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a shorter sequence in an estaminet set, a couple of street episodes, and some day and night shots in the trenches at Sandhurst ; all of them might have easily been taken in France or at Ufa. In fact the extras employed in several of the French scenes had to be Englishmen !
Those who have seen the sequences of Verdun taken abroad say that they contain some of the most realistic and effective reconstructions that have ever been introduced into a war film. This is quite likely, but I fear that everything in the film is sure to be tinged with that extraordinary French trait — undue stress on insignificant detail. That expresses what I want to say very badly, really it does not express it at all because the detail is never insignificant, only comparatively so ; but the way in which they waste all their energy on a detail and overlook or ignore the glaring solecisms is amusing or pathetic, I am not sure which.
Let me give you an example from the scenes taken at Sandhurst on a pouring wet day, a day on which I sympathized with Monsieur Prejean, crawling about with his face in the mud for hundreds of feet of film, more heartily than did with many heroes of more formidable exploits on the battlefield.
There was some gorse growing by the edge of the trenches. Naturally it must be removed. One little bit was forgotten. Assistants waved their hands ; everyone went on their knees ; there was difficulty in locating it ; while those who saw it insisted on bawling diffuse directions. Commotion and disorganization for several minutes. Then a piece of barbed wire. It
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