• @aequitas:

    No interest at all.

    Wow, way to bring GG down.  Here is the correct response:

    @ABWorsham:

    Awesomeness is such an idea.


  • Everybody has his own opinion, I got mine. As for GG , I like his response. He dealt correctly.
    GG 1 up!


  • For me, it would depend on how it’s handled.  I recently saw the film Back Door to Hell, which tells the story of Audie Murphy (a highly decorated WWII veteran and MOH recipient), and I was very disappointed.  The film was emotionally flat and lacked dramatic tension.  Murphy (who actually plays himself in the film) and his fellow GIs come off as rather bland individuals who never seem to be in too much danger, and who operate in a landscape that is pretty much empty of enemy soldiers, save for the occasional presence of a couple of odd-looking field guns which are painted with a big Balkenkreuz so that the audience will know they’re German guns.  There’s even a lack of internal conflict among the men of Murphy’s unit; about the worst they do among themselves is engage in mild mutual kidding.  The film gives the impression that it isn’t too sure of what it’s trying to accomplish, so it never really seems to go anywhere. If I’m not mistaken, Back Door to Hell also suffered from having an inadequate budget, so that didn’t help.  It’s a shame because Murphy’s exploits deserved a much better treatment.  His greatest feat of arms is quite similar to the one of the highly-decorated WWI veteran Alvin York (another MOH recipent), yet its depiction in Back Door to Hell is much less engaging that the corresponding scene in the Gary Cooper film Sergeant York, which really gets your blood pumping.


  • @aequitas:

    Everybody has his own opinion, I got mine. As for GG , I like his response. He dealt correctly.
    GG 1 up!

    To be fair, he didn’t say that HE’D be doing it at first, just if there was general interest.  That might have given a different answer.


  • I would not be disinterested in such a series. Are we talking straight up dramatizations or something more on the lines of “Dogfights” or “Battlefield 360?”

  • Moderator

    @CWO:

    For me, it would depend on how it’s handled.  I recently saw the film Back Door to Hell, which tells the story of Audie Murphy (a highly decorated WWII veteran and MOH recipient), and I was very disappointed.  The film was emotionally flat and lacked dramatic tension.  Murphy (who actually plays himself in the film) and his fellow GIs come off as rather bland individuals who never seem to be in too much danger, and who operate in a landscape that is pretty much empty of enemy soldiers, save for the occasional presence of a couple of odd-looking field guns which are painted with a big Balkenkreuz so that the audience will know they’re German guns.  There’s even a lack of internal conflict among the men of Murphy’s unit; about the worst they do among themselves is engage in mild mutual kidding.  The film gives the impression that it isn’t too sure of what it’s trying to accomplish, so it never really seems to go anywhere. If I’m not mistaken, Back Door to Hell also suffered from having an inadequate budget, so that didn’t help.  It’s a shame because Murphy’s exploits deserved a much better treatment.  His greatest feat of arms is quite similar to the one of the highly-decorated WWI veteran Alvin York (another MOH recipent), yet its depiction in Back Door to Hell is much less engaging that the corresponding scene in the Gary Cooper film Sergeant York, which really gets your blood pumping.

    Do you mean “To Hell and Back”? From watching the trailer, I can see what you mean, although that seems prototypical of most 50’s war films: Heroes are more like “cowboys” than soldiers within a chain-of-command system, German equipment is poorly depicted, acting all around is melodramatic. Definitely! I would be trying to avoid just “painting” over other equipment. Some of the vehicles might be plywood recreations, but we would be shooting for accuracy to how they looked. I think most reenacting groups that have vehicles are more stringent than that.

    Of course I would try and get as much backstory as possible. I want to be accurate to the point of knowing who was in the unit at the time of the citations, the battlefield situation, any close comrades of the recipient, the reasons behind the action, etc. That last part obviously being the most engaging. Why they did it, that’s what I’m really trying to show.

    I would agree, York’s portrayal are perhaps the most engaging of all Medal of Honor Citations I’ve seen to date. Perhaps the most “blood-pumping” has got to be Shugart/Gordon from BHD, but I have no idea whether that’s accurate.

    @frimmel:

    I would not be disinterested in such a series. Are we talking straight up dramatizations or something more on the lines of “Dogfights” or “Battlefield 360?”

    Oh no, not Battlefield 360!  :-D We have live explosions available, and the ammo actions and gunflashes are from the weapons. Some 3D after effects would be added to spruce them up, but nothing like what 360 shows… we have better animators. These are dramatizations, although we are trying to limit the action to just around the actual citations. Perhaps there will be some background story added, but only if necessary. Mostly, this is about what motivated the men to go above and beyond the call of duty, and showing that drama accurately.

    GG


  • @Guerrilla:

    Do you mean “To Hell and Back”?

