Vulgar words in How I Filmed the War - A Record of the Extraordinary Experiences of the Man Who - Filmed the Great Somme Battles, etc. (Page 1)

This book at a glance

ass x 1
fag x 6
make love x 3
            

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1 MCMXX CONTENTS PART I CHAPTER I A FEW WORDS OF INTRODUCTION CHAPTER II WITH THE BELGIANS AT RAMSCAPELLE PAGE I Reach the First Line Belgian Trenches--And become a Belgian Soldier for the Time Being--A Night Attack--An Adventure whilst Filming a Mitrailleuse Outpost--Among the Ruins of Ramscapelle--I Leave the Company and Lose my Way in the Darkness--A Welcome Light and a Long Sleep--How Little does the Public know of the Dangers and Difficulties a Film Operator has to Face 6 CHAPTER III WITH THE GOUMIERS AT LOMBARTZYDE A Morning of Surprises--The German Positions Bombarded from the Sea--Filming the Goumiers in Action--How these Tenacious Fighters Prepare for Battle--Goumier Habits and Customs--I Take the Chief's Photograph for the First Time--And Afterwards take Food with Him--An Interesting and Fruitful Adventure Ends Satisfactorily 15 CHAPTER IV THE BATTLE OF THE SAND-DUNES A Dangerous Adventure and What Came of It--A Race Across the Sand-dunes--And a Spill in a Shell-hole--The Fate of a Spy--A Battle in the Dunes--Of which I Secured Some Fine Films--A Collision with an Obstructive Mule 22 CHAPTER V UNDER HEAVY SHELL-FIRE In a Trench Coat and Cap I again Run the Gauntlet--A Near Squeak--Looking for Trouble--I Nearly Find It--A Rough Ride and a Mud Bath--An Affair of Outposts--I Get Used to Crawling--Hot Work at the Guns--I am Reported Dead--But Prove Very Much Alive--And then Receive a Shock--A Stern Chase 30 CHAPTER VI AMONG THE SNOWS OF THE VOSGES I Start for the Vosges--Am Arrested on the Swiss Frontier--And Released--But Arrested Again--And then Allowed to Go My Way--Filming in the Firing Zone--A Wonderful French Charge Over the Snow-clad Hills--I Take Big Risks--And Get a Magnificent Picture 40 PART II CHAPTER I HOW I CAME TO MAKE OFFICIAL WAR PICTURES I am Appointed an Official War Office Kinematographer--And Start for the Front Line Trenches--Filming the German Guns in Action--With the Canadians--Picturesque Hut Settlement Among the Poplars--"Hyde Park Corner"--Shaving by Candlelight in Six Inches of Water--Filming in Full View of the German Lines, 75 yards away--A Big Risk, but a Realistic Picture 51 CHAPTER II CHRISTMAS DAY AT THE FRONT Leave-taking at Charing Cross--A Fruitless Search for Food on Christmas Eve--How Tommy Welcomed the Coming of the Festive Season--"Peace On Earth, Good Will To Men" to the Boom of the Big Guns--Filming the Guards' Division--And the Prince of Wales--Coming from a Christmas Service--This Year and Next 61 CHAPTER III I GET INTO A WARM CORNER Boxing Day--But No Pantomime--Life in the Trenches--A Sniper at Work--Sinking a Mine Shaft--The Cheery Influence of an Irish Padre--A Cemetery Behind the Lines--Pathetic Inscriptions and Mementoes on Dead Heroes' Graves--I Get Into a Pretty Warm Corner--And Have Some Difficulty in Getting Out Again--But All's Well that Ends Well 65 CHAPTER IV THE BATTLEFIELD OF NEUVE CHAPELLE A Visit to the Old German Trenches--Reveals a Scene of Horror that Defies Description--Dodging the Shells--I Lose the Handle of My Camera--And then Lose My Man--The Effect of Shell-fire on a Novice--In the Village of Neuve Chapelle--A Scene of Devastation--The Figure of the Lonely Christ 72 CHAPTER V FILMING THE PRINCE OF WALES How I Made a "Hide-up"--And Secured a Fine Picture of the Prince Inspecting some Gun-pits--His Anxiety to Avoid the Camera--And His Subsequent Remarks--How a German Block-house was Blown to Smithereens--And the Way I Managed to Film it Under Fire 76 CHAPTER VI MY FIRST VISIT TO YPRES AND ARRAS Greeted on Arrival in the Ruined City of Ypres by a Furious Fusillade--I Film the Cloth Hall and Cathedral, and Have a Narrow Escape--A Once Beautiful Town Now Little More Than a Heap of Ruins--Arras a City of the Dead--Its Cathedral Destroyed--But Cross and Crucifixes Unharmed 80 CHAPTER VII THE BATTLE OF ST. ELOI Filming Within Forty-five Yards of the German Trenches--Watching for "Minnies"--Officers' Quarters--"Something" Begins to Happen--An Early Morning Bombardment--Develops Into the Battle of St. Eloi--Which I Film from Our First-Line Trench--And Obtain a Fine Picture 85 CHAPTER VIII A NIGHT ATTACK--AND A NARROW ESCAPE A Very Lively Experience--Choosing a Position for the Camera