''The Great War'' is a 26-episode documentary series from 1964 on the First World War. The documentary was a co-production of 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 British Broadcasting Corporation, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the Australian Broadcasting Commission. The narrator was Michael Redgrave, with readings by Marius Goring,

Ralph Richardson Sir Ralph David Richardson (19 December 1902 – 10 October 1983) was an English actor who, with John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier, was one of the trinity of male actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. He wo ...

, Cyril Luckham, Sebastian Shaw and Emlyn Williams. Each episode is long.

Production

Royal Irish Rifles ration party Somme July 1916

In August 1963, at the suggestion of

Alasdair Milne Alasdair David Gordon Milne (8 October 19308 January 2013) was a British television producer and executive. He had a long career at the BBC, where he was eventually promoted to Director-General, and was described by ''The Independent'' as "one ...

, producer of the BBC's current affairs programme ''Tonight'', the BBC resolved to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War with a big television project. The series was the first to feature veterans, many of them still relatively fit men in their late sixties or early seventies, speaking of their experiences after a public appeal for veterans was published in the national press. Those who appeared in the series included Edward Spears, Henry Williamson,

Horace Birks Major General Horace Leslie Birks CB DSO (7 May 1897 – 25 March 1985) was a senior officer of the British Army who saw active service during both the First World War and the Second World War, where he commanded the 10th Armoured Division. Mi ...

Benjamin Muse Benjamin Muse (April 17, 1898 – May 4, 1986) was an American lawyer, soldier, diplomat, newspaper publisher, author and politician. He briefly served as a member of the Virginia Senate (switching allegiances from the Democratic to the Repub ...

Melvin Krulewitch Melvin Levin Krulewitch (11 November 1895 – 25 May 1978) was a major general of the United States Marine Corps Reserve who saw active service in both world wars and the Korean War. Early years Melvin Krulewitch was born on 11 November 1895 ...

, George Langley, Keith Officer, Douglas Wimberley, Charles Carrington,

Egbert Cadbury Major (Honorary Air Commodore) Sir Egbert "Bertie" Cadbury (20 April 1893 – 12 January 1967) was a British businessman, a member of the Cadbury family, who as a First World War pilot shot down two Zeppelins over the North Sea: ''LZ 61 (L 21), ...

, Euan Rabagliati,

Robert Cotton Money Major-General Robert Cotton Money, (21 July 1888 – 16 April 1985) was a senior British Army officer, who commanded the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division during the early part of the Second World War. Military career Money was born in 1888, th ...

Richard Talbot Kelly Richard Barrett Talbot Kelly (1896–1971), MBE, MC, RI, known to friends and colleagues as 'TK', was a British army officer, school teacher, and artist, known especially for his watercolour paintings of ornithological subjects. Early life ...

, Norman Demuth,

Walter Greenwood Walter Greenwood (17 December 1903 – 13 September 1974) was an English novelist, best known for the socially influential novel ''Love on the Dole'' (1933). Early life Greenwood was born at 56 Ellor Street, his father's house and hairdres ...

and Cecil Arthur Lewis. The small number of Germans who appeared included Stephan Westmann and Gustav Lachmann. Others who were interviewed by the BBC but not featured in the series included Norman MacMillan,

Mabel Lethbridge Mabel Florence Lethbridge BEM (7 July 1900 – 14 July 1968) was a 20th-century English writer and business woman. She was the youngest person at the time to receive the British Empire Medal, an award affiliated to the Order of the British Empir ...

, Edgar von Spiegel,

Edmund Blunden Edmund Charles Blunden (1 November 1896 – 20 January 1974) was an English poet, author, and critic. Like his friend Siegfried Sassoon, he wrote of his experiences in World War I in both verse and prose. For most of his career, Blunden was als ...

, Martin Niemöller, John Shea, Hans Howaldt,

William Ibbett Commander#Royal Navy, Commander William Ibbett (21 June 1886 – 28 June 1975) was an English submariner, and later a BBC Radio broadcaster. Life Ibbett was born in 1886 at Oxted, Surrey, England. After growing up in Wiltshire,Transcript of ...

Marthe Bibesco Princess Martha Bibescu (Martha Lucia; ''née'' Lahovary; 28 January 1886 – 28 November 1973) also known outside of Romania as Marthe Bibesco, was a celebrated Romanian-French writer, socialite, style icon and political hostess. She spent her c ...

, Philip Joubert de la Ferté and

Eric Dorman O'Gowan Brigadier Eric Edward "Chink" Dorman-Smith (24 July 1895 – 11 May 1969), who later changed his name to Eric Edward Dorman O'Gowan, was an Irish officer whose career in the British Army began in the First World War and closed at the end of the ...

