerte 1909 mit einem Flugzeug den Ärmelkanal. Ernst Jünger, der selbst auch Pilot hatte werden wollen, besuchte das Denkmal im Jahre 1917. Es ist nur leicht ausgebessert, scheint aber sonst erstaunlich unbeschadet aus dem Krieg hervorgegangen zu sein.

Aus dem Kriegstagebuch:

5. IV. 1916
In Douchy kam in die letzten Tagen eine Aufforderung an jünge Offiziere, sich als Flugzeugführer zu melden. Ich habe mich natürlich gemeldet, trotzdem die Annahme ja sehr wenig wahrscheinlich ist.

25. XI. 1916
Ich wäre gern zum Ersatzbataillon gegangen, um mich zur Fliegertruppe zu melden.

12. VII. 1917
Heute meldete ich mich zum 2. Mal als Flugzeugführer. Hoffentlich werde ich zur Fliegertruppe versetzt. Da kann man ja zeigen, was Kaltblutigkeit ist und braucht nicht die Kastanien für andere Leute aus dem Feuer zu ziehen.

See John King, "Wann hat dieser Scheißkrieg ein Ende?"
Writing and Rewriting the First World War, p. 138.

Storm of Steel - the movie?

In November 1999, the German company Odeon Film announced their plans of making a film of Ernst Jünger’s In Stahlgewittern. It was planned to be a large-scale German-French-English production in collaboration with the Münich-based producer Thomas Schühly, former assistant to Fassbinder and executive producer of the 1986 film Der Name der Rose (The Name of the Rose, based on Umberto Eco's novel, with Sean Connery).

Not much happened though.

Reinhard Klooss, the company's management board member responsible for the feature film division, said in 2001, according to the the film magazine Kino, that Thomas Schühly's film project of In Stahlgewittern was now instead being approached as a large-scale feature documentary.

In the end of 2002 Thomas Schühly said in an interview for the die tageszeitung, that he had got the film rights of In Stahlgewittern personally by Jünger (“Auch von Jünger hab ich noch persönlich die Rechte gekriegt.”).

In 2004 the $155 million Hollywood film Alexander, based on the life of Alexander the Great, was released, directed by Oliver Stone. The film was co-produced by Thomas Schühly.

In December 2007 it was reported in the news that Schühly now is busy with a remake of the classic 1927 German science-fiction Metropolis.

Thus, one wonders, what will happen with the film rights of In Stahlgewittern? Who would play Ernst Jünger? And what would it be like? Something similar to The Thin Red Line? Thomas Schühly says it is "ein reines Kunstwerk. Das knallt aus allem raus. Da werde ich in eine gesamtmenschliche Betrachtung geführt, vor der ich nur auf die Knie gehen kann. Einmal im Leben so etwas machen."