I would still recommend people check out this movie despite how much I critique it in this video. I may have been a bit too harsh on it in some ways lol.
Thank you so much. I must read the book. Watched the movie...my dad was Gertrude's friend back in late 20s , early 30s in The Bronx NY. He was Deaf from birth. She had a great influence in his amateur swimming feats. Her wake/ funeral held in The Bronx was a great tribute to her by her family. Thank you, again...❤
Excellent review! Just watched the movie last night. I'm 61 and a lifetime swimmer and lifetime NYC metro resident and, especially in the 60s and 70s I was obsessed with sports records, particularly swimming. I feel like I've always been aware of Ederle's English Channel and Olympic swimming achievements and the fact that she was a local NY/NJer and that she seemed to be living forever, but I knew few details. However, watching this movie was incredibly irritating because my gut kept telling me that So Many Details were implausible. Your review here definitely confirmed that my bullsh*t filter is working properly. I do plan on reading the book. The true details are amazing. Why not give us the real story?? One positive note about the movie--it looks fantastic. Great period visual details. Thanks again. Great job!
That's cool you are a swimmer who grew up knowing about her! And yeah, I'm glad they are telling her story but why change so much when it is amazing as it was?!? Thanks for commenting 😊
You should also read “America's Girl: The Incredible Story of How Swimmer Gertrude Ederle Changed the Nation”. My mom was a distant cousin to Gertrude Ederle. I was very familiar with her story. I just saw the movie and I was very disappointed. Her real story was spectacular enough without changing it. I loved your review. Even the learning to swim with the rope actually happened at the Jersey Shore and not at Coney Island. So few people have heard of Gertrude and now this movie of misinformation is what many will assume to be true. I also thought her coming back from a bad fall that nearly paralyzed her shoulder have been included. The story of her spending her life teaching deaf kids to swim also deserved more emphasis in the movie. The door is still open for somebody to make an accurate movie about her life.
I'll have to look into that back! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I liked the movie okay, but it was disappointing they felt the need to stray from the true story so much.
I watched this movie last night and was really impressed. I was touched and inspired and enjoyed it very much. But I immediately needed to know how much it was true, hoping that they had stuck to true life as much as possible. Your video was excellent and very informative. Some of the changes make perfect sense from a narrative perspective without significantly changing important aspects of the story such as having her do her second attempt right away. Other additions are just unnecessary when it's already an amazing story such as her bet to swim to New Jersey and her jumping through the port hole of the ship. Worst are the changes that Eliminate or negatively portray positive people in her life such as her swim coach and her father. I still like the movie but my opinion of it is now greatly lowered.
Yeah not having the coach who was so influential in her life was a disappointment, as well as portraying her father negatively. But like you I still like the movie well enough. It's good to know the true story too though!
This was an amazing comparison and really made me want to read the book! I really liked the movie but knowing these facts makes the story of Trudy so much better, thank you for sharing!
Thank you for a fantastic comparison. I thought some parts of the movie were pretty dramatized. I assumed that the poisoning was made up, amazed it really happened! Thank you for filling in the gaps!
Great Review! The elimination of the L. De B Handley was absurdly unnecessary. He was a beloved coach and father figure by all the members of the WSA - whose members ruled women's Olympic swimming for many years. He was also one of the most respected swimming journalists of the era - for the Herald Tribune - THE paper of the day - and constantly promoted the benefits of swimming for women. You expose the stupid bias of Disney to make all men, including her father, as being sexist devils who did their best to suppress and keep women down. It was men like Handley and Gertrude's father (and the father of Annette Kellerman) who really helped open the door for women in the world of sports. Kellerman made headlines earlier in the 1900's by attempting to swim the Channel and you might want to check out "Million Dollar Mermaid" - Kellerman's biopic starring Esther Williams as another similar story. Thanks again for a great critique of the movie and book. The girl the WSA originally selected to swim the channel, but got injured in a trolley accident, was Helen Wainwright - who won Olympic medals in both swimming and diving.
" You expose the stupid bias of Disney to make all men, including her father, as being sexist devils who did their best to suppress and keep women down." If you actually watched the film instead of ranting about it on TH-cam, she had male characters who helped her, too, to the point of them saving the day for her. You talk about bias but it's your own bias showing here.
