Dave HomewoodRob, it wasn’t a room. It was an open air cinema. I’d imagine it was like these ones here, also in the Pacific: (Photos: The Late Roy Paton)
Dave HomewoodMoggy, that’s brilliant. It is so damned convincing.
Has this been created for the upcoming (2005) “The Few” film then?
Or will it be flying at Legends 2005? 😀
Dave HomewoodRob – yep, a big black piggie could well be a possibility. Though as Daz says, you’d think it’d make a noise they recognised – unless they hadn’t heard one before. And if it were spooked and squeeling it may have made a bloodcurling noise that spooked the troops even more?
ForkTailedDevil – go for it. You’re welcome to take the story there. It may shed more light. Report any theories back please.
Corsair – Squid? Not tooooo sure if it could have been. The biggest deep sea squid ever caught is here in NZ, at Te Papa museum, and there’s no way it could reach from the sea, up the beach, though a camp and find the theatre to cause havoc. It would have to be about 100 metres long, and I believe from memory the Te Papa one is only 20-something metres.
Kev – 5000 American soldiers – undoubtedly some will have drawn their weapons nd fired!!! I am not sure in reality, but you can just imagine it.
Daz – yes, no doubt some injuries occurred from trampling. Des said however it began brushing against people then stepping on them and really hurting them. So some must have been hurt by the monster too. A boar really sounds like a possibility. I don’t think a monkey could inflict such problems.
Dave HomewoodHaving had a look into Komodos, I found this statement:
“Komodo dragons are the world’s largest lizards. They live on the islands of Komodo, Rinca and other tiny surrounding islands, and on the westernmost part of Flores Island in Indonesia. Komodo is west of Flores, east of Sumbawa, and north of Sumba”
From http://www.heptune.com/komodo.html
Well, Guadalcanal is nowhere near Indonesia. So I don’t think the monster could have been a Komodo Dragon. Curiouser and curiouser.
Dave HomewoodAndy – why does that not surprise me? :rolleyes:
Daz – not sure if Komodos are on Florida Island, I’ll look into that. I guess that could be a possibility. One of them angry, on he lose, could do some damage. Apparently they really stink though, like carian, but he never mentioned an odour.
Flat 12 x 2 – No, it was quite some time before the Atom Bomb, probably 1944. I can say that because the last several months of the war this chap was back in NZ working at Wigram. And I believe Godzilla was only in Tokyo, not sure tough.
I’m surprised anyone ‘believes’ what I wrote enough to reply. I’m surprised I ‘believe’ it. But having talked with Des, the chap who told me this story, I’m certain he was not sh*tting me. It is totally bizarre. Where’s Arthur C. Clarke when you need him?
Dave HomewoodCheers James, that amazed me about the stand-in aircarft for the explosion sequence – I had always assumed it was just a model. I’ll have to watch the DVD again. The magic of film, eh?!! If Roger Freeman wrote it, it must be right. He seems to have been the world authority on the 8th Air Force.
Is Freeman still alive today? I haven’t noticed any work from him in quite a while. Maybe I haven’t been looking hard enough. I have his video Over Here, which is very interesting.
I did a bit of a study into the two Memphis Belle films for a university project two years ago. Apparently more than one, I think from memory three of four, camera crew were lost in various aircraft during the making of Wyler’s film. Much of what you see – as in most documentaries – is totally constructed. A lot of footage was taken on different aircraft. A great deal was filmed in the USA because much of the original footage was lost en route. And as you say James, Belle wasn’t the first and not the original subject of the film. And yet, when you watch the 1944 film, its seems so realistic in its continuity. The magic of film again.
Like the modern film, I wonder how much extra footage exists from the original doco.
It was only when I’d studied both that I really appreciated the drift into doco style in the dramatic film – I’m certain its a tribute to Wyler – as Lithgow was playing Wyler (under an assumed name). Also when the crew in the drama are all ragging on Modine’s character after he suggests they work for him in the furniture factory, that dialogue like “Call out those fighters”, etc is actually from the real captain’s voice over. I assume it’s Robert Morgan speaking on the 1944 film, but who knows – it could be some Hollywood actor dubbed on later for all we know. After all location sound equipment woulf have been nigh on impossible to take on the plane – it wasn’t till the 1970’s when this sort of equipment became practical.
