Some more stuff on Passchendaele----the film.
David
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
It's All About the Guns
My Name is Dean Goodine and I am the Property Master on "Passchendaele". My job is to provide the weapons, Artillery, Webgear, and just about anything an actor touches in the film. To put it simply my job is to make the film come alive, in my opinion. My two major concerns with this movie were the artillery and the machine guns. For this film to be accurate we required Maxim Machine Guns. The Maxim Machine Gun was invented by American Hiram Maxim in 1884. In 1885 he demonstrated the machine gun for the British high command who unfortunately could not see the benefit of the Maxim Gun. Maxim's next stop was Germany. The Kaiser personally attended the trials and from that the Spandau Machinengewhr 08 was born. At the start of WW1 the Germans had twelve thousand machine guns; the allies had a few hundred. In one day in the battle of the Somme on July 1, 1916 the British had twenty-one thousand soldiers killed. It has been said that ninety percent of the deaths were at the hands of the Spandau Machinengewhr 08.
I worked on two other movies with MG-08's as an Assistant Property Master and the guns failed to work. I voiced my concerns to Tom Felcan, the great movie armourer from Vancouver, and he thought we could overcome the problems. Long before this movie had a green light, Tom purchased 2 MG-08 Machine guns. He also purchased 3 Lewis Guns. He then had his brilliant gunsmith Craig Myers work on the restoration. The show I was doing at the time was SCI-FI so when I would phone to order modern weapons, all Tom and Craig wanted to talk about were the Machine Guns. I would always say, "Tom I don't know if the show is going to go so don't spend your money". Tom and Craig ignored me. In hind sight I'm glad they didn't listen as I would not have had the Machine Guns ready on time. The first time Paul heard the MG-08 fire on the battlefield he said "how did they ever convince the guys to leave the trench after hearing that gun"? Thanks to Tom and Craig, the machine guns have been flawless, and in the opening scenes of the movie Craig Myers is the German machine gunner.
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Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Calgary Herald
Paul Gross fulfils a dream
Filmmaker has wanted to make a film about Passchendaele for years
Alexandra Burroughs
Calgary Herald
Sunday, September 30, 2007
CALGARY - In the foothills west of Calgary, a herd of wild horses grazes in a meadow under the sun, creating an unmissable juxtaposition with a harrowing scene nearby.
Nearly 100 soldiers have taken position in a burned-out forest of birch and pine.
Pummelled by hundreds of gallons of cold water, the troops take cover in muddy, smoke-filled trenches,where they will remain for the better part of the next 10 hours.
This is the set of Passchendaele, a movie based on the famous First World War battle heroically fought by 50,000 Canadians in the bloodied fields of Ypres, Belgium. The film set is a stunning replica of a 1917 war zone, complete with bayonets, barbered wire and a menacing battlefield.
This week, Paul Gross, the man behind the film, was orchestrating this chaos to capture a climactic moment in this film. The sunshine was playing havoc with the film's gritty mood, his cast was cold despite the wet suits beneath their uniforms, and every moment lost was costing money. But no matter how bad it got, Gross managed to keep his perspective.
"Just spending a little bit of time in this mud -- and we're pampered since no one is actually shooting at us --
I have to say it is miserable," said Paul Gross, the filmmaker behind this $20-million war epic.
In a way, the making of Passchendaele has been Gross's own war. As the writer, director, producer and star of Passchendaele, Gross is shouldering nearly all of the risk, but is also living an emotional lifelong dream of capturing a seminal moment in Canadian history.
"I keep catching myself, wondering how (the soldiers) actually did it. I get knocked sideways, at least a few times a day. Just looking at these guys is very moving, it's heartbreaking. They were a breed of men that's now lost."
Gross represents his own unique breed of Canadian talent. His success as a director, writer and producer has enabled him to mount a production the size of Passchendaele, the largest homegrown, Canadian-financed war movie ever made.
As a self-proclaimed army brat, who was born in Calgary and grew up on various bases throughout Canada and Europe, Gross remembers being enthralled with stories from his grandfather, who fought in the First World War. Historical references, film footage and personal diaries continued to fuel his passion for the Canadian military throughout the years, until he sat down to write the script for Passchendaele.
"As long as I can remember he's been talking about making it," says Alberta director Francis Damberger, who went to theatre school with Gross and co-produces Passchendaele.
"I've known him long enough to know how passionate he can be about something, and he was particularly excited about this movie." In addition, Gross has gone to extreme lengths to achieve historical accuracy by employing Norman Leach, a Canadian military expert.
"This movie can go toe-to-toe with the great, big-budget military movies like Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers," says Leach. "It's breathtaking to watch." With Passchendaele, both Gross and Leach seem to have a higher mission. Leach wonders if the average Canadian really appreciates the impact Canada had on the Great War.
"I know this sounds corny in 2007," says Leach. "But we made a difference to the war. Some say we made the difference. When they were in trouble, they'd call in the Canadians." According to historians, Canadians possessed several strengths that aided the war. Canadian soldiers were known for their mettle, earned growing up as farmers, loggers and ranchers.
"The British prime minister Lloyd George summed it up when he said, 'Whenever the Germans found the Canadian Corps coming into the line, they prepared for the worst,' " says Gross.
Financially, the movie got a surprising $5.5-million kick-start from former Alberta premier Ralph Klein during Alberta's 2005 centennial celebrations, stunning the province's film community long accustomed to applying for limited film grants through the province's bureaucracy. The federal government added $3.5 million.