@@Coffeepanda294 Well, I did watch the movie, and did read the book - which you obviously not have done. And I might ask if you actually watched this video review. In real life, her father is one who took the initiative to teach Trudy to swim when she was eight years old - although not like depicted in the film. He was always totally supportive of her. She joined the WSA when she was 11 or 12. Her real coach, Loud de.B Handley is dismissed with distain in the film by "Eppie" as someone who she claims didn't believe women should compete. Ridiculous... He was the great trainer and promoter of women swimmers as a coach and journalist. Look him up. Jabez Wolf was not the US Olympic coach in 1924, L de B Handley was. The men you say helped her (when she jumped out of the ship to take her home - which never happened - but they were invented by Disney's writer to help her defy her father and James Sullivan who wanted her to go home. James Sullivan actually died in 1916 and wasn't alive at the time. There are many books written about Gertrude Ederle with the True Story - Read them. Ederle's feat and fame needed no fictional aspects - it is one of the great stories of the women's rights era and she had the support of real men who believed in women's rights. It was George Orwell (among others) who said "all art is Propaganda" What is the propaganda Disney is promoting? Obviously you've bought into it.
I watched the movie and was impressed enough to go look up Trudy Ederle and found the book. Your critique is spot on. Trudy Ederle was an amazing person and the book is very captivating. But as I went through the book I was disappointed at how much the movie strayed from the story. Especially how it did a disservice to her father and the swim coaches both Burgess and Handley (who the movie didn't even mention). I don't know why Disney feels like they have to make nearly every guy out to be a misogynist, sure some were and some still are, but there were and are a lot of honorable men out there. Her father was very supportive of her from a young age. And the movies attempt to show an arranged marriage to someone from "the old country" was a bit weird. I would recommend the movie with the caveat that there is a lot of fiction in the story. Daisy Ridley is a great actress and the supporting cast is good. But If you want to enjoy both the book and the movie, definitely watch the movie first. One thing you mentioned several times in your commentary is that her father "flew over to see her" or they "flew back". Charles Lindberg didn't fly across the Atlantic until the following year 1927. Any traveling they did across the ocean at that time was by ship. It's an easy mistake to make. Especially in the movie where they just show up in the next scene and the passage of time is not obvious.
Thanks for commenting! I agree with many of your thoughts. And my mistake, I logically knew they didn't fly but that is what I'm used to saying because these days no one travels by boat to get places.
It's an easy thing to overlook. Now I'm going to have to watch more of your videos. I subscribed to your channel. (but no more nit picking) It looks like you have lots of interesting reviews. I'm glad the algorithm sent me your way, I try to read or listen to about a book a month, so you've given me years of possibilities. And I like your bookshelf, the titles are in focus, perfect background for book reviews.
Loved the film and will for sure read the book about this amazing athlete that everyone should know. One thing I will disagree with you on her family is not portrayed as poor in the movie. They have plenty of food, nice clothes, a two story apartment and can afford a doctor. The children also go to school. For that time in history that is a very solid portrayal of a solidly middle class family. A butcher would not be wealthy now or then unless he was the owner of Nathan’s. If he was simply the owner of a single butcher successful butcher shop they would be comfortable. The mothers making of those flowers would have been considered her pin money something married women did a long time before in order to have a small amount of money that they used at their own discretion. Remember women and anything they earned were legally seen as either their father or husband property. This was true at all class levels.
Thanks for sharing! And you make a good point, they don't seem poor in the movie. But they also didn't show the full scope of their real life wealth. But that's just a minor nitpick on my part.
Thank You ! I am a collector of press photos of Trudy and I also collect the so called "channel-swim-watches" of Mercedes Gleitze, who crossed the channel one year later (1927). She was the big Bang of Rolex.
The way some of the characters were omitted or changed somehow reminds me a movie which is a favorite of mine, Zulu (1964). While I love it, the way some of the soldiers were represented is ultimately slanderous. I never understand the callousness in altering characters that are real people, sometimes with loved ones or descendants still alive.
