MovieChat Forums > An Ungentlemanly Act (1992) Discussion > Major Mike Norman - cameo?

Major Mike Norman - cameo?

posted 18 years ago by Desperandum
7 replies | jump to latest

Inspired by another post elsewhere, and remembering how good this film was, I recently bought the DVD version, and it's still every bit as good as I remember it.

Looking in the credits and also confirmed here, I noticed that Major Mike Norman (OC Naval Party 8901 and military advisor for the film) has a cameo as "FIDF Stalwart". Does anyone have any idea in which scene('s) he appears?

I was thinking he's in the scene with the two FIDF guys on the football pitch, with a thermos and a box of sandwiches - at 1hr 20mins in. I think Norman is the man who says he'll go off to telephone HQ - as I think the other FDIF man in the scene is a character listed as "Butcher" who appears at the very start (as a Butcher, surpringly enough).

Any thoughts? Opinions? Or even better, does anyone know the answer?

[–] stuart-82 17 years ago

Hi , I am the writer/director of the film . Thanks for the kind comments. And yes, all your assumptions were correct.

[–] alectsgirl 17 years ago

Wow, how cool is that! The movie was nicely done, I loved it!

What was it like workin with Bob Peck and the real Maj. Mike Norman? :)

[–] big_trev_uk 8 years ago

I stumbled across this conversation this evening. I remember the original broadcast of this and I happened to record it on VHS at LP quality, I ended up watching it repeatedly and adored it. Suffice to say the VHS tape did not last forever so some years later I was thrilled to see a DVD release and purchased it. I had an issue with the sound (there was this constant whistle) but I was more concerned to find that it appeared to be a shorter cut of the original. I genuinely long to be able to watch the full length version again. Is there ANY way of obtaining this?

Kind regards and huge thanks for your work.

[–] stuart-82 8 years ago

Thanks, Trev, for your very kinds words!
Alas, the BBC has been very difficult indeed about us doing a restoration of the film where I was going to show it in my original 2 hr 12 minute version as well. We have a distributor ready to foot a reasonable bill, but the Beeb are not being reasonable :-)
So, for the foreseeable future, nothing doing.
Stuart Urban
@stuart_urban
www.stuarturban.com

[–] amyghost 8 years ago

I wish you luck in your battle with the BBC and really hope this film gets the treatment it deserves. I just viewed it for the first time last night, and was utterly captivated by it. Great script and direction, wonderful casting, and really heartfelt. This film surely warrants restoration and a return to its full length--I'll be among the first to purchase a copy when and if this happens. In the meantime, thanks for a really good film!

[–] stuart-82 8 years ago

Thanks for your kind words and support.

Actually, we are doing some behind the scene moves which the BBC is being more helpful on, I am glad to say.

Perhaps there WILL be a restoration and re-release.

Watch the Twitterspace for news @stuart_urban !

[–] amyghost 8 years ago

Thanks very much for your response, and for the update.

Initially, I came by this film on the basis of its starring Ian Richardson--I've been an admirer of his for years, and have been trying to view as many of his works on film as I can come by--(unfortunately, a good bit of his work is still not available in the US in NTSC format, so I'm thankful for region-free DVD players and Amazon UK) so I was pleased to see he was surrounded by a cast and direction that were worthy of his talent, and I was also intrigued by the presentation of the material.

As a young American adult when the conflict occurred, I saw nothing more than US media coverage of it in those pre-cable days, so this film was a bit of an eye-opener, giving a good depiction of the UK POV in a very even-handed treatment. It was also blessedly free of the sort of macho chest-beating that American productions sometimes fall prey to when depicting war and combat, but gave a very good idea of how harsh the invasion really was--something we got very little sense of in this country at the time: the result was that best of things, a most enjoyable and informative contemporary history lesson, really engagingly presented.

Again, all luck with the restoration project--do keep us posted, as I'm sure there are others besides myself who'd be happy to see this in its full form.