While net surfing I came across this. Looks as if historically, one could pick holes in it ad infinitum, but I seldom confuse movies with history at the best of times- I just sit back with popcorn and a beer or two and enjoy the spectacle.
I don't know much about the film used in the clip, though I suspect it isn't a classic!
6 comments:
That was, ah, interesting. I especially got a good chuckle about the training sequence with the low-crawling under the grape vine "barbed wire" and the push-ups in the rain; also the synchronized musket drill before the first French volley against the Highlanders.
Thanks, Jim
At least nobody was firing from the hip!
Clearly Hollywood hasn't got the monopoly on startling anachronisms in historical movies.
The British were in their famous attack in open order formation, I see.
Movies seem drawn to explosions, fire, and swirling melee scenes. Makes for bad history.
Ah, those sprawling melees- reminds me of "Cromwell"
But with directors and producers, I suspect that appealing to a general audience trumps good history by a long shot!
Not that a staying close to history would necessarily make for a good movie, mind.
I found the same clip recently and as I am making up armies for Fontenoy did some research. The clips come from a French film called Fanfan la Tulipe, made in 2003. Although it premiered at the Cannes festival that year, it was a flop. It is a remake of the much more famous original made in 1953 which is itself quite interesting. It seems that Fanfan la Tulipe was a French folk hero and a soldier in the mid-18th century, and there was a soldiers' marching song of the same title. The film sounded such fun - real swash-buckling stuff - that I've ordered a copy of the DVD. The 2003 version is not on DVD, at least not in the UK; I suppose it might be in France.
Anyway, that's enough for now. Just Google Fanfan La Tulipe and you'll get loads of stuff including a comely lass singing the song..................
Cheers,
John
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