If I remember correctly Arthur Currie, commander of Canadian troops on the Western Front, was reluctant to commit Canadian troops to the upcoming offensive and had to be convinced by British command in order to do so. Edit: mentioned at 3:05
I used to serve in the Canadian Army. Some people I knew who were in Afghanistan (I was in Canada) got an advanced screening of the film. They hated it and warned us it was going to suck. My regiment took us all to go see it as a PR thing. We knew it was going to be bad, but we were shocked by some.... choices made through out the film. But we weren't ready for the ones made at the end of the film. Good lord...
Would be very nice if we had more movies dedicated to this war and solely focused on the battles that were fought. Would love to see an American series similar to Band of Brothers which follows the Battles such as Cantigny, Hamel, and Saint Mihiel. As always great video
Wow, based simply on initial impressions of the visual setting and the hand-to-hand combat shown I honestly assumed that this was going to be a review of a WWI film. Very interesting. Thanks always for your efforts and happy holidays Johnny!
It was not a made-for-tv movie, it played in theatres. I saw a showing when it ran. The problem with many Canadian productions is that they have a look that's very similar to tv budget productions. 😅 The movie was written and directed by Paul Gross who made himself the main character too, despite pushing 50 at the time. If only he had handed off part of the writing to someone else we might have ended up with a more balanced movie. The whole middle 65% of the movie, though set in the gorgeous Alberta foothills, is a tedious slog. It does portray events and sentiments on the home front at the time that are often forgotten or glossed over, thank you for highlighting that. Cinematography, production design and set dressing are all excellent. The battle scenes intense and visceral though a little fanciful sometimes. I could have really done without the brother's character and awful performance, and more time spent amongst the amazing Canadian warriors that should have been the main focus of the movie.
I’ve been watching your channels for years now, and I just want to say thank you for always creating such well scripted and edited historical content. I’ve learned so much from your videos as have many others, and I’m glad that your TH-cam channels exist.
My son was just about 11 or 12 years old when we saw the trailer for this movie and he excitedly asked me to bring him to see the movie when it was released. I agreed and we went together to see it soon after it was released. After the movie was over we were leaving the theatre and he was unusually quiet as generally we’d be discussing the movie that we had just watched, so I asked him his thoughts on the movie. He looked at me and stated that he liked the beginning and most of the end, the middle part; that took place in Canada wasn’t needed and the final ending was just bad. At that time he had zero knowledge of the Crucified Canadian, I am unsure who thought it would be a good idea to try and explain that unvalidated incident with this movie. His thoughts mirrored my own, I wondered if a 12 year old boy could see the short comings of this movie, how come none of the adults in the movie’s production team could see those same short comings?
Agreed. As a Canadian amateur historian, it was a must-watch but it was a little disappointing in that it didn't focus on the battle as much as it could/should have.
Good review and also seeing those weapons in that movie among what you did like the Lewis LMG, Vickers MG and Mills Bomb could look into bolt actions like the Mauser Gehwer 98, Lee-Enfield and also a German Maxim Machine Gun variant in that war MG 08 along with the French worst LMG Chauchat CSGR 1915. Maybe hitting the Springfield 1903 while you're at it and if you're looking for modern tech could look into the MP-5, TU-95 and B-52 bombers and T-54/55 tanks rolling around. Along with other movies like The Green Berets of John Wayne too.
Paul Gross does a wonderful, tireless job of attempting to bring Canadiana to the screen, in a country not known for its cinematic prowess. But while I was delighted by such an effort, the film is almost relegated to a cheap, B-flick status by tired cliches, and over-the-top stunts, seeing soldiers twirling in the air or pushed along the ground by rifle and machine gun fire. You can almost see the wires and harnesses. And this, after _Saving Private Ryan_ set the bar for war movie realism. "Closer" to actually achieving something Canadians can be proud of, but not quite.
Quebec seems to produce A grade cinema though the stories tend to be smaller character based films. Denis Villeneuve, Denys Arcand, Phillipe Falardeau, Chloe Robichaud etc.. There have certainly been some huge Anglo Canadian directors, Norman Jewison, James Cameron, David Cronenberg, Mary Harron, etc etc but most of their films were/are made in the US. Atom Egoyan and Sarah Polley tell smaller but superb character driven stories and maintain a more Canadian identity similar to the Francophone directors.
