Chicago – The First World War took place (1914-18) in conjunction with the early days of film, with enough cameras available to actually capture it. For years, that dusty and silent celluloid was used in documentaries, but never has it come to life the way that director Peter Jackson presents it in “They Shall Not Grow Old.”
Rating: 4.0/5.0
The title is taken from a poem (“For the Fallen”) written during the war by Laurence Binyon … “They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old…” I bring that up because Peter Jackson (he of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy) has brought these early 20th Century soldiers back to life. He took the vintage footage – in a deteriorating state and and at different film speeds – cleaned it up, put it at a normal speed, colorized it and even made it available in 3D. The results are stunning, and a breakthrough in documentary making,...
Rating: 4.0/5.0
The title is taken from a poem (“For the Fallen”) written during the war by Laurence Binyon … “They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old…” I bring that up because Peter Jackson (he of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy) has brought these early 20th Century soldiers back to life. He took the vintage footage – in a deteriorating state and and at different film speeds – cleaned it up, put it at a normal speed, colorized it and even made it available in 3D. The results are stunning, and a breakthrough in documentary making,...
- 2/1/2019
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Every year brings some cinematic surprises, but here’s something truly unexpected: One of the best movies of 2018 was shot a century ago. Who could have guessed that when Peter Jackson was innovating cinematic techniques for grand fantasies like “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit,” he would eventually use them to service solemn reality?
“They Shall Not Grow Old” — which takes its name from Laurence Binyon’s 1914 poetic tribute “For the Fallen” — started like any ordinary, well-intentioned documentary: Great Britain’s Imperial War Museum approached Jackson about honoring the centenary of the World War I Armistice. But when he began sifting through their archival footage, it looked like, well, archival footage from 100 years ago. Given that there are already plenty of traditional docs about Wwi, Jackson set about creating a new experience from antique materials.
This was, undeniably, a risky proposition; no one wants to airbrush history. But by thoughtfully employing cutting-edge technology,...
“They Shall Not Grow Old” — which takes its name from Laurence Binyon’s 1914 poetic tribute “For the Fallen” — started like any ordinary, well-intentioned documentary: Great Britain’s Imperial War Museum approached Jackson about honoring the centenary of the World War I Armistice. But when he began sifting through their archival footage, it looked like, well, archival footage from 100 years ago. Given that there are already plenty of traditional docs about Wwi, Jackson set about creating a new experience from antique materials.
This was, undeniably, a risky proposition; no one wants to airbrush history. But by thoughtfully employing cutting-edge technology,...
- 2/1/2019
- by Elizabeth Weitzman
- The Wrap
A World War I documentary in 3D with colorized archival footage that looks as new as the day it was shot. What sounds like an impossible feat becomes a riveting reality in the hands of director Peter Jackson and his New Zealand Weta crew of restoration miracle workers, led by digital VFX supervisor Wayne Stables. In They Shall Not Grow Old, the lord of The Lord of the Rings uses a treasure trove of material — more than 600 hours worth — from England’s Imperial War Museum to bring the Great War to vivid life.
- 1/30/2019
- by Peter Travers
- Rollingstone.com
Peter Jackson remains a bit astounded at his transition four years ago from the Shire of Middle Earth to the French battlefields of World War I.
Jackson introduced his documentary “They Shall Not Grow Old” Friday night at the Linwood Dunn Theatre in Hollywood, four weeks after it aired on Armistice Day on the BBC. He explained that the project originated in 2014 at the London premiere of “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.”
“The people at the imperial War Museum asked me if I could do a movie for the centennial of the Armistice and four years seemed like a long time — easy,” he recalled. “They wanted me to use their footage and use it in a fresh and original way.”
Jackson and his collaborators at WingNut Films spent several months pondering how to proceed and decided that they would use the voices of the actual British soldiers.
Jackson introduced his documentary “They Shall Not Grow Old” Friday night at the Linwood Dunn Theatre in Hollywood, four weeks after it aired on Armistice Day on the BBC. He explained that the project originated in 2014 at the London premiere of “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.”
“The people at the imperial War Museum asked me if I could do a movie for the centennial of the Armistice and four years seemed like a long time — easy,” he recalled. “They wanted me to use their footage and use it in a fresh and original way.”
Jackson and his collaborators at WingNut Films spent several months pondering how to proceed and decided that they would use the voices of the actual British soldiers.
- 12/8/2018
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Jackson has restored, colourised and added voices to footage of the western front, bringing the soldiers unforgettably back to life
To mark the centenary of the first world war’s end, Peter Jackson has created a visually staggering thought experiment; an immersive deep-dive into what it was like for ordinary British soldiers on the western front. This he has done using state-of-the-art digital technology to restore flickery old black-and-white archive footage of the servicemen’s life in training and in the trenches. He has colourised it, sharpened it, put it in 3D and, as well as using diaries and letters for narrative voiceover, he has used lip-readers to help dub in what the men are actually saying.
The effect is electrifying. The soldiers are returned to an eerie, hyperreal kind of life in front of our eyes, like ghosts or figures summoned up in a seance. The faces are unforgettable.
To mark the centenary of the first world war’s end, Peter Jackson has created a visually staggering thought experiment; an immersive deep-dive into what it was like for ordinary British soldiers on the western front. This he has done using state-of-the-art digital technology to restore flickery old black-and-white archive footage of the servicemen’s life in training and in the trenches. He has colourised it, sharpened it, put it in 3D and, as well as using diaries and letters for narrative voiceover, he has used lip-readers to help dub in what the men are actually saying.
The effect is electrifying. The soldiers are returned to an eerie, hyperreal kind of life in front of our eyes, like ghosts or figures summoned up in a seance. The faces are unforgettable.
- 10/16/2018
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Peter Jackson's Wwi documentary, first announced earlier this year, has been given a name.
They Shall Not Grow Old, whose title comes from Laurence Binyon's 1914 poem "For the Fallen" and the Oscar-winning filmmaker's first turn as director since the final The Hobbit installment, has also been confirmed as getting its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival, almost 100 years to the day that the war came to an end in 1918.
The film, which was co-commissioned by British Wwi centenary arts program 14-18 Now alongside Imperial War Museums, will be screened at ...
They Shall Not Grow Old, whose title comes from Laurence Binyon's 1914 poem "For the Fallen" and the Oscar-winning filmmaker's first turn as director since the final The Hobbit installment, has also been confirmed as getting its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival, almost 100 years to the day that the war came to an end in 1918.
The film, which was co-commissioned by British Wwi centenary arts program 14-18 Now alongside Imperial War Museums, will be screened at ...
- 8/21/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Peter Jackson's Wwi documentary, first announced earlier this year, has been given a name.
They Shall Not Grow Old, whose title comes from Laurence Binyon's 1914 poem "For the Fallen" and the Oscar-winning filmmaker's first turn as director since the final The Hobbit installment, has also been confirmed as getting its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival, almost 100 years to the day that the war came to an end in 1918.
The film, which was co-commissioned by British Wwi centenary arts program 14-18 Now alongside Imperial War Museums, will be screened at ...
They Shall Not Grow Old, whose title comes from Laurence Binyon's 1914 poem "For the Fallen" and the Oscar-winning filmmaker's first turn as director since the final The Hobbit installment, has also been confirmed as getting its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival, almost 100 years to the day that the war came to an end in 1918.
The film, which was co-commissioned by British Wwi centenary arts program 14-18 Now alongside Imperial War Museums, will be screened at ...
- 8/21/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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