"Battle Scenes Depicted in Moving Pictures Before C.G.I." Topic

"When moving pictures became a popular form of entertainment for the masses it was obvious that, besides using this new media to show many aspects of day to day life and vistas thus far unobtainable to all but a small percentage of the worlds population, it would not take a great leap in the minds of the pioneers of cinematography to push the bounds of this new art form into other aspects of culture.

History has been shaped by military events and therefore it was natural that film makers the world over would eventually attempt to show images of passed glories involving not only military exploits from their own countries past, but go out on a limb and attempt to portray events taken from biblical and historical situations, at times with very scant attention being paid to what actually occurred, but with more emphasise on spectacle and pure entertainment. The Old Testament of the Bible contains so many references to battles that it was small wonder that the moving picture industry latched onto making such films, which have come down to us today as "Sword and Sandal" epics. However, when trying to portray events from passed battles from history that are well recorded and also ingrained into a countries collective popular idea of historical fact then great care should be taken when attempting to sort out truth, myth and propaganda…"
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Armand

That could have been interesting. However, the first director listed was D.W. Griffith and the first sentence in his section was, "David Wark Griffith (1875-1948), a bigot, racist, and not the sort of chap you would like to socialize with".

However, in the section on Sergei Eisenstein it says nothing about him being a committed communist. And in the section on Veit Harlan it doesn't mention he was a Nazi and reserves it's criticism for Goebbels.

Could have been interesting but marred by the obvious virtue signaling.

Also, the writer doesn't know the difference between 'passed' and 'past'.

As for the political views of directors, maybe some were just fun dudes to hang out with despite them being communists or whatever…

Dn Jackson,

Thanks for saving me the time by NOT clicking on the above link.

Your post is all I need to know about it.

As for fun Hollywood directors to hang out with, I'd pick Sam Peckinpah.

NOT PC (well, he was dead before that reared its unattractive head), used to hire real hookers to play hookers in his movies. Like a bit of whiskey too at…..well, all times.

A really interesting article by an author who seems quite well informed. Of course, if one prefers to pick nits…

(smile)

Armand

Good article.

Depicting the KKK as coming to the rescue of civilization does indeed allow for a remark on DWG without being too woke.

I recommend to give it a try, though its a long one.

Glad you enjoyed it….

Armand