I like what you said but I’m not sold on Paul Gross’s attempts at story telling. Hyena road was worse than this movie. Both of these movies could have been much better. So much better
Yeah, I only saw a few minutes of the start the movie and the ending battle ever in tv growing up. We Canadians never really care for our own movies and tv shows
Hey Johnny. Happy Thanksgiving to ya. Thank you for giving this film a review. I can't believe it has been 117 years since this hellish slaughter took place. God bless the brave Canadians who took what was left of the village and the ridge. 🥃🫗🇨🇦 Lest We Forget
For all its faults, and the amount of grief my friends and I give Paul Gross, it's a great watch around Remembrance Day. The civi scenes really drag, but honestly its just really nice to see such a foundational event on the big screen. Also such a phenomenal and brutal close combat scene near the end.
It's about the same story and background in Australia too, including many towns and places renamed from German to English... There are even streets named after that battle.
I like Paul Grosse. I thought this movie was going to be about Passchendaele in the same way that the Longest Day was about D-Day and The Battle of Britain was about The Battle of Britain. It wasn't and I was _very_ disappointed.
I remember seeing it in theatres when it came out years ago. I tended to remember it as having brutal war scenes punctuating unnecessary romantic subplots.
I love to watch any countries movie version of WW1. They are all interesting and unique. Not the best history, but no national history is. But it is the stories that help form a people. This one was good, not great. And a bit underrated. I did love Trench 11 as a mining worker Canadian situation of the war. With Zombies.
My friends dad was an editor on this movie and said that a bunch of battle scenes where made but ended up on the cutting room floor due to the want to add more love story into it. Makes me wonder if Paul Gross planned on making two movies like Flags of our fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima but was forced to make one due to budget
I think 99 percent of our talent move to California and never return lol. it's funny because Australia and many smaller European countries make way better movies.
Johnny, I have a suggestion for a movie for you that is fictional but a good film that takes place around Christmas in 1944. It is a small unit drama. The actors were up and coming at the time but you will more than likely recognize today. It is called “A Midnight Clear” and came out in 1992.
The fight scenes were great, but some parts made my eyes roll hard enough for my frontal lobe to make an appearance -the sex scene in the trenches was really silly -the comically evil British officer felt cartoonish, like you would expect him to talk like a Hanna-Barbera villain
I'm coming back to this review to watch an comment on. But if you're doing this, you might want to try Hyena Road...and Shake Hands with The Devil, if you have the stomach for it.
It’s difficult to create an historical epic in Canada I think. We certainly have produced directors that are capable of creating the most epic of epic films. James Cameron, Denis Villeneuve come to mind but they utilized the Hollywood system. I’ve always found Paul Gross a little wooden and predictable but that’s ok. He did give the Canadian war experience another try with Hyena Road which was still a bit stiff but better than Passchendaele
The events that on fraud on passenger with something we should never forget no matter how it's portrayed in the media or in movies or any film my personal thoughts not talking about the the tactical value of anything it's important but it's also good today to not talk about it is it that what about I made it too long film also we get to see it in the soldiers perspective doesn't know the tactical value of the battle all they know they're going to be sitting in a foxhole and the show career covered in mud and blood not knowing that their death paid an ultimate sacrifice victory but hey that's just my personal thoughts ❤❤❤❤❤❤ also cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat 🐈🐈😸😸😸😸😊😊😊😊
But he ruined it with a love story…than he proceeded to do a Canadians in Afghanistan movie that was my war. And ruined it with a love story also. War movie…focus on the events not you or someone else fooling about that didn’t affect the war.
For the cat! All hair the Cat! I could do without a plodding romance scene. I feel those tend to be inserted to pander to certain parts of the audience.
The movie was unwatchable for me, for the whole romantic storyline and the dialogues, and the action in the first few minutes feels unbelievably stupid
As soon as you said a Canadian film I knew it would be bad. It's unbelievable how obvious the cheapness of Canadian TV and movies are, like there's a distinct look that even when I change the channel to one of these shows within the first minute you can tell it's a Canadian production. Like they all have this weird, cloudy filter put over all the shots and the pacing and dialogue is wildly all over the place. It's honestly like everything made replicates the historical minute commercials that aired in the late 90s/ early 2000s.
If I remember correctly Arthur Currie, commander of Canadian troops on the Western Front, was reluctant to commit Canadian troops to the upcoming offensive and had to be convinced by British command in order to do so.
