''Theirs Is the Glory'' (also known as ''Men of Arnhem''), is a 1946 British war film about the British 1st Airborne Division's involvement in the

Battle of Arnhem The Battle of Arnhem was a battle of the Second World War at the vanguard of the Allied Operation Market Garden. It was fought in and around the Dutch city of Arnhem, the town of Oosterbeek, the villages Wolfheze and Driel and the vicinity fro ...

(17 to 25 September 1944) during

Operation Market Garden Operation Market Garden was an Allies of World War II, Allied military operation during the World War II, Second World War fought in the Netherlands from 17 to 27 September 1944. Its objective was to create a Salient (military), salient into G ...

in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It was the first film to be made about this battle, and the biggest grossing UK war film for nearly a decade. The later film '' A Bridge Too Far'' depicts the operation as a whole and includes the British, Polish and American Airborne forces, while ''Theirs Is the Glory'' focuses solely on the British forces, and their fight at

Oosterbeek Oosterbeek is a village in the eastern part of Netherlands. It is located in the municipality of Renkum in the province of Gelderland, about west of Arnhem. The oldest part of Oosterbeek is the Benedendorp (Lower Village), on the northern bank o ...

and

Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both banks of ...

. The film was directed by

Brian Desmond Hurst Brian Desmond Hurst (12 February 1895 – 26 September 1986) was a Belfast-born film director. With over thirty films in his filmography, Hurst has been hailed as Northern Ireland's best film director.Screening will honour 'NI's best film ...

, who was himself a veteran of 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 ...

, having survived

Gallipoli The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...

where he had served with the

Royal Irish Rifles The Royal Irish Rifles (became the Royal Ulster Rifles from 1 January 1921) was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army, first created in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 83rd (County of Dublin) Regiment of Foot and the 86th (Royal County ...

. The producer was Leonard Castleton Knight, head of Gaumont British News. The script was written primarily by Louis Golding but honed by Hurst's protege

Terence Young Terence or Terry Young may refer to: *Terence Young (director) (1915–1994), British film director * Terence Young (politician) (born 1952), Canadian Conservative Party politician * Terence Young (writer), Canadian writer * Terry Young (American p ...

(who subsequently went on to direct ''

They Were Not Divided ''They Were Not Divided'' is a 1950 British war film, which depicted the Guards Armoured Division in Second World War Europe. It was written and directed by Terence Young, a former Guards officer who served in the campaigns depicted in the film ...

'' and the early Bond films). Young had been in the

Irish Guards The Irish Guards (IG), is one of the Foot Guards regiments of the British Army and is part of the Guards Division. Together with the Royal Irish Regiment, it is one of the two Irish infantry regiments in the British Army. The regiment has parti ...

with the

Guards Armoured Division The Guards Armoured Division was an armoured division of the British Army during the Second World War. The division was created in the United Kingdom on 17 June 1941 during the Second World War from elements of the Guards units, the Grenadier G ...

with XXX Corps seeking to relieve Arnhem during the battle and hence the authenticity of the eventual story-line. The veterans who starred in the film also actively collaborated on the script.

Production

Using the original locations of the battle, the film featured veterans who were actual participants in the battle. The film was jointly produced by the J. Arthur

Rank Organisation The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment conglomerate founded by industrialist J. Arthur Rank in April 1937. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the United Kingdom, owning production, distribu ...

and the

Army Film and Photographic Unit The Army Film and Photographic Unit was a subdivision of the British armed forces set up on 24 October 1941, to record military events in which the British and Commonwealth armies was engaged. During the war, almost 23 percent of all AFPU soldier ...

(AFPU). Weaving original footage from the battle with re-enactments shot on location at Oosterbeek and Arnhem, the film was shot a year after the battle had ravaged the Dutch streets. As well as veterans, the film also features local people like Father Dyker (a Dutch civilian priest who conducts the service in the film) and

Kate ter Horst Kate ter Horst MBE (born 6 July 1906, Amsterdam – 21 February 1992, Oosterbeek) was a Dutch housewife and mother who tended wounded and dying Allied soldiers during the Battle of Arnhem. Her British patients nicknamed her the ''Angel of Arnhem''. ...

