December 27, 2018, 05:41 PM
2BobTanner"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them."
Today, the Wief and I attend the latest offering from Peter Jackson and his “Wingnut Production” There weren’t any Orcs, Elves, Goblins, nor Dwarves, but there were the “poilu“ (”hairy ones”) folks who lived in holes in the ground hiding from the 1914-1918 Monster.
This film is not an historiography of the Great War with timelines and battles, but is a retrospection of what it was like for the ordinary British “Tommy” on the Western Front, but it could just as easily covered the French, German, Italian, Austro-Hungarian, or Russian soldier as their experiences would have been nearly identical.
When we arrived at the theater, I remarked to the Wife that I didn’t expect it to be very crowded, as the subject matter would be more to the interests of Historians and History majors, not the General Public, since History is a boring and dying subject in schools. I couldn’t have been more wrong! The theater seats close to 400, and it was over 90+% filled (way better than that turkey of a movie from Will Farrell). Granted, most of the patrons were of the “old fart” Boomer generation, but there were Millennials and teens, and those in between.
Once the film began, the audience was very attentive and quite throughout the showing. The subject matter and the scenes were very sobering. One of the scenes was of a British infantry company awaiting orders to advance from a sunken road position during the Battle of the Somme. As Jackson later states in the “making of” portion after the film, you were watching the last 30 minutes in the lives of those soldiers as that unit was wiped out in the advance.
Previously, Great War film footage has always been grainy, scratchy, jerky, black-n-white, but this film looks like it was just photographed yesterday. Jackson used over 100 hours of film footage from the British Imperial War Museum, and 600 hours of audio-History recordings, to make this 1&1/2-hour film. He used the latest of technology and worked his magic to make an extraordinary piece that deserves an Oscar for the documentary category.
Jackson dedicated this film to his Grandfather who was wounded on the first day of the Battle of the Somme (July 1, 1916) and whose wounds would eventually claim him some 40 years later, and to his Great Uncle who died on the Western Front in May 1915.
I understand that Warner Bros. will have an extended version release into wider viewing later in the New Year. I highly recommend that given the opportunity you should go and see it. A good companion movie to be seen with this would be the 1930 b&w movie “All Quiet on the Western Front”, as it too shows “daily life” for the common soldier, albeit German.
December 28, 2018, 12:13 PM
2000Z-71Mademoiselle from Armentieres
Three German Officers crossed the Rhine
|: Mademoiselle from Armentieres,
Parlez-vous, :|
Mademoiselle from Armentieres,
She hasn't been kissed for forty years,
Chorus:
Hinky-dinky parlez-vous.
2. |: Oh, Mademoiselle from Armentieres,
Parlez-vous :|
She got the palm and the croix de guerre,
For washin' soldiers' underwear,
Chorus:
3. |: The Colonel got the Croix de Guerre,
Parlez-vous :|
The Colonel got the Croix de Guerre,
The son-of-a-gun was never there!
Chorus:
4. |: Oh, Mademoiselle from Armentieres,
Parlez-vous :|
You didn't have to know her long,
To know the reason men go wrong!
Chorus:
5. |: Oh, Mademoiselle from Armentieres,
Parlez-vous :|
She's the hardest working girl in town,
But she makes her living upside down!
Chorus:
6. |: Oh, Mademoiselle from Armentieres,
Parlez-vous :|
The cooties rambled through her hair;
She whispered sweetly "C'est la guerre."
Chorus:
7. |: Oh, Mademoiselle from Armentieres,
Parlez-vous :|
She'll do it for wine, she'll do it for rum,
And sometimes for chocolate or chewing gum!
Chorus:
8. |: Oh, Mademoiselle from Armentieres,
Parlez-vous :|
You might forget the gas and shell
But you'll nev'r forget the Mademoiselle!
Chorus:
9. |: Oh, Mademoiselle from Armentieres,
Parlez-vous :|
Where are the girls who used to swarm
About me in my uniform?
Chorus:
10. |: Oh, Mademoiselle from St. Nazaire,
Parlez-vous :|
The Mademoiselle from St. Nazaire,
She never washed her underwear.
Chorus:
11 |: Oh, Mademoiselle from Aix-Les-Bains,
Parlez-vous :|
Mademoiselle from Aix-Les-Bains,
She gave the Yankees shooting pains!
Chorus:
12. |: Oh, Mademoiselle from Montparnasse,
Parlez-vous :|
As soon as she'd spy a Colonel's brass,
She'd take off her skirt and roll in the grass!
Chorus:
|: Three German Officers crossed the Rhine,
Parlez-vous :|
Three German Officers crossed the Rhine
To fuck the women and drink the wine,
Chorus:
Hinky-dinky parlez-vous.
2. |: They came to the door of a wayside Inn,
Parlez-vous :|
They came to the door of a wayside Inn,
Pissed on the mat and walked right in,
Chorus:
3. |: Oh landlord have you a daughter fair?,
Parlez-vous :|
Oh landlord have you a daughter fair?
With lily-white tits and golden hair?,
Chorus:
4. |: My only daughter's far too young,
Parlez-vous :|
My only daughter's far too young,
To be fucked by you, you bastard Hun,
Chorus:
5. |: Oh father dear I'm not too young
Parlez-vous :|
Oh father dear I'm not too young
I've just been fucked by the blacksmith's son,
Chorus:
6. |: At last they got her on the bed,
Parlez-vous :|
At last they got her on the bed,
And shagged her 'til her cheeks were red,
Chorus:
7. |: They took her down a shady lane,
Parlez-vous :|
They took her down a shady lane,
And shagged her back to life again,
Chorus:
8. |: And then they took her to a bed,
Parlez-vous :|
And then they took her to a bed,
And shagged her til she was nearly dead,
Chorus:
9. |: They shagged her up they shagged her down,
Parlez-vous :|
They shagged her up they shagged her down,
They shagged her all around the town,
Chorus:
10. |: They shagged her in they shagged her out,
Parlez-vous :|
They shagged her in they shagged her out,
They shagged her up her water-spout,
Chorus:
11. |: Now seven months later all was well,
Parlez-vous :|
Now seven months later all was well,
Eight months later she began to swell,
Chorus:
12. |: Nine months later she gave a grunt,
Parlez-vous :|
Nine months later she gave a grunt,
And a little fat Prussian popped out her cunt,
Chorus:
13. |: The fat little Prussian he grew and grew,
Parlez-vous :|
The fat little Prussian he grew and grew,
He fucked the cat and the donkey too,
Chorus:
14. |: The fat little Prussian he went to hell,
Parlez-vous :|
The fat little Prussian he went to hell,
He fucked the devil and his wife as well,
Chorus:
