Good period dramas about the First World War

[Bonsoir]

DD is studying the First World Wat at school. She is an avid consumer of Period Drama on DVD. What good films are there that cover the period of the First World War?

All Quiet on the Western Front
Downton :)
Oh what a lovely War.
Blackadder goes Forth :)

How old is she? The Resurection Trilogy(?) is not for children.

Does she like reading? Private Peaceful is great-I'd say age 8-12 depending on ability.

My Boy Jack - may be a bit too old for her though, War Horse is out soon on film, when did Upstairs Downstairs start off ?

Testament of Youth?

If you get the chance to see War Horse at the theatre I can't recommend it more highly. We took DS who had read the book and he was completely transfixed aged 12.

Regeneration trilogy, not Resurrection, by Pat Barker. Excellent film of Regeneration (the first book).

But definitely not for children or faint-hearted adults. And oddly almost none of it is set at the front.

If you want to look at it from an Australian/NZ standpoint: there's Gallipoli (staring a v young Mel Gibson), ANZAC (a mini series)

There's also My Boy Jack

Flyboys, for a look at the war in the air. It helps that the pilots are rather attractive

There are a lot of old ones too - Paths to Glory being one

(can you guess we have a bit of a WW1 focus in this house?)

Of course, these are about the war, so there is going to be a certain amount of blood/gore - but I don't think there's anything excessive.

Not in the period drama side of things but the Trench Detectives series is pretty good - shows them finding remains of trenches etc and figuring out what happened.

Flambards?

A 1990s film called 'The Trench' starring Paul Nicholls, is perfect for gaining an insight into the feelings of the WW1 soldiers.

Isn't she only about 8 ?

Oh maybe not 'The Trench' if she is only 8, it does have Daniel Craig in it.

Journey's End by RC Sherriff

Some Horrible History stuff on .

Aapparently there's a film of Private Peaceful in the making too. Not a spielberg blockbuster but might still be good.

Journey's End,as Carole suggested. Very moving. Also,look out for The Accrington Pals. And I hear there is a drama being filmed at the moment of Sebastian Faulks' Birdsong.

i remember liking the monocled mutineer when i was at primary, was a bit grim though

It's interesting - the www1 literature is almost unremittingly grim, because of the soldiers' need to convey the horror of what had happened to the folks back home, and drama about the period tends to reflect that. There's very little that I would recommend for a pre- teen, but there is a lot wider range on WW 2. You probably already know about Joyeaux Noel, about the Christmas truce?

Or, it's a bit tangental, but Dr Zhivago is fab anyway, and deals with some of the consequences of the war in Russia. Or as has been suggested, Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs.

Might be more fruitful to look at some of the popular songs from the period.

My dd and I enjoyed the novel Rilla of Ingleside when she was about nine. It is one of the sequels to Anne of Green Gables, but only relates slightly to the rest of the series - that is to say, you could easily read this one without having read the others.

It's told from the point of view of a teenaged Canadian girl who watches all the young men go off to war. My dd began to understand how young men could be swept up in the idea of war as a glorious brief adventure and could completely fail to imagine it might involve death or could drag on for years. There is also quite a lot about Rilla's brother, who appears to have more imagination than his peers and fears war. He doesn't want to go to war but eventually enlists because he cannot live with the shame of staying home.

My dd is very sensitive but found this novel OK because it didn't go into graphic detail.

I can remember loving watching How we used to live - a schools programme each week whenI was in juniors.

One series covered the first world war years - according to wikipedia it is due a dvd release this year.

I saw this thread and thought of How We Used To Live!

We watched the WW2 one in school but one year I was very ill with asthma and had weeks at a time off school so I watched some of the WW1 episodes whilst at home.

How We Used to Live due out on 31 Dec.

Joyeux Noel ('Happy Christmas) about the WWI christmas truce. About a German troop, a French troop, and a Scottish troop. All three languages represented, but the majority is English.

Not sure what age-appropriate. There's definitely a couple of grim deaths, of course, but also some intense beauty and romance (female opera singer) amidst the gloom.

I'm not sure I'd be letting a child read Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy - it has at least one rather graphic gay sex scene in that took me by surprise when I read it in my twenties! There was however an excellent film based on Regeneration itself that goes by the same name (and Jonny Lee Miller in, which is always a bonus) but I don't know what certificate it is. Hankering after seeing it again meself