Under Fire--I Get a Taste of Gas--Witness a Night Attack by the Germans--Surprise an Officer by My Appearance in the Trenches--And Have One of the Narrowest Escapes--But Fortunately Get Out with Nothing Worse than a Couple of Bullets Through My Cap 93 CHAPTER IX FOURTEEN THOUSAND FEET ABOVE THE GERMAN LINES The First Kinematograph Film Taken of the Western Front--And How I Took It Whilst Travelling Through the Air at Eighty Miles an Hour--Under Shell-fire--Over Ypres--A Thrilling Experience--And a Narrow Escape--A Five Thousand Foot Dive Through Space 107 CHAPTER X FILMING THE EARTH FROM THE CLOUDS Chasing an "Enemy" Aeroplane at a Height of 13,500 Feet--And What Came of It--A Dramatic Adventure in which the Pilot Played a Big Part--I Get a Nasty Shock--But am Reassured--A Freezing Experience--Filming the Earth as we Dived Almost Perpendicularly--A Picture that would Defy the Most Ardent Futurist to Paint 116 CHAPTER XI PREPARING FOR THE "BIG PUSH" The Threshold of Tremendous Happenings--General ----'s Speech to His Men on the Eve of Battle--Choosing My Position for Filming the "Big Push"--Under Shell-fire--A Race of Shrieking Devils--Fritz's Way of "Making Love"--I Visit the "White City"--And On the Way have Another Experience of Gas Shells 121 CHAPTER XII FILMING UNDER FIRE The General's Speech to the Fusiliers Before Going Into Action--Filming the 15-inch Howitzers--A Miniature Earthquake--"The Day" is Postponed--Keeping Within "The Limits"--A Surprise Meeting in the Trenches--A Reminder of Other Days--I Get Into a Tight Corner--And Have An Unpleasantly Hot Experience--I Interview a Trench Mortar--Have a Lively Quarter of an Hour--And Then Get Off 135 CHAPTER XIII THE DAWN OF JULY FIRST A Firework Display Heralds the Arrival of "The Day"--How the Boys Spent Their Last Few Hours in the Trenches--Rats as Bedfellows--I Make an Early Start--And Get Through a Mine-shaft into "No Man's Land"--The Great Event Draws Near--Anxious Moments--The Men Fix Bayonets--And Wait the Word of Command to "Go Over the Top" 151 CHAPTER XIV THE DAY AND THE HOUR A Mighty Convulsion Signalises the Commencement of Operations--Then Our Boys "Go Over the Top"--A Fine Film Obtained whilst Shells Rained Around Me--My Apparatus is Struck--But, Thank Goodness, the Camera is Safe--Arrival of the Wounded--"Am I in the Picture?" they ask 162 CHAPTER XV ROLL-CALL AFTER THE FIGHT A Glorious Band of Wounded Heroes Stagger Into Line and Answer the Call--I Visit a Stricken Friend in a Dug-out--On the Way to La Boisselle I Get Lost in the Trenches--And Whilst Filming Unexpectedly Come Upon the German Line--I Have a Narrow Squeak of Being Crumped--But Get Away Safely--And later Commandeer a Couple of German Prisoners to Act as Porters 169 CHAPTER XVI EDITING A BATTLE FILM The Process Described in Detail--Developing the Negative--Its Projection on the Screen--Cutting--Titling--Joining--Printing the Positive--Building Up the Story--It is Submitted to the Military Censors at General Headquarters--And After Being Cut and Approved by Them--Is Ready for Public Exhibition 178 CHAPTER XVII THE HORRORS OF TRONES WOOD Three Times I Try and Fail to Reach this Stronghold of the Dead--Which Has Been Described as "Hell on Earth"--At a Dressing Station under Fire--Smoking Two Cigarettes at a Time to Keep off the Flies--Some Amusing Trench Conversations by Men who had Lost Their Way--I Turn in for the Night--And Have a Dead Bosche for Company 183 CHAPTER XVIII FILMING AT POZIÈRES AND CONTALMAISON Looking for "Thrills"--And How I Got Them--I Pass Through "Sausage Valley," on the Way to Pozières--You _May_ and you _Might_--What a Tommy Found in a German Dug-out--How Fritz Got "Some of His Own" Back--Taking Pictures in What Was Once Pozières--"Proofs Ready To-morrow" 196 CHAPTER XIX ALONG THE WESTERN FRONT WITH THE KING His Majesty's Arrival at Boulogne--At G.H.Q.--General Burstall's Appreciation--The King on the Battlefield of Fricourt--Within Range of the Enemy's Guns--His Majesty's Joke Outside a German Dug-out--His Memento from a Hero's Grave--His Visit to a Casualty Clearing Station--The King and the Puppy--Once in Disgrace--Now a Hospital Mascot 205 CHAPTER XX KING AND PRESIDENT MEET An Historic Gathering--In which King and President, Joffre and Haig Take Part--His Majesty and the Little French Girl--I Am Permitted to Film the King and His Distinguished Guests--A Visit to the King of the Belgians--A Cross-Channel Journey--And Home 214 CHAPTER XXI THE HUSH!