I feel like about 70-90% of the time movies tend to meander away from the original books or stories (therefore most books tend to be better anyways). I have not read the book yet and look forward to it. I would the film was GREAT. During those times there probably were A LOT of men who didn't support women doing those kinds of activities, like you said "Taboo". I didn't think they made her father looks bad, he had the traditional perspective of those times, and was concerned for her well being. I didn't think it was super cheesy either, in comparison to OTHER Disney movies out there. I can see how it might had been interesting if they had a 1-2 other women there attempting to swim the channel as well...I must admit ...they kinda made swimming through jellyfish look a bit too easy (as dramatic as it also looked with there was SO many of them)🤣 I honestly don't know how many jellyfish Trudy had to swim through but if it was near that many...I am not sure how long she would have lived afterwards....I can see swimming though maybe a few...I have heard of Trudy a long time ago and I am glad a movie was finally made about her. Honestly, I feel like we need more movies like this, about people who overcame great challenges. With the way the patriarchal western ways-of-living is slowly crumbling and the film industry going more into garbage, I felt like this was refreshing and inspiring. I love swimming as well, and have not in a while and look forward to going back 🌟🌊
Yeah that is true that the general male society (and a lot of female society for that matter) was against women in sports (along with women doing all sorts of things lol). So them having a lot of male characters against her kind of represents the thoughts of the time. I didn't like the dad portrayal because in real life he was such a supporter so it seemed kind of disrespectful to show him as someone who doubted her at the start. But I get for Hollywood, having him come around in a dramatic way makes for a seemingly more exciting movie. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Hey! Thanks for this video❤️ I knew lots of stuff about the real story (but not as much as you so now i really want to read the book) and it kinda ruined the movie experience to me even if i enjoyed the movie (plus I’m in love with Daisy Ridley and I enjoy everything she does whatever it is🥲) you are right, the Hollywoodization and overdramatization are really uuugh like come on😭 thank you for sharing all these « What really happened », really interesting! I know you can’t put everything in a biopic movie (like saying Trudy had 5 siblings not just 2 was not necessary for example so no need to complain). But they didn’t have to force and make up things so much! Still glad the movie exists tho because it’s so sad Trudy was forgotten so it’s great we talk about her story today❤️
Glad you liked the video! And agreed, I have some big complaints with the movie but ultimately I'll still glad it exists and I also really like Daisy Ridley and though she gave a solid performance!
I enjoy seeing Daisy Ridley act, she is both talented and lovely. This movie though is a big disappointment for all the historical inaccuracies and outright falsehoods. I love history and biographies and it is one of the sad practices of movie making that a true story worth telling is not worth telling truthfully.
Ugghhhh... This probably would be a good review but stop saying "flew out". The reviewer says it multiple times!!!! If you're going to critique a movie for it's inaccurate portrayal of a historical moment in a non-fiction book a little basic awareness of the time period would be great. If Trudy or her family "flew" to Europe she would've set a whole other human milestone... the one that Charles Lindberg achieved by crossing the Atlantic by plane on May 20-21, 1927. That event didn't happen until almost a year after Trudy Ederle made her channel crossing on August 6, 1926. Crossing the Atlantic was a 3-4 week Steamship journey for most people in the 1920s.
Have something controversial to say...After watching this film and last years "Nyad" where Annette Bening swam from Florida to Cuba I think women should again not be allowed to swim or have movies made of them swimming. Other than that I'm quite liberal and hope Kamala wins. Another great breakdown of book and film Laura. PS....swimming naked with jellyfish around is one of my reoccurring nightmares.
soo....why do you think women shouldn't be allowed to swim (or have films about it)? I haven't seen either of the movies but I can't imagine how either movie validates that perspective
So women should drown instead of being allowed to swim? You cannot be serious, why would you like that to happen? If anyone has the chance to learn how to swim they should take it and if they make movies about is to inspire people to do something great not just swimming
![ร้อยพ่อพันแม่ - WanMai [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/XY2pNYASEbg/mqdefault.jpg)
I would still recommend people check out this movie despite how much I critique it in this video. I may have been a bit too harsh on it in some ways lol.
Don't worry, Disney cannot catch you here :P
Thank you so much. I must read the book. Watched the movie...my dad was Gertrude's friend back in late 20s , early 30s in The Bronx NY. He was Deaf from birth. She had a great influence in his amateur swimming feats. Her wake/ funeral held in The Bronx was a great tribute to her by her family. Thank you, again...❤
That's so incredible! So cool to hear from someone who has that kind of connection to her. Glad you liked the video 😊
Loved this film so much and I will definitively read the book. This woman and this story deserves to be known by more people.
