Masterful Movie

It is a performances centric movie

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

I am writing this as I saw that the film only had a 6.9 rating on IMDb and would like to input something personal. My father was one of the first at the bridge and one of the last to be captured.Many years ago we went to see A Bridge Too Far. (The night it opened, free tickets! As a young man I was impressed. After the film we driving home and my father said that had felt like walking out halfway through. "Their's is the Glory was an account of what happened at Arnhem; this is not a patch on that, and the way they portrayed Boy Browning ans was truly disgusting)From a cinematic perspective ABTF is a fantastic film, but Their's is the Glory is not only a great film but historically accurate.I hope you enjoy it and remember the sacrifice that so many made to give you the freedom to watch it.

This is what we would now call a docudrama about the battle in and around Arnhem during the closing days of the Second World War. Mixing actual footage of the battle with new footage shot a year after the war in and around the ravaged city with many of the surviving soldiers playing themselves, this tells the same story that was told in the big Budget A Bridge Too Far. Its very much a you are there sort of film that pretty much seems to tell it like it was.I ran across this film in a budget collection of World War two films and since I'm a big fan of a Bridge Too Far I thought I'd pick it up. I'm not sure which is the better movie. One is a huge Hollywood financed production, the other is a small scale gritty in your face film that certainly shows what it must have been like. One I like because I like the story and the spectacle, the other I like because it shows what it was really like, and how Hollywood's version was too neat and clean.As good as this film is it has two problems in my eyes. First off its a bit disjointed. The film is telling the whole story about what happened in and around Arnhem and things get lost, "characters" blend into one another. Part of this seems to be the result of the fact that the film seems to have been dubbed after the fact and it seemed to me that several people have the same voice. Its not bad but I began to feel awash in the proceedings.The second problem with the film is that its awfully stereotypically "British". Everyone is low key and even keeled. Everyone takes everything in stride, even the fact that they are surrounded with seemingly no way out. Its all greeted with a levelness that seems wildly out of the "ideal" notion of the British soldier rather than reality. The attitude is fine for a while, but buy the half way point into the film I was shaking my head and giggling at the calmness of it all. For me it severely detracted from the proceedings and left me feeling very disappointed.Flawed or not this is a must see, especially for those who like the later inflated epic film.

My Father was one of the soldiers that was used in the film. He took me to see it in a local movie theater when I was quite young (6 or 7 years old). He was a sergent major in the Royal Canadian Engineers. His company, using Evinrude powered storm boats, evacuated the survivors of the British Airborn units across the Rhine from Arnhem. There is a closeup of his face and he says something to the effect that he guesses that they are glad to be across the river or something to that effect. I took him, before he died to see the movie "A Bridge too far". His comment was that it was typically American. He always felt that their movies downplayed the roles of the Comonwealth allies. I have not seen the movie "Theirs is the Glory" since then. I would love to get a copy so that my children and grandchildren could see it.

This film was done with the real veterans reenacting the events of the battle of Arnhem. They used the real town and the real equipment. The story was sculpted by the rememberances of the soldier/actors. If you are not familiar with the story and characters this film may seem a bit confusing. The acting is often not great -- usually when they open their mouths. Yet they certainly knew how to handle the battle scenes. This film is typical of the period as there is no blood not gore. Look for the real Panther tank. It is a good contrast to A Bridge Too Far. I recommend you read a few books on the subject before watching the film.