    Oops – yes, you’re right.  I confuzzled the title of the Murphy movie (which I saw a couple of months ago) with the title of Backdoor To Hell (the trailer of which I saw just the other day).


  • As long as it was well done I would be interested in something like this.

  • Moderator

    We are finalizing the first citation we will cover… I’ll post up the kickstarter campaign when we get it started! Should be by next week.

    GG

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    Will we see any epic Iron Cross recipients/re-enactments?

    ;)

  • Moderator

    @Gargantua:

    Will we see any epic Iron Cross recipients/re-enactments?

    ;)

    I should do some of those! Some Eastern Front missions where a single man running a Pak75 takes out a couple platoons of 34s!

    GG

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    The Finns have some famous encounters.

    I seem to recall a stug that was given to the finns capping something like 15 soviet tanks over a 3 minute period.

  • '10

    @Gargantua:

    Will we see any epic Iron Cross recipients/re-enactments?

    ;)

    They gave out Iron Cross like Candy in WWII…. :-P  What would really be interesting is the stories of VC winners.  There are VERY few compared to any other National military award in History.

    If you look at the numbers, the VC is the most difficult military award.


  • Some years ago I saw a rather good series about recipients of the Victoria Cross. Each episode was a little less than half an hour, I think. It covered WWII, Korea and the Falklands. The episodes consisted of original filming, interview with the recipent (or his next to kind if KIA) about the citation, dramatic paintings and a female member of the royal chancery telling about VC and awards in general. Pretty good actually.

    I’ve also seen a series dealing with Afro-American winners of the MoH. They got their medals only a few years ago, since it was hardly acceptable to award MoH to colored troops right after WWII. This series contained some dramatized scenes of the citation, just like a regular movie. It also showed some orignal filming of president Clinton awarding the MoH to the soldiers or their relatives.

    I’m not negative to a new series about the citations of the MoH, but at the same time I also feel it has been done. I would prefer a series that focused on the Iron Cross, German Cross, Knight’s Cross or perhaps compared the actions that led to the highest award of different countries.

  • Moderator

    Well put Herr Kaleunt. :) My defense: This project is in no way is a means of “informing” the public, although it certainly can do that. Most of what has been listed from previous posters describe shows that accomplish that goal. Mine would perhaps not even be collecting any profit (still working on funding options). The reason being, each film is intended to serve as a portrait for the recipient. In the same way that a picture serves as a means of forever commemorating whoever is the likeness, I would be doing the same thing, except in an artistic medium that a modern world is more accustomed to viewing.

    I do see that productions have been done on MOH-material. Just mostly documentaries though, or a dramatic retelling encapsulated within films. Totally different direction here.

    I’ll also say, I just had a meeting with the film crew I’m working with, and we are set to shoot a trailer in October, and hopefully release a kickstarter campaign by the end of that month.

    GG

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    @Guerrilla:

    Well put Herr Kaleunt. :) My defense: This project is in no way is a means of “informing” the public, although it certainly can do that. Most of what has been listed from previous posters describe shows that accomplish that goal. Mine would perhaps not even be collecting any profit (still working on funding options). The reason being, each film is intended to serve as a portrait for the recipient. In the same way that a picture serves as a means of forever commemorating whoever is the likeness, I would be doing the same thing, except in an artistic medium that a modern world is more accustomed to viewing.

    I do see that productions have been done on MOH-material. Just mostly documentaries though, or a dramatic retelling encapsulated within films. Totally different direction here.

    I’ll also say, I just had a meeting with the film crew I’m working with, and we are set to shoot a trailer in October, and hopefully release a kickstarter campaign by the end of that month.

    GG

    You will receive kickstarter support from me, and likely others, if you indicate that you will include some iron-cross/knight’s-cross stories!


  • @Gargantua:

    @Guerrilla:

    Well put Herr Kaleunt. :) My defense: This project is in no way is a means of “informing” the public, although it certainly can do that. Most of what has been listed from previous posters describe shows that accomplish that goal. Mine would perhaps not even be collecting any profit (still working on funding options). The reason being, each film is intended to serve as a portrait for the recipient. In the same way that a picture serves as a means of forever commemorating whoever is the likeness, I would be doing the same thing, except in an artistic medium that a modern world is more accustomed to viewing.

    I do see that productions have been done on MOH-material. Just mostly documentaries though, or a dramatic retelling encapsulated within films. Totally different direction here.

    I’ll also say, I just had a meeting with the film crew I’m working with, and we are set to shoot a trailer in October, and hopefully release a kickstarter campaign by the end of that month.

    GG

    You will receive kickstarter support from me, and likely others, if you indicate that you will include some iron-cross/knight’s-cross stories!

    Me too GG.
    Although I am feeling poorer than I ever done!


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