Oh, for the good old days of war movies, and the old-time stars.
No, I haven't read "The Mark of the Lion." But Waugh does a brilliant job portraying what it would have been like to have arrived in Crete with the last British troops sent in--just in time for the retreat and abandonment.
In his trilogy, Waugh pretty much shows all the warts involved in the conduct of the war by the British bureaucrats, not as an anti-war writer, but as a writer who thought some very basic mistakes were made--most of all, the mistake of admiring and allying with Stalin and letting him take over Yugoslavia and the rest of Eastern Europe. From his point of view, the problem with the war was that it wasn't heroic enough.
> Oh, for the good old days of war movies, and the old-time stars.
Richard Button would have been *perfect* for Upham. Or Richard Harris, in a pinch. Of the modern actors? Crikey — anyone but Russell Crowe!!! The only thing he has in common with Upham is New Zealand citizenship.
On principle I will not watch the movie if he is the “star” for he is a vulgar and unworthy example of what Upham was all about.
If you can, do read “The Mark of the Lion” — it is a fascinating glimpse into a very complex life. Charles Upham was the Commonwealth’s bravest soldier as evidenced by his two Victoria Cross awards For Valor. Yet his personal conduct was self-effacing, almost as if he himself did not believe he had earned these awards.
Yet his personal conduct demonstrates that yes, indeed he did.
I have few regrets in life. One of them is that I did not meet Charles Upham VC with Bar, and quietly thank him for his Service. It would have been at his RSA. By all reports he would have been gruff and would have changed the subject. The Mark of the Lion.
*DieHard*