'World On Fire" TV programme......

[matchlesswdg3]

Don't know if any of you have been following this extremely turgid and revisionist BBC "drama".  Well done, if you have; maybe like me interested in seeing how the Beeb would grapple with getting the events of 1940 onto the small screen, including Dunkirk!  It is amazing how CGA has boosted the ability to recreate spectacular scenes, even if the plot is as spectacularly silly!  Interesting to to see the peppering of real MVs used (anyone here involved?).  I am no expert but for the most part, they seem OK for the period.  But why oh why did they feature a QLR nicely fitted out with orange turn lights?  Will now be fun looking for other anachronisms!  (Other than the whole plot, of course, which drips with 21st century values).

[radiomike7]

I saw that too, together with the very fake looking broken windscreen.  99% of the population would have not noticed and there is a limit to how realistic one can be with borrowed vehicles. At least it was a QL not an RL unlike a WW2 scene I remember watching.

Have a read about the errors in the film about the great train robbery, I seem to remember the RL was an ex AFS vehicle which would not have been released at the time.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2774184/goofs

[Nick Johns]

23 hours ago, radiomike7 said:

 

Have a read about the errors in the film about the great train robbery, I seem to remember the RL was an ex AFS vehicle which would not have been released at the time.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2774184/goofs

The Train robbers used an Austin Loadstar, not a Bedford RL,  and they had Ser.1 & 2 Landrovers,

Edited November 6, 2019 by Nick Johns

[Ex-boy]

The QL was also carrying Jerricans. Not right, surely!

[radiomike7]

54 minutes ago, Nick Johns said:

The Train robbers used an Austin Loadstar, not an RL,  and Ser.1 &  2 Landrovers,

Yes, you are right, here is a photo of the AFS RL used in the film:

https://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_657557-Bedford-RL-1957.html

[Richard Farrant]

If this is the programme that depicted the time of the Dunkirk evacuation, then the QL was not built in 1940, so another error.

[Bob Grundy]

Utter tripe! That officer chap seems never to have a hat on. A sergeant with his webbing in disarray and no hat, saluting with no hat, respirator (gas mask) case nearly down to their waist belts, rifle sling on the wrong way and did French colonial troops have tommy guns ? One of the biggest was having northern France next to Poland....

[Smithy]

Anyone spot the AEC Militant cab which was near to an explosion on the beach scene from two episodes ago?

A shame as they did manage to get some of the period vehicles correct. 

[radiomike7]

13 hours ago, Smithy said:

Anyone spot the AEC Militant cab which was near to an explosion on the beach scene from two episodes ago?

A shame as they did manage to get some of the period vehicles correct. 

I noticed that too, was it not a Weymann cabbed Matador with a flat roof?  

[Baz48]

The comments above are interesting especially the lack of proper protocol between officer and ranks. I am recording the series to watch at some later date from what I have seen via trailers the CGI looks impressive I was hoping the vehicle might have been reflective of the right vintage and type, well they are British of WWII vintage unfortunately the wrong side of Dunkirk. It's been mentioned the QL is wrong timeline. A book Kaleidoscope of Bedford & Vauxhall Military Vehicles by the late Bart H. Vanderveen gives the first pilot model QL emerged on the road 1st February 1940 and within 4-weeks two more going to MEE at Farnborough for testing accumulating 10,000 miles each  then striped for examination. Faults rectified and limited production (late 1940) ensued 2501 QL-D's and 1771QL-B's with QL series production being from February 1941. Another note for the continuity people Bedford OY depicted in France before Dunkirk would probably be on 32 x 6 tyres not 10-50 x 16 with MW's being aeroscreens and side screens not doors and a full width windscreen. Still it's only someone's interpretation of events why let reality get in the way the story I'm sure in the credits is the name of the technical/military advisor so what's portrayed on screen must be right.

 

[Simon Daymond]

21 hours ago, Smithy said:

Anyone spot the AEC Militant cab which was near to an explosion on the beach scene from two episodes ago?

A shame as they did manage to get some of the period vehicles correct. 

I know its a long shot, don't suppose anyone knows what happened to the Militant cab after the filming was over?

[Smithy]

On 11/6/2019 at 10:56 AM, radiomike7 said:

I noticed that too, was it not a Weymann cabbed Matador with a flat roof?  

Just logged onto the iPlayer to have another look and got the attached screengrab. Think we can say that it is indeed an AEC Militant. 

Well worth a look at the beach scene on episode 5 about 39 minutes in for anyone interested. 

[Chris Hall]

The weaponry isn’t to far off in the most part, a few Aussie modified Lee Enfields etc. Why they show very late US M1 carbines in the opening music is a bit off. 
 

I suppose one of the biggest problems in regards to vehicles is getting hold of them. I’ve heard some horror stories of borrowed vehicles being damaged so who would want to loan out their pride and joy.

[Baz48]

Reff vehicles loan for film and TV work, it depends on who the company borrowing the vehicle is. A friend' has loan several of his lorries over the years without regret and received a reasonable sum for it. I suspect it's all in the small print but some people have had an experience while others loan a vehicle for bragging rights just to say its been in this or that for free, personal choice.

[Pete Ashby]

Putting aside the failure to portray authentic vehicles and kit for a moment, the problem for me with a number of recent TV and large screen productions that have been made in recent years is that the cast is very obviously and  invariably made up of 21st century actors who carry themselves and react to situations in 21st century ways.

  For those of us who had Fathers, Mothers, Uncles and Aunts who were of an age to have participated in WW2 in a service capacity it grates because those people just did not react or interact with each other or display the mannerisms  that are now the accepted form in the modern world. 

For me it's one of the major achievements of the HBO mini series 'Band of Brothers' in that that the actors portraying real people did so, to  my mind at least,  convincingly.  This could have been because in a number of cases the actors actually met and studied the people they were representing,  something that of course is now almost impossible to do.   However there is plenty of archive material that  professional character actors could turn to for inspiration and accuracy,. 

But I suppose at the end of the day there are relatively very few of the current audience that notice the errors be they vehicular, kit or behavioral.

Pete 

Edited November 9, 2019 by Pete Ashby

[ploughman]

As a further comment on wearing of kit.

Can somebody educate actors / costume fitters on how to wear a beret.

[MatchFuzee]

The cast and crew list:-

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8001092/fullcredits

There are some amazing job descriptions, my favourite from the makeup department is "special animatronics baby effects designer and creator" 

Edited November 9, 2019 by MatchFuzee

[matchlesswdg3]

On 11/9/2019 at 4:46 PM, Pete Ashby said:

Putting aside the failure to portray authentic vehicles and kit for a moment, the problem for me with a number of recent TV and large screen productions that have been made in recent years is that the cast is very obviously and  invariably made up of 21st century actors who carry themselves and react to situations in 21st century ways.

 

Pete,  I fully agree, hence my comments at the beginning of this thread.  Alas, the Beeb sees fit to dumb down such fare to have the widest appeal - supposedly.  And the result is dire.  And we pay a licence fee for this  sort of rubbish.  can you imagine an unmarried mother-to-be showing off her bump with pride and proclaiming her intent to stay single.  Pure 21st Century values......which we would agree with today......but in 1940?  No way.

[Chris Hall]

But it keeps us talking and they say there’s no such thing as bad publicity.

 

what always grinds my gears is when they make a silly and obvious mistake. I remember a Foyles War episode where a Bomb Disposal team found a stack of cash hidden in a boat. Long story short, a murdered Royal Engineer had family in Cumbria. No he didn’t because Cumbria didn’t exist. It was Cumberland or Westmorland but the writer was probably only a young chap or chapess who probably wasn’t even aware.