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WINTER, 1915-16 56 THE PRINCE OF WALES TRYING TO LOCATE MY "CAMOUFLAGED CAMERA" 62 THE PRINCE OF WALES LEAVING A TEMPORARY CHURCH AT LA GORGUE, XMAS DAY, 1915 62 ON THE WAY TO THE "MENIN GATE" WITH AN ARTILLERY OFFICER TO FILM OUR GUNS IN ACTION 76 TAKING SCENES IN DEVASTATED YPRES, MAY, 1916 80 IN YPRES, WITH "BABY" BROOKS, THE OFFICIAL STILL PHOTOGRAPHER, MAY, 1916 84 WITH MY AEROSCOPE CAMERA AFTER FILMING THE BATTLE OF ST. ELOI 90 IN THE MAIN STREET OF CONTALMAISON THE DAY OF ITS CAPTURE 96 LAUNCHING A SMOKE BARRAGE AT THE BATTLE OF ST. ELOI 96 IN THE TRENCHES AT THE FAMOUS AND DEADLY "HOHENZOLLERN REDOUBT," AFTER A GERMAN ATTACK 109 IN A SHELL-HOLE IN "NO MAN'S LAND" FILMING OUR HEAVY BOMBARDMENT OF THE GERMAN LINES 122 GEOFFREY H. MALINS, O.B.E., OFFICIAL KINEMATOGRAPHER TO THE WAR OFFICE 132 BOMBARDING THE GERMAN TRENCHES AT THE OPENING BATTLE OF THE GREAT SOMME FIGHT, JULY 1ST, 1916 138 MY OFFICIAL PASS TO THE FRONT LINE TO FILM THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME, JULY 1ST, 1916 138 THE PLAN OF ATTACK AT BEAUMONT HAMEL, JULY 1ST, 1916 146 OVER THE TOP OF BEAUMONT HAMEL, JULY 1ST, 1916 146 IN THE SUNKEN ROAD AT BEAUMONT HAMEL, JUST BEFORE ZERO HOUR, JULY 1ST, 1916 154 IN A TRENCH MORTAR TUNNEL, DURING THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME, AT BEAUMONT HAMEL, JULY 1ST, 1916 154 THE OPENING OF THE GREAT BATTLE OF THE SOMME, JULY 1ST, 1916 162 THE ROLL CALL OF THE SEAFORTHS AT "WHITE CITY," BEAUMONT HAMEL, JULY 1ST, 1916 168 FAGGED OUT IN THE "WHITE CITY" AFTER WE RETIRED TO OUR TRENCHES, JULY 1ST, 1916 168 THE GERMANS MAKE A BIG COUNTER ATTACK AT LA BOISSELLE AND OVILLERS, JULY 3RD AND 4TH, 1916 176 MEN OF SCOTLAND RUSHING A MINE CRATER AT THE DEADLY "HOHENZOLLERN REDOUBT" 176 FILMING THE KING DURING HIS VISIT TO FRANCE IN 1916.

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CHAPTER XI PREPARING FOR THE "BIG PUSH" The Threshold of Tremendous Happenings--General ----'s Speech to His Men on the Eve of Battle--Choosing My Position for Filming the "Big Push"--Under Shell-fire--A Race of Shrieking Devils--Fritz's Way of "Making Love"--I Visit the "White City"--And On the Way have Another Experience of Gas Shells.

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"That is Fritz's way of making love, sir," he said, with a chuckle; which remark admirably reflects the marvellous morale of our men.

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[Illustration: THE ROLL CALL OF THE SEAFORTHS AT "WHITE CITY," BEAUMONT HAMEL, JULY 1ST, 1916] [Illustration: FAGGED OUT IN THE "WHITE CITY" AFTER WE RETIRED TO OUR TRENCHES, JULY 1ST, 1916.

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I searched around those trenches until I was soaked to the skin and fagged out, but not a trace of him could I discover; not even my camera or pieces of it.

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Some silly ass sent me wrong."

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Here I met many old friends of the St. Eloi battle and, curiously enough, it was at this very spot that I filmed the scene of the Northumberland Fusiliers, or Fighting Fifth, returning from battle, fagged out, but happy.

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I was feeling fagged out.

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Fagged out as they obviously were they tried to smile at the reply one made.

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