Title sequence

The series title sequence used a rostrum camera to create a montage of three images, the first showing a silhouetted British soldier standing over the grave of a comrade, the camera first focuses on the cross, where the almost imperceptible words IN MEMORY are glanced, the second shows a uniformed, skeletal corpse by the entrance to a dugout. The final image shows a lone British soldier, looking directly into the camera apparently surrounded by corpses, which is a montage of several images combined for dramatic effect. The original image of the staring soldier, showing him surrounded by fellow soldiers rather than corpses, was taken from photograph Q 1 in the

photograph archive but has been described as having quickly become symbolic of the First World War. This title sequence was set against the series theme music, composed by

Wilfred Josephs Wilfred Josephs (24 July 1927 – 17 November 1997) was an English composer. Life Born in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, the fourth and youngest son of Russian and South Shields Jewish parents, Wilfred Josephs had his first musical studies in Ne ...

and performed by the BBC Northern Orchestra.

Episode listing

The episode titles are taken from quotations, the origins of which are shown in parentheses. With few exceptions, successive blocks of episodes are devoted to each year of the war: episodes 1–6 to 1914, 7–10 to 1915, 11–14 to 1916, 15–19 to 1917, 20–23 and 26 to 1918. Two "Extra" episodes exist on the dual-layer DVD edition: # "Voices from the Western Front" # "The Finished Fighter"

Musical score

The music for the series was composed by Wilfred Josephs. It was performed by the

BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

conducted by

George Hurst George Hurst may refer to: * George Hurst (conductor) (1926–2012), British conductor * George Hurst (artist) (born 1933), American leather artist * George Samuel Hurst (1927–2010), health physicist, scientist, inventor, educator and innovator * ...

. His expressive yet unsentimental score was widely acclaimed at the time and many have recalled the strong contribution it made to the series. In August 2007, ''

Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unite ...

'' columnist Ian Jack remembered how at the start of each episode Josephs' "ominous music ushered the audience into the trenches". Much use was made of 20th century symphonies, including Shostakovich's 11th Symphony and Vaughan Williams' ''

Sinfonia Antartica ''Sinfonia antartica'' ("Antarctic Symphony") is the Italian title given by Ralph Vaughan Williams to his seventh symphony, first performed in 1953. It drew on incidental music the composer had written for the 1948 film ''Scott of the Antarctic' ...

Reception

Each episode of ''The Great War'' was seen by an average audience of over eight million people, a 17 percent share of the estimated viewing population. The fourth episode, the most popular of the series, reached an audience of over eleven million (22.6 percent of the audience).

Awards

The programme won a Bafta Special Award in 1964. Following transmission of the series by the Republic of Ireland's national TV station, Telefís Éireann, ''The Great War'' won a Jacob's Award at the 1964 presentation ceremony in Dublin.

First World War centenary

On 16 October 2013, fifty years after the release of the series, the BBC announced that unshown interview material, recorded during the making of ''The Great War'', will be used in a new programme, ''My Great War'', to be shown as part of the BBC's programmes during the

First World War centenary The First World War centenary was the centenary of the First World War, which began on 28 July 2014 with a series of Centenary of the outbreak of World War I, commemorations of the outbreak of the war organised across the continent of Europe, and ...

. The programme was first broadcast on 14 March 2014 and entitled "I Was There: the Great War Interviews".

DVD releases

There appear to be two releases as of mid-2007, both in the UK, both Region 2. The audio has been remastered. The first shows copyright 2001 and consists of five volumes, each housing two DVDs (single-layer). On the cover descriptions there is no mention of the Extra episodes The other shows copyright 2002 and consists of seven DVDs – six containing the original 26 episodes and one with the two Extras. These discs are dual-layer. It is distributed by DD Video.

Notes

Footnotes

References

Books * Journals * * * * Websites *

External links

How the Great War Was Lost - and Found
(The review wrongly implies the score for the series was either indebted to, or written by

Sir William Walton Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade (entertainmen ...

, whom it also erroneously cites for the score of ''

Scott of the Antarctic Captain Robert Falcon Scott, , (6 June 1868 – c. 29 March 1912) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–1904 and the ill-fated ''Terra N ...

'', written by

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

.)
''The Great War'', Episode 6
*
IWM Interview with Euan Rabagliati, who appeared in "We Must Hack Our Way Through"

IWM Interview with Frederick Atkinson, who appeared in "Our Hats We Doff To General Joffre"

IWM Interview with Ernest Amis, who appeared in "So Sleep Easy In Your Beds"

IWM Interview with Joseph Murray, who appeared in "Please God Send Us A Victory"

IWM Interview with Richard Talbot Kelly, who appeared in "What Are Our Allies Doing?" & "Surely We Have Perished"

IWM Interview with Horace Birks, who appeared in "The Hell Where Youth And Laughter Go"

IWM Interview with Herbert Sulzbach, who appeared in "And We Were Young"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Great War Jacob's Award winners 1964 British television series debuts 1964 British television series endings 1960s British documentary television series British documentary television series Documentary films about World War I Documentary television series about World War I Cultural depictions of Gavrilo Princip Cultural depictions of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria BBC television documentaries about history during the 20th Century BAFTA winners (television series)