The Battle of the Somme (1916)

Propaganda documentary film about the titular WWI battle released by the British government later that same year. I saw this at the International Cinema at BYU, liking the idea of seeing a 100 year old film on the big screen. While it was interesting to see this kind of footage writ large (some of which I had already seen) on the whole it was kind of a dull presentation. Do both to the desires of the British government who released it, and the technological constraints of filming in a war zone at the time, there's not really any battle footage here, save maybe one or two shots at a great distance, and people going over the trench or firing one of the big guns. Mostly its before and after footage of skirmishes, but even those are selected in a way meant to under play the carnage. Still interesting as a historically artifact, though it feels long at a little more then an hour running time. **1/2