The Wipers Times (2013) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | War |
Interviews-Cast & Crew Deleted Scenes Featurette-Behind The Scenes |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2013 | ||
Running Time | 91:43 (Case: 90) | ||
RSDL / Flipper | Dual Layered | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Andy De Emmony |
Studio
Distributor |
Madman Entertainment |
Starring |
Ben Chaplin Steve Oram Julian Rhind-Tutt Ben Daniels Michael Palin |
Case | Amaray-Transparent | ||
RPI | ? | Music | None Given |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English Dolby Digital 5.1 | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | None | Smoking | No |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
World War I has not been the subject of as many movies lately as World War II. This is very British take on World War I and tells a lesser known story of life in the trenches of France. It is based on a true story involving a company of soldiers who while searching for anything useful to salvage from a bombed village find a printing press and decide to launch a trench newspaper. It is a story of resilience in the face of adversity and the use of humour to lighten a dark situation rather than the usual war film about great bravery. It is interesting, entertaining and well-acted.
As many will be aware a lot of World War I was fought in trenches in France and Belgium between the Allies and the Germans. The trenches were cold, wet, full of disease and little progress or movement was sometimes made for months on end. In this environment a company commander, Captain Roberts (Ben Chaplin) is leading his men through an abandoned and bombed village in search of anything they can use to reinforce their trench. As they are searching through a building, one of the men, Sergeant Harris (Steve Oram) finds an abandoned printing press and due to his background in the newspaper trade realises quickly that it is perfectly functional. In conjunction with his subaltern, Lt Pearson (Julian Rhind-Tutt), Roberts decides to start a trench newspaper with a view to keeping his men occupied, entertaining the troops and poking fun at the top brass. They decide to name the paper, The Wipers Times after the name that the English soldiers called Ypres as they could not pronounce it properly. There was also the obvious joke of how the paper might be used once it had been read. Obviously, their activities are greatly enjoyed by the troops but they soon come to the attention of Lieutenant Colonel Howfield (Ben Daniels) who takes great offense and takes the matter up with his superior, General Mitford (Michael Palin). General Mitford takes a very different view to Howfield, believing that it is good for morale and that humour is useful considering the situation. Accordingly, they are allowed to continue publishing their paper despites the risks. The film follows the company as they move around the battlefield and try to keep up with their publication at the same time.
The film is well put together and written, using some interesting devices to bring the various jokes and stories used in the paper to life, either role playing usually by the two main characters or by what seems to be a dreamlike sequence involving the company putting on a show for the troops. The film is certainly amusing aided by the wonderful performances from Chaplin and Rhind-Tutt who are dryly amusing, sarcastic and yet still very human. It was shot in Northern Ireland and seems to have been mostly funded by the BBC despite getting some limited theatrical release and appearing at a few film festivals.
Definitely worth seeing especially for those interested in military history or British humour. Recommended.
This video transfer is decent without setting the world on fire. There is some mild grain throughout, heavier in some scenes, and some motion blur. The picture is reasonably sharp and shadow detail is decent although restricted by what is I presume a realistic lighting approach. The colour is seemingly meant to be quite reserved focused on khaki and the brown of the mud. It is 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced.
There are no subtitles which is a shame.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
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Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
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This is quite a good soundtrack for a DVD although the dialogue is somewhat difficult to make out at times. The music is from the period so is hardly going to fill the soundstage although the surround speakers come alive during bombing raids and gunfire. The subwoofer also gets some work to do during bombing raids. Technically, it is a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack in the original English.
Dialogue | |
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Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
A good selection of extras for a small film, although the interviews are EPK style.
The menu features music.
He discusses developing the project plus choosing the director and cast
Covers cast, characters, locations and release.
They discuss their careers together, the story, their writing, their on set involvement and shooting in Northern Island.
Covers his character, the story, his attraction to the role and the shooting challenges.
Covers his character, the story, his involvement and the writing.
Covers the script, the story and his character.
Covers the film, his character and how he got involved.
Covers set and prop design and the characters
Fred going back after leave. Nothing exciting.
Combination of other camera angles, behind the scenes footage and bloopers.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The US edition seems to be exactly the same. Buy local.
The video quality is good.
The audio quality is good.
The extras are plentiful.Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Panasonic DMR-PWT500, using HDMI output |
Display | Sharp LC52LE820X Quattron 52" Full HD LED-LCD TV . Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p. |
Audio Decoder | Built into amplifier. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. |
Amplification | Marantz SR5005 |
Speakers | Monitor Audio Bronze 2 (Front), Bronze Centre & Bronze FX (Rears) + Sony SAW2500M Subwoofer |