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The Production Design Is Staggeringly Accurate...

posted 9 years ago by StrayButlerStraysAgain
9 replies | jump to latest

I have served in the Australian Army, and I appreciated that the series clearly had booku military advisors across every aspect of the production. There are little things which contribute to the staggering sense of authenticity that most people won't even realise.

Things like target indications (in the first episode, the Major says "Target to your front, 50 yards, 5 rounds, fire!" or something to that tune -- they still teach that stuff to this day), drill & marching, the daily drudgery of army life (people keeping watch overnight, sleep deprivation, most duties are boring stuff like digging and unloading supplies rather than actual fighting), the chain of command, and most of all the uniforms. Most won't see it, but the uniforms sport regiment patches on sleeves; something I'm not sure I've seen in many other Australian war movies.

I loved this series. And this is coming from someone who's read Les Carlyon's tremendous book (I own it, so does my dad) and been in the army.

[–] moakley2 9 years ago

The AWM were their advisors.

The most accurate films on this topic is Gallipoli and the light horseman.

[–] wolfgirv-1 9 years ago

Pleased that The Lighthorsemen has been mentioned on these threads. Like Gallipoli (2015) it is a very fine depiction of the larrikin Australian soldier in WW1.

[–] StrayButlerStraysAgain 9 years ago

Pleased that The Lighthorsemen has been mentioned on these threads. Like Gallipoli (2015) it is a very fine depiction of the larrikin Australian soldier in WW1.

Absolutely, I own it on Blu-ray along with Breaker Morant. Great movies.

[–] moakley2 9 years ago

A good laugh is the 80s tv series Anzacs Paul Hogan is a great bugger in that.

[–] StrayButlerStraysAgain 9 years ago

A good laugh is the 80s tv series Anzacs Paul Hogan is a great bugger in that.

Yup, a GREAT miniseries.

"Stand fast! Don't you salute in your army?"
"Well yeah, but we're trying to give it up."

Cheeky bugger 

[–] KarlMaldensNose 9 years ago

I've watched only the first episode but two events in it made me appreciate the realism that I think the producers were after. One is of the unnerved soldier making his way back to the beach who ignores the sergeant's order to pick up a rifle and follow him, but just continues away from that shocking stuff behind him. Very believable I thought.

This was followed by a very credible scene where the Captain asks Tolly to snipe the senior Turkish officer they can see in the distance. Tolly has two shots and misses with both. That wouldn't have happened in Hollywood, but I was pleased to see such realism here.

The worst thing about the production I thought was the great variance in the acting. There was a great divide in the quality especially between the ranks. The diggers made a good fist of it, being mostly natural and believable, but the older actors playing the senior officers still suffer from the Australian TV actor's curse of being seen to be acting. Too many times they sounded like they were reading from a script and came off totally unnatural and hammy.
John Gielgud said "Don't act, pretend." I've not seen that truism better illustrated than here.

If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.

[–] erenkaracorlu 9 years ago

By the way, that Turkish officer Tolly tried to shoot was Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. They did not name him in the episode but he used some of his well known quotes.

let the dragon ride again on the winds of time

[–] Lumduan 9 years ago

ANZAC Girls also had the correct regiment patches.

[–] Undutchable1939 9 years ago

Only mistakes I spotted were a soldier smoking a filter cigarette (Invented in the 1920s but even up to the 1940s seen as a bit of a girly cigarette, even fancy. Not one a soldier would be seen smoking.) and a child with a typical post WW2 flatcap in stead of the real deal.