Theirs Is the Glory (1946) Stanley Maxted, Thomas Scullion, Allan Wood Movie Review

Theirs Is the Glory (1946)   3/53/53/53/53/5

Certificate

PG

Length

82 mins

Genre


Theirs Is the Glory (1946)

The Real Men of Arnhem

As war raged on a plan was formed for two American Airborne divisions alongside the British First Airborne division to drop in behind the German lines and take control of the bridges with the British focussing on the bridge at Arnhem.

That uncharacteristically brief synopsis for "Theirs Is the Glory" doesn't really do much to persuade you to watch this post war movie. In fact that synopsis makes this sound comparable to many a war movie as we have what appears to be a movie about a WWII operation. But "Theirs Is the Glory" has something a little unique going on, there are no actors in this movie, instead we watch the survivors of the operation to capture the bridge act out what happened which is cut with actual military footage. It does make "Theirs Is the Glory" a bit of a curious movie which before I watched I had my doubts about it.

Now it has to be said considering that those in "Theirs Is the Glory" were soldiers rather than actors they do a good job of playing various roles with many appearing in a variety of parts. In fact some of the acting feels so typical of a movie that I wonder how many actors who served in the war were part of this operation. And to be honest the production as a whole is pretty decent with scenes of re-enactment looking just as effective as anything you would see in a movie whilst the use of actual war footage whilst not seamless certainly adds a level of authenticity to "Theirs Is the Glory".

But "Theirs Is the Glory" is one of those movies where connection plays a big part of how you feel about it. As such I have read a few reviews which rate this highly and start by proudly mentioning that a relative who took part in Arnhem also appears in this. And as such there is that element of connection which plays a big part in how much they love this movie. The thing is that I have no direct connection to the events of Arnhem or anyone in "Theirs Is the Glory" and so for me this ends up a solid re-enactment of a WWII operation, better than I expected but not greater than any other WWII movie.

What this all boils down to is that "Theirs Is the Glory" is an interesting experiment to have the soldiers who took part in Arnhem re-enact it on screen and I wonder how some felt about going through it all again. But whilst certainly a lot better than I had expected this re-enactment is no better than many a war movie.


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