Agreed! I highly recommend the book 😊
Excellent review!
Just watched the movie last night.
I'm 61 and a lifetime swimmer and lifetime NYC metro resident and, especially in the 60s and 70s I was obsessed with sports records, particularly swimming.
I feel like I've always been aware of Ederle's English Channel and Olympic swimming achievements and the fact that she was a local NY/NJer and that she seemed to be living forever, but I knew few details.
However, watching this movie was incredibly irritating because my gut kept telling me that So Many Details were implausible. Your review here definitely confirmed that my bullsh*t filter is working properly. I do plan on reading the book.
The true details are amazing. Why not give us the real story??
One positive note about the movie--it looks fantastic. Great period visual details.
Thanks again. Great job!
That's cool you are a swimmer who grew up knowing about her! And yeah, I'm glad they are telling her story but why change so much when it is amazing as it was?!?
Thanks for commenting 😊
That was a great quote thank you - and we are never alone. She was tapped into her inner force. 💖
💖
You should also read “America's Girl: The Incredible Story of How Swimmer Gertrude Ederle Changed the Nation”. My mom was a distant cousin to Gertrude Ederle. I was very familiar with her story. I just saw the movie and I was very disappointed. Her real story was spectacular enough without changing it. I loved your review. Even the learning to swim with the rope actually happened at the Jersey Shore and not at Coney Island. So few people have heard of Gertrude and now this movie of misinformation is what many will assume to be true. I also thought her coming back from a bad fall that nearly paralyzed her shoulder have been included. The story of her spending her life teaching deaf kids to swim also deserved more emphasis in the movie. The door is still open for somebody to make an accurate movie about her life.
I'll have to look into that back! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I liked the movie okay, but it was disappointing they felt the need to stray from the true story so much.
I watched this movie last night and was really impressed. I was touched and inspired and enjoyed it very much. But I immediately needed to know how much it was true, hoping that they had stuck to true life as much as possible. Your video was excellent and very informative. Some of the changes make perfect sense from a narrative perspective without significantly changing important aspects of the story such as having her do her second attempt right away. Other additions are just unnecessary when it's already an amazing story such as her bet to swim to New Jersey and her jumping through the port hole of the ship. Worst are the changes that Eliminate or negatively portray positive people in her life such as her swim coach and her father. I still like the movie but my opinion of it is now greatly lowered.
Yeah not having the coach who was so influential in her life was a disappointment, as well as portraying her father negatively. But like you I still like the movie well enough. It's good to know the true story too though!
This was an amazing comparison and really made me want to read the book! I really liked the movie but knowing these facts makes the story of Trudy so much better, thank you for sharing!
Thank you so much! Glad you liked the video ☺
Thank you for a fantastic comparison. I thought some parts of the movie were pretty dramatized. I assumed that the poisoning was made up, amazed it really happened! Thank you for filling in the gaps!
Yeah the poisoning was crazy! Of all thr things they dramatized it's wild that part was actually true.
Great Review! The elimination of the L. De B Handley was absurdly unnecessary. He was a beloved coach and father figure by all the members of the WSA - whose members ruled women's Olympic swimming for many years. He was also one of the most respected swimming journalists of the era - for the Herald Tribune - THE paper of the day - and constantly promoted the benefits of swimming for women. You expose the stupid bias of Disney to make all men, including her father, as being sexist devils who did their best to suppress and keep women down. It was men like Handley and Gertrude's father (and the father of Annette Kellerman) who really helped open the door for women in the world of sports. Kellerman made headlines earlier in the 1900's by attempting to swim the Channel and you might want to check out "Million Dollar Mermaid" - Kellerman's biopic starring Esther Williams as another similar story. Thanks again for a great critique of the movie and book. The girl the WSA originally selected to swim the channel, but got injured in a trolley accident, was Helen Wainwright - who won Olympic medals in both swimming and diving.
Thanks for commenting! Yeah the book talks about Annette Kellerman a lot too and it was interesting to read about her!
" You expose the stupid bias of Disney to make all men, including her father, as being sexist devils who did their best to suppress and keep women down."
