Talking about “Greyhounds” got me to thinking( That’s dangerous,I know). How many of you have read any of the books that inspired the Movies we’ve seen in our lives? Those concerning Seagoing stuff. I think Hollywood takes to much for granted.
Example; The ships in the Movie " TORA,TORA,TORA, they were a poloyglot of Computer graphics and the Planes? Fuggedaboudit! Now back in the day in a flooded sound stage some movies were made that were downright scary, But Believable!
True some were taken on board sailing Doubles ( Like the Bounty and the Surprise) But many were taken on board fixed ships, Meaning they didn’t give it the right feel.
Then theres the Editors and storywriters. How dare they conspire to mix stories. No wonder folks left the Theater asking, How did the captain know that guy? about Captain Aubrey and Maturin in “Captain and Commander” ?
I have All the books and it was a mish mash of three of the shorter novels in the Patrick O’brian series. This writer studied the history of the R.N. Before he put a pen to paper. Then Peopled his Books with characters the reader could relate to. I know I was sorely disappointed . I went home and fired up my eight track player and watched an old Humphry Bogart Tramp Steamer Movie!
Can you think of any Sea Going Movie that kept you riveted to your seats? Let’s hear from you.This doesn’t include 20,000,00 Leagues under the Sea By Jules Verne either! Why? Well, Harper Goff did a killer sub for Disney.( It didn’t match the description in Verne’s Book at all! ) So lets hear about the believeable ones. I’M waiting!
Hollywood seems to have had a long record of mashing storyline from books together. “Horatio Hornblower” was done just like “Master and Commander” where they took the plots from multiple books and attempted to make a two hour movie.
Far as sea stories that kept me glued to the plot, I watched one a few years ago I found on YouTube called “To the Ends of the Earth” with Benedict Cumberbatch. It was such a strange movie, with a story that seemed to go nowhere, about a voyage from England to Australia on an East Indianman, that was once a 2nd rate ship of the line, that I ended up watching the three part mini series all in one sitting. The nautical feel and the acting was what made the movie really appealing to me. It was made the same time as “Master and Commander”.
It was my father’s war experience movie. He was on an attack transport. While Away All Boats was Pacific theatre & my fathers ship operated mostly in the Atlantic & Med theatres he was at Leyte & Iwo.
I remember him taking me to go see the movie. I borrowed the book from the library and have found copy for my own library I haul it out every now & then to re_read it It might just be time to do so again
Total, Tora, Tora was long before CGI. Miniatures, full scale models, flyable replicas and real warbirds were used. The Val and Kate were based on BT-13s and we’re pretty good, the Zeros were based on AT-6s and weren’t as convincing, but at that point there were no flyable Zeros. We have all three at WWII Weekend in Reading each year (except this year of course).
The Battle of Britain and 633 Squadron were also long before CGI.
Also in Tora, Tora, Tora; The Akagi and Nagato were full scale, waterline replicas, built on the shore in Japan so that their bows stuck out over the water to make it look like they were afloat or at sea.
Ditto on Bridges at Toko Ri. They seem to went the extra mile to depict the coldness and solitude of that war and being on a ship in the middle of it. It is by far my favorite “anti-war” movie as well.
Ya, the zeros at least had a look of a zero, what is discusting is these modern CG monvies is that they will draw up the USS Hornet on the Doolittle Raid and use the Essex Class as their reference, or have swarms of German fighters look like Mustangs. German DR1’s are all painted to look like the Red Baron. If they are going to take the time to do CG, as least make it somewhat authenic.
I find it hard to beat any Forster book, especially the Hornblower series, although his novel (I think it was called) The Gun.
While not a sea story per se, it featured a naval officer during the Napoleonic wars. The Royal Navy was supporting a rebel group in Spain. They offloaded a big ship’s gun- forget the size- and the story is about moving this huge (and heavy) gun over rough ground to a fortified city they wish to reconquer.
An interesting side note to this movie, I worked for a sergeant back in the late 1970s in the police dept. who was in the Navy and serving on the Oriskany in 1954 when the movie was filmed. Jay got to meet the crew and cast. Sadly my friend passed away a couple of years ago. RIP Sgt. Cuthbert.
You’re right! How could I forget Final Countdown! As far as cinema photography it was the greatest aviation film ever. I am kind of a camera person, and I was awed by the camera work. I believe it was the Paul Mantz team that did it. There was one landing approach I remember. Your vantage point was about 25 feet forward of an F-14 on carrier approach. You could see the pilot clearly, and watch the yaw string on the nose (didn’t realize that a high tech aircraft like that would still use a yaw string)!