''The Somme'' is a 1927 British

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

directed by M.A. Wetherell. It re-examined the 1916

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Production

The film was made at

Isleworth Studios Isleworth Studios is the common name of two former film studios in Great Britain. __TOC__ Worton Hall Studios 1913–1952 Worton Hall Studios were based on Worton Hall, in Isleworth. This house was built in 1783 and rebuilt and extended in the ...

using a

docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television and film, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event". Docudramas typic ...

format. It involved a number of the personnel who had previously worked on a successful series of documentary reconstructions of First World War battles by

British Instructional Films British Instructional Films was a British film production company which operated between 1919 and 1932. The company's name is often abbreviated to BIF. The company released a number of feature films during the late silent and early sound eras, d ...

released between 1921 and 1927. British Instructional Films had finished their series with ''

The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands ''The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands'' is a 1927 British docudrama film directed by Walter Summers. The film focuses on the naval warfare around the Battle of Coronel and Battle of the Falkland Islands during the First World War. It wa ...

'', and

Geoffrey Barkas Geoffrey Barkas (born Geoffrey de Gruchy Barkas, 27 August 1896 – 3 September 1979) was an English film maker active between the world wars. Barkas led the British Middle East Command Camouflage Directorate in the Second World War. His larges ...

moved to the newly established New Era films to carry on the cycle. When Barkas fell ill, Wetherell was brought in to take over the project. Although Wetherell received the directors credit, much of the film was made by Barkas and Boyd Cable. Toronto ads touted that the Imperial Army Museum provided the footage; its actual name is the

Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

. The following year the company released another docudrama, ''

Q-Ships Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, decoy vessels, special service ships, or mystery ships, were heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open f ...

''.

Release

Toronto, Ontario theatre Tivoli hosted the first Canadian showing, with hundreds of people being "turned away" from the theatre daily.

Critical reception

A "masterpiece of British pictures," a "press agent" for the film told ''

The Toronto Daily Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and par ...

''. " re words fail utterly to describe even one scene of this mighty picture taken from the battlefields of France. Judging by the excitement and enthuasiasm created in its first Canadian showing, ''The Somme'' will undoubtedly duplicate its effect every time it is thrown on the screen. ''The Somme'' is more than a war picture. It deals with humanity in the war, the bitter and the sweet, the fineness and the hellishness, the friendliness and the hate. It is utterly free from hokum, but full of sentiment. It you are a red-blooded Britisher, you will not want to miss ''The Somme''. It is something superb in motion pictures."

References

Bibliography

* Low, Rachael. ''History of the British Film, 1918-1929''. George Allen & Unwin, 1971. * Wood, Linda. ''British Films 1927-1939''. British Film Institute, 1986.

External links

* 1927 films British documentary films Films directed by M. A. Wetherell British silent feature films Films shot at Isleworth Studios Documentary films about the Battle of the Somme British black-and-white films 1920s English-language films 1920s British films Silent war films {{WWI-documentary-film-stub