And that swift combat footage from the gun positions looking at approaching 109’s is just like the real film. Pretty scary when you see how real they got it.
Dave HomewoodI believe the B17 shots in Dark Blue World came from Memphis Belle, didn’t they?
Thanks guys for answering all the questions, especially JDK. I love the film, despite it being a little too Hollywood in parts (luckily only briefly, mainly Matthew Modine and his rhetoric), but I still wish an RAF Bomber Command film could be made that is up to this standard. If done right there’d be enough world wide interest.
Today that Buchon footage could easily have the bugs removed digitally, and possibly the shakes too depended how bad they were. It would indeed be awesome to see. Perhaps with all the extra footage they can do a prequel, their 1st mission perhaps!! Haha
Dave HomewoodFascinating stuff, thanks guys.
I guess that makes the Lancaster and the Hurricane cousins then 🙂
Dave HomewoodI have a couple of questions regarding the film.
Did Sally B (or one of the other B17’s) actually fly with a ‘damaged’ tail fitted for the final shots in the film? Or was that a large scale model for those flying shots with the tail missing a big chunk?
Also in the battle scenes with the Bf109’s there often appeared to be nine Messerchmitts at once on screen. Were these overlayered shots of the same three aircraft, or was it the six P51D’s standing in as long shot doubles?
Those combat scenes are extremely good, the editing is superb. They really achieved a sense of the terror, and the speed at which it all happened. I am always riveted to the screen when I watch these scenes – and quite moved by it. I can’t think how terrible it must have been for the bomber crews.
It also moves me when the film slips from drama to documemtary briefly when John Lithgow begins reading those letters. Whoa!
Another thing, Danny took a bottle of champagne on the trip. Am I right in thinking the cork wouldn’t have handled the pressure of high altitude?
And, am I correct in thinking I read or heard that at the very beginning of the film project, David Puttnam originally wanted to do a film about an RAF Lancaster crew, but found there was only one flyable, and had to rethink – and it was when he discovered the Memphis Belle story it switched to an American themed film? I’m sure I read this but cannot find where.
Dave HomewoodLancaster Models
For those of you wanting to see some Lancaster models, check out these links to various STUNNING examples on Hyperscale:
1/48 Tamiya by Randy Lutz
http://www.features02.kitparade.com/lancasterrl_1.htm
1/48 Tamiya by Mark Mallinson
http://www.kitparade.com/features00/lancastermm_1.htm
1/48 Tamiya by Franck Oudin
http://hsgalleries.com/lancasterfo_1.htm
1/48 Tamiya “RCAF Drone Carrier” by Serge Dompierre
http://hsgalleries.com/lancaster10sd_1.htm
and
1/72 Airfix Lancaster converted to Manchester by Graham Green
http://www.kitparade.com/features00/manchestergg_1.htm
Dave HomewoodThis, sadly, is not my model at all, but I just came across this site with an amazing Sunderland model and thought I’d share it.
Dave HomewoodWow.
So was Hawker Siddeley itself still under the ownership of Sir Thomas Sopwith’s family or was it by then a public company, owned by many share holders?
Siddeley was another car manufacturer too, wasn’t it?
Dave HomewoodHe was last seen crossing the Alpes with an elephant! 😀
With Murdoch, Face and BA Baracus wasn’t it?
Dave HomewoodThanks Webpilot, I understand now. Now that you mention it I recall an article in Flypast about Lacey’s stripey Spitfire back in the early 1990’s.
I guess there are some really interesting colour schemes out there for modellers yet to be discovered from OTU ‘bounce’ aircraft.
Sorry to have dragged this thread a little off topic by the way Todd.
Dave HomewoodIs that a yellow nose on that Spitfire Mark?
If so, did other OTU combat-type aircraft also carry a yellow section to denote they were training aircraft? I have wondered this for some time, whether OTU aeroplanes had yellow stripes or such so they could be spotted more easily – just like ab initio trainers, etc. A mate recently told me they didn’t and that they looked just like regular frontline planes. Can anyone confirm this?
Sign In
