Comments on: ‘Next to a battle lost, the saddest thing is a battle won’

by: Mike

Sat, 17 May 2008 18:07:54 +0000

Thanks Mike - I think he nails the part of Wellington, and for the record I have him down as one of the best things in last week’s review (for The Fall of the Roman Empire) also.

by: Mike Sutton

Sat, 17 May 2008 10:24:50 +0000

Christopher Plummer must be one of the two or three most underrated great actors of the past half-century. He’s brilliant here, as he has been so often - and he’s still doing great work in movies like “Inside Man” and “Closing The Ring”.

Nice review. I saw this at the huge Odeon in Leeds in 1971 as a 10 year old and loved it. Time for another look I think.

by: Mike

Sat, 17 May 2008 08:02:42 +0000

The R2 DVD ought to be cheap as chips - any price over £4.99 and it’s a definite no-no. Unfortunately, the disc has a few cursory extras only, and the transfer could do with some serious polishing. What you get, however, is a flawed classic, and some real dog’s dinner editing that proves the extent to which the film was cobbled together from 4-5 hours of material. Check out, for instance, the inconsistency of the fonts used when the film is explaining what’s happened as it progresses through the historical events…

Still, it is well worth it for the magnificent battle scenes. Though the film exaggerates certain aspects for dramatic effect, it is reasonably faithful to real-life events, showing just what a close run thing the battle actually was. The film’s ‘U’ or ‘G’ rating ensures that the killing of men is pretty tame compared with the Braveheart-esque bloodthirstiness we’re used to these days.

Cheers for the comment, Bob.

by: badblokebob

Fri, 16 May 2008 22:24:06 +0000

Very informative review. I like films centred on battles — mmm, fighting — and as my knowledge of Waterloo is primarily based around an episode of Sharpe and a certain Swedish pop song, I feel I ought to know at least a bit more.

I see it’s available on R2 DVD, so I’ll add it to my rental queue… though amongst over 600 other titles, goodness knows when I might actually see it!