If you actually watched the film instead of ranting about it on TH-cam, she had male characters who helped her, too, to the point of them saving the day for her. You talk about bias but it's your own bias showing here.
@@Coffeepanda294 Well, I did watch the movie, and did read the book - which you obviously not have done. And I might ask if you actually watched this video review. In real life, her father is one who took the initiative to teach Trudy to swim when she was eight years old - although not like depicted in the film. He was always totally supportive of her. She joined the WSA when she was 11 or 12. Her real coach, Loud de.B Handley is dismissed with distain in the film by "Eppie" as someone who she claims didn't believe women should compete. Ridiculous... He was the great trainer and promoter of women swimmers as a coach and journalist. Look him up. Jabez Wolf was not the US Olympic coach in 1924, L de B Handley was. The men you say helped her (when she jumped out of the ship to take her home - which never happened - but they were invented by Disney's writer to help her defy her father and James Sullivan who wanted her to go home. James Sullivan actually died in 1916 and wasn't alive at the time. There are many books written about Gertrude Ederle with the True Story - Read them. Ederle's feat and fame needed no fictional aspects - it is one of the great stories of the women's rights era and she had the support of real men who believed in women's rights. It was George Orwell (among others) who said "all art is Propaganda" What is the propaganda Disney is promoting? Obviously you've bought into it.
I watched the movie and was impressed enough to go look up Trudy Ederle and found the book. Your critique is spot on. Trudy Ederle was an amazing person and the book is very captivating. But as I went through the book I was disappointed at how much the movie strayed from the story. Especially how it did a disservice to her father and the swim coaches both Burgess and Handley (who the movie didn't even mention). I don't know why Disney feels like they have to make nearly every guy out to be a misogynist, sure some were and some still are, but there were and are a lot of honorable men out there. Her father was very supportive of her from a young age. And the movies attempt to show an arranged marriage to someone from "the old country" was a bit weird.
I would recommend the movie with the caveat that there is a lot of fiction in the story. Daisy Ridley is a great actress and the supporting cast is good. But If you want to enjoy both the book and the movie, definitely watch the movie first.
One thing you mentioned several times in your commentary is that her father "flew over to see her" or they "flew back". Charles Lindberg didn't fly across the Atlantic until the following year 1927. Any traveling they did across the ocean at that time was by ship. It's an easy mistake to make. Especially in the movie where they just show up in the next scene and the passage of time is not obvious.
Thanks for commenting! I agree with many of your thoughts.
And my mistake, I logically knew they didn't fly but that is what I'm used to saying because these days no one travels by boat to get places.
It's an easy thing to overlook. Now I'm going to have to watch more of your videos. I subscribed to your channel. (but no more nit picking) It looks like you have lots of interesting reviews. I'm glad the algorithm sent me your way, I try to read or listen to about a book a month, so you've given me years of possibilities.
And I like your bookshelf, the titles are in focus, perfect background for book reviews.
Thank you. 🎉🎉🎉
Loved the film and will for sure read the book about this amazing athlete that everyone should know. One thing I will disagree with you on her family is not portrayed as poor in the movie. They have plenty of food, nice clothes, a two story apartment and can afford a doctor. The children also go to school. For that time in history that is a very solid portrayal of a solidly middle class family. A butcher would not be wealthy now or then unless he was the owner of Nathan’s. If he was simply the owner of a single butcher successful butcher shop they would be comfortable. The mothers making of those flowers would have been considered her pin money something married women did a long time before in order to have a small amount of money that they used at their own discretion. Remember women and anything they earned were legally seen as either their father or husband property. This was true at all class levels.
Thanks for sharing! And you make a good point, they don't seem poor in the movie. But they also didn't show the full scope of their real life wealth. But that's just a minor nitpick on my part.
Thank You ! I am a collector of press photos of Trudy and I also collect the so called "channel-swim-watches" of Mercedes Gleitze, who crossed the channel one year later (1927). She was the big Bang of Rolex.
Thanks for the review! Grace Randolph from Beyond The Trailer raved about the movie. Now I need to read the book and watch the movie. Cheers!
I'll have to check out her review!
The way some of the characters were omitted or changed somehow reminds me a movie which is a favorite of mine, Zulu (1964). While I love it, the way some of the soldiers were represented is ultimately slanderous. I never understand the callousness in altering characters that are real people, sometimes with loved ones or descendants still alive.