But the bulk of the movie's budget --up to $11 million -- has been acquired through private donators, investors and corporate sponsorship. It's a new way of doing business in Canadian film.
Many have said Gross exercised his innate "Albertan ingenuity" by going outside standard guidelines for funding, but the pressure that comes from spending private money is undoubtedly adding to the filmmaker's burden.
Watching the 46-year-old manoeuvre dirt piles and mingle with extras in period uniform, however, you'd think he was having the time of his life.
"If you watch me, you'll see I have no control over this at all," joked Gross, looking out a mischievously from beneath muddied and bloodied makeup.
Taking his place as director behind a TV monitor, inside a tent safe from the man-made rainstorm, it's clear Gross is very sure of what's going on around him. Looking in the monitor at a scene shot of soldiers in trenches, the sight of his dream come to life makes Gross giddy.
"Can someone get my wife, please? This is so cool. She'll want to see it," he says. A crew member scuttles off to find Canadian actress Martha Burns in Gross's trailer.
If Gross wins this war, there will be many other Canadians who want to see it as well.
CanWest News Service
© The Edmonton Journal 2007
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These photos and commentary came from the Canadian Gun Forum back in 2007 when the German guns were being put together.
I suspect that the commentary on the gun forum was put forth by a fellow that works with Tom Felcan.
Ok here are the finished pics. After the guns were parkerized we airbrushed them with duracoat. At least 3 coats. The armour got it too. The wood on the stocks was steamed out and re varnished. Grens had to make several parts that we couldn't find. He had to make from scratch pistol grips, the trigger bars, and Fusee covers. An end booster for one MG 08/15 is still being made.
We have 3 firing guns and one dewat. The firing guns need to have some testing done before we convert them to blanks. So as of right now they are live.
And I forgot to mention that all the scratches and dings on the water jackets and receivers were filled with liquid steel and sanded over. No bondo here.
Enough with sir crap! LOL. We had fun doing it.
Nothing worse that a movie that either doesn't have the budget to do it right or the desire.
Yeah the stories these guns must be able to tell, I could only imagine. As for the guns being beat up, dirty and stuff...well we weren't going to do all this work restoring them and then leave some dents in there. They will get aged on the day, dirtied up and made to look old, but that is up to the art department. Not us. We are only responsible for bringing the right stuff and making sure it works and is safe.
Actually Grens just reminded me one more neat thing about some of these guns. We found two of the Mg 08/15's in the interior of BC. Like I said before they were in pretty rough shape. They were rusty and missing a few parts. Both top covers were gone off these guns and we were dreading the thought of having to make them from scratch. Well Grens was anyways.
So we figured we'd just try and find some spare top covers and other spare parts to try and make them complete. So we put out the feelers again.
Eventually we got a message from someone on Vancouver Island that had some spare stuff in a box that he thought might be for MG 08's. On a chance we took it. Even if it wasn't anything that we needed to complete the guns, extra spare parts might come in handy. So anyways a week or so later a box arrives. It's the stuff. We open it and sure enough the parts are for MG 08/15's.Two top covers and a bunch of other stuff.Great! Now we can fully assemble the guns. So we start putting it on the guns and suddenly Grens goes silent...if not a little green. All we hear is "Holy s**t!". We were like "What's the problem now?". Nothing he says." It's just that the serial numbers are exact matches."
What? So we check and sure enough the top covers we got were the actual missing ones off the guns.
The guy we got them from said that he had the box of stuff for at least 35 years.
How's that for fate?
Speaking of Lewis guns we are looking for 3 or 4 for this project and not having much luck. If anyone has a full auto, converted auto,dewat or whatever that they want to sell, give me a pm.We promise it will be treated well and will get the same as the German ones did. And it will end up as a star in a movie that will be a historical piece of Canadiana when finished.
On that note we happen to have a .30-06 Lewis that is in great shape that we would be interested in trading for a complete .303. It's just easier to have all the weapons operating on the same round.
We have a Vickers already. We need Lewis guns only.
Rob we'd rather find some old boys, fix ‘em up and give them new life and the respect they deserve.
There are a few around but people want too much money for them. Especially once they find out they are for a film. Realistically a dewat should fetch a little more as a live one is a safe queen. Can't shoot it.
They'll be kept in the collection and hopefully used the next time someone shoots a WW1 flick. I don't think any other armoury in the world has this many. I know none in Canada do and from what I can gather none in the states either. There is a guy in England but I have no idea what his stock is like.
Thanks to all who suggested a museum but I need guns I can buy. Regimental museums are NOT going to want to sell their pieces.
Let me reiterate. I’m looking for LEWIS GUNS ONLY. Spandau’s', Hotchkiss' and more maxims doesn't help. I don't need anymore of those.
As a update the guns ,both the MG-08's and the Lewis guns were used in the filming of Paul Gross's Passchendale .There should be some good close ups of the Lewis's as the Canadian forces fight their way to the German lines and the MG-08 is in the opening scene with some really good close up shots. So if you want to see these guns as they turned out go see the movie it should be out on Remembrance Day 2008. There is also a shot video of the Lewis firing on face book under the Passchendale group
Grensvegter
The guns were used on Passchedaele and the flick will be out Nov 11 2008. It should be good.