Edit: mentioned at 3:05
Julian bing as of the battle
I used to serve in the Canadian Army. Some people I knew who were in Afghanistan (I was in Canada) got an advanced screening of the film. They hated it and warned us it was going to suck. My regiment took us all to go see it as a PR thing. We knew it was going to be bad, but we were shocked by some.... choices made through out the film. But we weren't ready for the ones made at the end of the film. Good lord...
Yep. A little over the top, eh? Some of those stunts were right out of some low-budget '80s shoot-em-up.
Would be very nice if we had more movies dedicated to this war and solely focused on the battles that were fought. Would love to see an American series similar to Band of Brothers which follows the Battles such as Cantigny, Hamel, and Saint Mihiel. As always great video
Thumbs up for the little lion 🦁
Blood, mud, context and a snuggly kitty: 10/10
Cats would never fight in the mud. Who's the smarter mammal?
Wow, based simply on initial impressions of the visual setting and the hand-to-hand combat shown I honestly assumed that this was going to be a review of a WWI film. Very interesting. Thanks always for your efforts and happy holidays Johnny!
It was not a made-for-tv movie, it played in theatres. I saw a showing when it ran. The problem with many Canadian productions is that they have a look that's very similar to tv budget productions. 😅
The movie was written and directed by Paul Gross who made himself the main character too, despite pushing 50 at the time. If only he had handed off part of the writing to someone else we might have ended up with a more balanced movie. The whole middle 65% of the movie, though set in the gorgeous Alberta foothills, is a tedious slog. It does portray events and sentiments on the home front at the time that are often forgotten or glossed over, thank you for highlighting that. Cinematography, production design and set dressing are all excellent. The battle scenes intense and visceral though a little fanciful sometimes. I could have really done without the brother's character and awful performance, and more time spent amongst the amazing Canadian warriors that should have been the main focus of the movie.
WW1 is like an abyss. Lore so deep and so dark it’s hard to look at for a long time
Yup even playing strategic or tactical war games on it is a downer...even if you win.
For the cat 👍🏽
all hail the Neko ❤
I’ve been watching your channels for years now, and I just want to say thank you for always creating such well scripted and edited historical content. I’ve learned so much from your videos as have many others, and I’m glad that your TH-cam channels exist.
Thanks so much. It's been a real joy to expand this channel and I love getting this sort of feedback.
Theres always a franco making jokes when youre in the shit lmao
Legend Johnny, thanks dude. Another great video. Keep em coming dude
My son was just about 11 or 12 years old when we saw the trailer for this movie and he excitedly asked me to bring him to see the movie when it was released. I agreed and we went together to see it soon after it was released. After the movie was over we were leaving the theatre and he was unusually quiet as generally we’d be discussing the movie that we had just watched, so I asked him his thoughts on the movie. He looked at me and stated that he liked the beginning and most of the end, the middle part; that took place in Canada wasn’t needed and the final ending was just bad. At that time he had zero knowledge of the Crucified Canadian, I am unsure who thought it would be a good idea to try and explain that unvalidated incident with this movie. His thoughts mirrored my own, I wondered if a 12 year old boy could see the short comings of this movie, how come none of the adults in the movie’s production team could see those same short comings?
Agreed. As a Canadian amateur historian, it was a must-watch but it was a little disappointing in that it didn't focus on the battle as much as it could/should have.
Saw this one in theatre in high school history class :) Dont remember much except "keep your matches dry" and a bit of trench fighting
Good review and also seeing those weapons in that movie among what you did like the Lewis LMG, Vickers MG and Mills Bomb could look into bolt actions like the Mauser Gehwer 98, Lee-Enfield and also a German Maxim Machine Gun variant in that war MG 08 along with the French worst LMG Chauchat CSGR 1915. Maybe hitting the Springfield 1903 while you're at it and if you're looking for modern tech could look into the MP-5, TU-95 and B-52 bombers and T-54/55 tanks rolling around. Along with other movies like The Green Berets of John Wayne too.
Like button for your review and kitty who now has a clean tail tip.
The neighbours cats say hi....
Paul Gross does a wonderful, tireless job of attempting to bring Canadiana to the screen, in a country not known for its cinematic prowess. But while I was delighted by such an effort, the film is almost relegated to a cheap, B-flick status by tired cliches, and over-the-top stunts, seeing soldiers twirling in the air or pushed along the ground by rifle and machine gun fire. You can almost see the wires and harnesses. And this, after _Saving Private Ryan_ set the bar for war movie realism. "Closer" to actually achieving something Canadians can be proud of, but not quite.
Quebec seems to produce A grade cinema though the stories tend to be smaller character based films. Denis Villeneuve, Denys Arcand, Phillipe Falardeau, Chloe Robichaud etc.. There have certainly been some huge Anglo Canadian directors, Norman Jewison, James Cameron, David Cronenberg, Mary Harron, etc etc but most of their films were/are made in the US. Atom Egoyan and Sarah Polley tell smaller but superb character driven stories and maintain a more Canadian identity similar to the Francophone directors.
I like what you said but I’m not sold on Paul Gross’s attempts at story telling. Hyena road was worse than this movie. Both of these movies could have been much better. So much better
Yeah, I only saw a few minutes of the start the movie and the ending battle ever in tv growing up. We Canadians never really care for our own movies and tv shows
@@TrickiVicBB71 (Because they're usually just not very good.)
Hey Johnny. Happy Thanksgiving to ya.
Thank you for giving this film a review. I can't believe it has been 117 years since this hellish slaughter took place. God bless the brave Canadians who took what was left of the village and the ridge. 🥃🫗🇨🇦 Lest We Forget
As a Canadian, my first thought was, "Oooooh, how many war crimes did we come up with in this one?" 😂😂
For all its faults, and the amount of grief my friends and I give Paul Gross, it's a great watch around Remembrance Day. The civi scenes really drag, but honestly its just really nice to see such a foundational event on the big screen. Also such a phenomenal and brutal close combat scene near the end.
It's about the same story and background in Australia too, including many towns and places renamed from German to English... There are even streets named after that battle.
Like button hit for cat 👊🏻🐈
I like Paul Grosse. I thought this movie was going to be about Passchendaele in the same way that the Longest Day was about D-Day and The Battle of Britain was about The Battle of Britain. It wasn't and I was _very_ disappointed.
I remember seeing it in theatres when it came out years ago. I tended to remember it as having brutal war scenes punctuating unnecessary romantic subplots.
Support the kitty!
Paul Gross did an incredible job, as well as his Hyena Road.
Take care, and lest we forget.
It's on TH-cam, but take it from comments has been edited to clear censorship.
Certainly worth seeing
I love to watch any countries movie version of WW1. They are all interesting and unique. Not the best history, but no national history is. But it is the stories that help form a people. This one was good, not great. And a bit underrated. I did love Trench 11 as a mining worker Canadian situation of the war. With Zombies.
My friends dad was an editor on this movie and said that a bunch of battle scenes where made but ended up on the cutting room floor due to the want to add more love story into it. Makes me wonder if Paul Gross planned on making two movies like Flags of our fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima but was forced to make one due to budget
Forget the guy’s name, but the main actor is a Sutherland. Son of Donald and brother to Keifer.
Full cat contact this ep
last time i was this early the soviets were still "allies" with the germans
I thoroughly enjoyed it. Any piece of medieval that dispells the myth the the Brits won 2 world wars all by their lonesome is fine with me.
There's no more Canadian cat than one with frozen-off ears. The Canadian Short-Haired-Round-Headed Cat is the national breed.
What's the name of the kitty? So cute!!! 😍
That's Lucas. He runs the show.
Will look for it in the future
🐈 👍
A possibilidade de algum filme canadense ww1 2025?
Excellent movie...good review too...cheers Johnny....E
Thanx Johnny!
I thought this movie was not bad. I don't know why Canadian cinema tends to punch way below its weight.
I think 99 percent of our talent move to California and never return lol. it's funny because Australia and many smaller European countries make way better movies.
@@JohnnyJohnsonHistoryBrandon Mitchell on YT is certainly making his mark...New Brunswick and Liverpool, s finest...😊😊😊...E
So @JohnnyJohnsonHistory, how many "paws up" does your cat give it?? ;-)
Well he slept through maybe 80% of the movie which is about average. I'll have to figure out some sort of rating system based on this...
Johnny, I have a suggestion for a movie for you that is fictional but a good film that takes place around Christmas in 1944. It is a small unit drama. The actors were up and coming at the time but you will more than likely recognize today. It is called “A Midnight Clear” and came out in 1992.
Sweet I'll check it out I haven't seen that one!
We need a vimy ridge movie.
The Cät must thrive, brøthers!
He’s a good fuzzy buddy….!
Like button for the cat!