I feel like about 70-90% of the time movies tend to meander away from the original books or stories (therefore most books tend to be better anyways). I have not read the book yet and look forward to it. I would the film was GREAT. During those times there probably were A LOT of men who didn't support women doing those kinds of activities, like you said "Taboo". I didn't think they made her father looks bad, he had the traditional perspective of those times, and was concerned for her well being. I didn't think it was super cheesy either, in comparison to OTHER Disney movies out there. I can see how it might had been interesting if they had a 1-2 other women there attempting to swim the channel as well...I must admit ...they kinda made swimming through jellyfish look a bit too easy (as dramatic as it also looked with there was SO many of them)🤣 I honestly don't know how many jellyfish Trudy had to swim through but if it was near that many...I am not sure how long she would have lived afterwards....I can see swimming though maybe a few...I have heard of Trudy a long time ago and I am glad a movie was finally made about her. Honestly, I feel like we need more movies like this, about people who overcame great challenges. With the way the patriarchal western ways-of-living is slowly crumbling and the film industry going more into garbage, I felt like this was refreshing and inspiring. I love swimming as well, and have not in a while and look forward to going back 🌟🌊
Yeah that is true that the general male society (and a lot of female society for that matter) was against women in sports (along with women doing all sorts of things lol). So them having a lot of male characters against her kind of represents the thoughts of the time.
I didn't like the dad portrayal because in real life he was such a supporter so it seemed kind of disrespectful to show him as someone who doubted her at the start. But I get for Hollywood, having him come around in a dramatic way makes for a seemingly more exciting movie.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Do Gone with the wind plz 😊
That would be an interesting one to cover!
Hey! Thanks for this video❤️ I knew lots of stuff about the real story (but not as much as you so now i really want to read the book) and it kinda ruined the movie experience to me even if i enjoyed the movie (plus I’m in love with Daisy Ridley and I enjoy everything she does whatever it is🥲) you are right, the Hollywoodization and overdramatization are really uuugh like come on😭 thank you for sharing all these « What really happened », really interesting! I know you can’t put everything in a biopic movie (like saying Trudy had 5 siblings not just 2 was not necessary for example so no need to complain). But they didn’t have to force and make up things so much!
Still glad the movie exists tho because it’s so sad Trudy was forgotten so it’s great we talk about her story today❤️
Glad you liked the video! And agreed, I have some big complaints with the movie but ultimately I'll still glad it exists and I also really like Daisy Ridley and though she gave a solid performance!
I enjoy seeing Daisy Ridley act, she is both talented and lovely. This movie though is a big disappointment for all the historical inaccuracies and outright falsehoods. I love history and biographies and it is one of the sad practices of movie making that a true story worth telling is not worth telling truthfully.
Ugghhhh... This probably would be a good review but stop saying "flew out". The reviewer says it multiple times!!!! If you're going to critique a movie for it's inaccurate portrayal of a historical moment in a non-fiction book a little basic awareness of the time period would be great. If Trudy or her family "flew" to Europe she would've set a whole other human milestone... the one that Charles Lindberg achieved by crossing the Atlantic by plane on May 20-21, 1927. That event didn't happen until almost a year after Trudy Ederle made her channel crossing on August 6, 1926. Crossing the Atlantic was a 3-4 week Steamship journey for most people in the 1920s.
I am aware they never literally flew anywhere. It's just a way of saying they traveled somewhere.
Have something controversial to say...After watching this film and last years "Nyad" where Annette Bening swam from Florida to Cuba I think women should again not be allowed to swim or have movies made of them swimming. Other than that I'm quite liberal and hope Kamala wins. Another great breakdown of book and film Laura. PS....swimming naked with jellyfish around is one of my reoccurring nightmares.
lol I haven't seen Nyad but I haven't heard good things despite it getting oscar noms.
soo....why do you think women shouldn't be allowed to swim (or have films about it)? I haven't seen either of the movies but I can't imagine how either movie validates that perspective
So women should drown instead of being allowed to swim? You cannot be serious, why would you like that to happen? If anyone has the chance to learn how to swim they should take it and if they make movies about is to inspire people to do something great not just swimming