doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Downton Abbey

One of the two biggest mistakes Ike made as Supreme Commander- approving that friggin' Limey Montgomery's half-vast "Market- Airborne- Garden- Ground troops fiasco- no logistics, poor drop zones, lack of radio communications links between the Limeys, the Canadians, the Polish and both the American 82nd A/B and 101st A/B divisions involved-

The other mistake Ike made, IMO was relieving Patton after he slapped the little coward in a field hospital in Sicily- if Patton had been in full command of all armorer and related support forces after we kicked the Italians and Germans out of Italy, and had planned the Normandy invasion along with Omar Bradley- I believe he would have used a feint at Juno and Sword, passed up the better defended Omaha and Utah beaches, and done what Hitler had planned, with full air cover (which precludes weather delays) to knock out the Panzers- Pas De Calais was the best logistical choice, way closer to the French ports we needed to keep the supply lines going- And Patton and his Chief G-2 Officer, Colonel Koch- who had guessed the Winter 1944 offensive in the Ardennes that lead to the Battle of The Bulge, where we were again (Pearl Harbor w/o the salt water and Navy)caught fat dumb and happy- by the Krauts- would not have happened, and Germany would have possibly surrendered (after killing Hitler) long before May 1945--

Damascus, you are correct, it was a decent film I have watched more than once

I do believe the dog's name relates to the Egyptian goddess Isis from ancient Egypt. A reasonable choice given the actual Earl of Carnarvon's (the owners of the house in real life) association with the King Tut discovery as it's patron

The Downton Abbey in real life is filmed at Highclere Castle but the grouse shooting scene moves to a friend's place which is Alnwick Castle in Northumberland. Quite a lot of Harry Potter stuff was filmed there also. It is the home to the Percy family who are the Dukes of Northumberland. Watch the show through rose tinted spectacles; it may help.

Battle of the Bulge; seen that film as well. Not much historical accuracy there either. As 'far fetched as muck from China' as we would say. Lagopus.....

I think i liked Edward Fox best in "The Day of the Jackal"

Getting back to depictions of hunting in films or TV, the reality is most of the time the depiction is wrong. That's normal.

It does not bother me as i am used to it and expect it.

What does bother me when supposed sports programs are horrible. I have watched so much terrible dog work and shooting described as good, on flush my preference is simple, shoot the producer, that or the fat bearded fella who won't shut up.

I only feel bad for the dogs.

As for real history shown in hollywood films, only now and then is there true fact, most is drama and art for entertainment.

Indeed.

Film makers are in the entertainment business, and generally do not make documentaries although there are some movies with accurate historical content.

Most productions suffer from political bias and sloppy research.

'Battle of the Bulge' is an excellent case of both. That's where the diesel tank column rushes to capture a supply of gasoline.

The cluelessness of movie directors is never better shown than when the subject is aviation. Fewer people understand aviation than understand guns.

How about the gangster pistoleros who shoot with the pistol horizontal? Note they never miss.

Hollywood = fantasy, but then so does real life politics and the news reporting thereof.

Julian Fellows, same chap that writes Downton Abbey won an Oscar for Gosford Park in 2002� in it there�s a much more convincing shooting party scene, with pheasants falling stone dead out of the sky and some good dog work as well�.parts of it probably filmed at a real shoot.
If you watched the Downton episode with the shoot and paid attention to the credits at the end you would have seen the disclaimer saying that �no animals where harmed during production�
Guess a lot has changed in the last 13 years, obviously there�s a bigger need to be politically correct these days.


all best

CJ

No way to be politically correct and shoot anything save clay, and I am not sure clay is even acceptable to some loons.

Fortunately most if not all here could care less for modern correctness, however I argue all should strive for traditional manners (I always strive to be the man mother insisted I be, and the hunter my setter expects. Such conduct yields a decent level of toleration from my dear wife.)

Well said, Sir. "The field is the touchstone of the man, indeed" My dogs, all gone now, are dear, my wives, well-that's another story- But as Kipling said so well in his poem about a proposed wedding- "A thousand women like Maggie, are willing to bear the yoke, but a woman's only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke"_ or was it Sigmund Freud???

The only good scene in that movie is when Robert Shaw is reviewing his tank commanders and they sing "Panzerleid". The Germans had good songs.

"Zero Dark Thirty", a mostly very good movie, had the CIA station chief in Pakistan wearing a CIA lapel pin! Most of the Americans know who's CIA and who's not, but you don't advertise--especially since your typical diplomatic installation has a lot of local employees.