(who reads a psalm to the wounded men in the cellar) re-enacting their roles and what they did for the airborne troops during the battle. Though no credits appear before or after the film, over 200 veterans appeared as actors including Majors CFH "Freddie" Gough and Richard "Dickie" Lonsdale, Lieutenant Hugh Ashmore, Sergeants Jack Bateman and John Daley, Corporal Pearce and Privates Tommy Scullion, Peter Holt, David Parker, George ‘Titch’ Preston, Frank ‘Butch’ Dixon, Reginald Spray, Looker and Van Rijssel and Albert Wood and war correspondents

Stanley Maxted Stanley Maxted (21 August 1895 – 10 May 1963) was a British-Canadian soldier, singer, radio producer, journalist and actor. He worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and later for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) as a ...

and Alan Wood. Each veteran was paid £3 per day by the Rank Organisation. The narrator notes the soldiers as "just ordinary men". "But when you next watch the film look closely at the faces of the men and especially at their eyes in the many close shots that Brian Desmond Hurst arranged. When you look into the eyes you will start to gain a little bit of the experience that those ordinary men went through".Theirs Is the Glory - 65th Anniversary of the filming of the movie, Ministory number 106, author Allan Esler Smith, published by Friends of the Airborne Museum Oosterbeek, November 2010 The film may have been the "

Help for Heroes Help for Heroes (H4H) is a British charity which provides lifelong recovery support to British Armed Forces service personnel who have been wounded or injured in the line of duty, and to their families, originally only since 11 September 2001, th ...

of its day". Hurst's biographer, Allan Esler Smith in "Theirs Is the Glory - 65th Anniversary of the filming of the movie" explains that "The popularity of ''Theirs Is the Glory'' allowed Arthur Rank, the head of the Rank Organisation, to fulfill his pledge to help the Airborne Forces Security Fund. Collections, raffles and parades rode the wave of enthusiasm that swept the United Kingdom following its premier. The Earl Mountbatten subsequently received a cheque for £50,000 for the Airborne Forces Security Fund from Arthur Rank". Brian Desmond Hurst said, "The film is my favourite because of the wonderful experience of working with soldiers, and because it is a true documentary reconstruction of the event. I say without modesty it is one of the best war films ever made".

Reception

According to trade papers, the film was a "notable box office attraction" at British cinemas. According to ''Kinematograph Weekly'' the 'biggest winner' at the box office in 1946 Britain was ''The Wicked Lady'', with "runners up" being ''The Bells of St Marys'', ''Piccadilly Incident'', ''The Road to Utopia'', ''Tomorrow is Forever'', ''Brief Encounter'', ''Wonder Man'', ''Anchors Away'', ''Kitty'', ''The Captive Heart'', ''The Corn is Green'', ''Spanish Main'', ''Leave Her to Heaven'', ''Gilda'', ''Caravan'', ''Mildred Pierce'', ''Blue Dahlia'', ''Years Between'', ''O.S.S.'', ''Spellbound'', ''Courage of Lassie'', ''My Reputation'', ''London Town'', ''Caesar and Cleopatra'', ''Meet the Navy'', ''Men of Two Worlds'', ''Theirs is the Glory'', ''The Overlanders'', and ''Bedelia''.

Comparison with ''A Bridge Too Far''

The two films were compared in the October 2010 magazine ''Against All Odds'' and the comparison is stark and revealing, ''A Bridge Too Far'' '...is a slow moving epic, well worth a viewing with some authentic scenes, but is unconvincing in its portrayal of the battle of Oosterbeek... ''Theirs Is the Glory'' is the only feature film currently released that accurately portrays the events at Oosterbeek in atmospheric and chronological terms, despite its jerky portrayal of events. This is a film to watch."''Against the Odds. Heroic battles in the Face of Adversity''. Author Robert Kershaw. Published 11 October 2010

Articles and books

Revisiting Theirs Is the Glory'' by Allan Esler Smith, published by Robert Sigmond Publishing for th
68th Commemoration of the Battle of Arnhem Battlefield Walk
21 September 2012. ''Pegasus the Journal of the Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces''. A multi-part analysis and review of the making of ''Theirs Is the Glory'' (Winter 2012 to Winter 2013), by Allan Esler Smith. ''Theirs Is the Glory - Arnhem, Hurst and Conflict on Film'' (2016), by David Truesdale and Allan Esler Smith, takes Hurst's Battle of Arnhem epic as its centrepiece and chronicles Hurst's ten films on conflict.

References

External links

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Theirs Is the Glory 1946 films British war films British documentary films 1940s English-language films Documentary films about World War II Films directed by Brian Desmond Hurst Operation Market Garden 1946 documentary films Black-and-white documentary films British docufiction films British black-and-white films 1940s British films