Sorry kitty, Caroline Dhavernas fading in was the best part of this video.
Kitty always gets likes 🐈
One day this channel is just going to be the cat sitting front and centre, with Johnny narrating from the background.
Lol 100%
The fight scenes were great, but some parts made my eyes roll hard enough for my frontal lobe to make an appearance
-the sex scene in the trenches was really silly
-the comically evil British officer felt cartoonish, like you would expect him to talk like a Hanna-Barbera villain
Nice.
Movie is very good. I agree that its a bit streached out
I'm coming back to this review to watch an comment on. But if you're doing this, you might want to try Hyena Road...and Shake Hands with The Devil, if you have the stomach for it.
my step brother compared some alberta scenes to red dead redemption since that was what he was playing at the time
War sucks, Cats are Awesome and I'm proud of Canada. ❤
What a funny cat you have, one more like Johnny!
My wife’s great Uncle won a VC a at Passchendaele Tommy Holmes the young’s Canadian to win a VC in WWI🇨🇦
johnny johnny face reveal 👀👀
Ah, yes, The Battle of the Same Name. One of history's most misunderstood conflicts.
It’s difficult to create an historical epic in Canada I think. We certainly have produced directors that are capable of creating the most epic of epic films. James Cameron, Denis Villeneuve come to mind but they utilized the Hollywood system. I’ve always found Paul Gross a little wooden and predictable but that’s ok. He did give the Canadian war experience another try with Hyena Road which was still a bit stiff but better than Passchendaele
No madras cafe😮
It was a nice WW1 flick.
Slow middle part, followed by graphic violence...Sounds like a Canadian safety commercial!
The events that on fraud on passenger with something we should never forget no matter how it's portrayed in the media or in movies or any film my personal thoughts not talking about the the tactical value of anything it's important but it's also good today to not talk about it is it that what about I made it too long film also we get to see it in the soldiers perspective doesn't know the tactical value of the battle all they know they're going to be sitting in a foxhole and the show career covered in mud and blood not knowing that their death paid an ultimate sacrifice victory but hey that's just my personal thoughts ❤❤❤❤❤❤ also cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat 🐈🐈😸😸😸😸😊😊😊😊
But he ruined it with a love story…than he proceeded to do a Canadians in Afghanistan movie that was my war. And ruined it with a love story also. War movie…focus on the events not you or someone else fooling about that didn’t affect the war.
Enjoyed the movie and the battle scenes.....just not the romantic stuff
Ypres aka Wipers
For the cat! All hair the Cat! I could do without a plodding romance scene. I feel those tend to be inserted to pander to certain parts of the audience.
Fucken hate it when I go to watch a war movie and it's overwhelmingly a shitty love story
So that's really a cat???
For the furry friend!
your cat so angry!!
The look on your cat at the end seems to say, ‘Yeah, i had to watch this wannabe ‘1917’, too…’
😂
In all fairness he slept through most of the movie...
*I was going to hit the dislike button but then you mentioned the cat and I had no choice*
He has that effect. I've taken him with me to job interviews and he was there when I asked my wife to marry me.
@@JohnnyJohnsonHistory...😊😊😊😊😊
@@JohnnyJohnsonHistory..the neighbours cats say hi...
Dear god no, if you are Canadian, don't watch this film.
i watched the movie on cataz just before watching this video, and i gotta say, that was shit. what the fuck was up with the crucifix thing at the end?
THE WIPERS TIMES is a TV movie and far superior to this minor film.
The movie was unwatchable for me, for the whole romantic storyline and the dialogues, and the action in the first few minutes feels unbelievably stupid
As soon as you said a Canadian film I knew it would be bad. It's unbelievable how obvious the cheapness of Canadian TV and movies are, like there's a distinct look that even when I change the channel to one of these shows within the first minute you can tell it's a Canadian production. Like they all have this weird, cloudy filter put over all the shots and the pacing and dialogue is wildly all over the place. It's honestly like everything made replicates the historical minute commercials that aired in the late 90s/ early 2000s.
We did one thing good. The Trailer Park Boys. Otherwise yah you are not wrong at all..
It's basically a love story with a bit of fighting in it. Not a great "war" movie
Before wokeism when men were men. If only it lasted for a thousand years
Thankfully it ended with a bang after only 22 years.
Wannabe Titanic
Whole lotta “passion” and very little about dale…. Not a true war film just some background battles around a crap romance