Blog
March of the Gladiators…
Written by Jimmy
Watching Dan Snow’s the Somme. He is returning to an old WWI film that was played in London right after the battle. One interesting fact: over 20 minute saw that film within 3 weeks of release.
Snow works hard in the documentary to show not only the film but also the music that was meant to be played over the ‘silent film.’ He plays one scene, which is the first introduction of the ‘Tank’ (so called because they felt it looked like a tank but the working title wouldn’t in anyway give a hint to the Germans what it actually was, a ‘land ship.’). This was a major momment in the war and an extraordinary moment in the film itself – the first time the British public would see the ‘war winner.’
The music that was chosen seemed dramatic enough. It was the March of the Gladiators. But, of course, to our ears, this music is ridiculous because it was hi-jacked by the circus. Here’s the music that introduced the land ship to the English as they watched their boys get slaughtered in their thousands:
To put the Somme in perspective, on its first day, the British almost 20,000 killed… or over six 9.11’s. That was one day of a long war…