The Battle of the Somme and Jean Epstein’s and The Fall of the House of Usher

A Historical Comparison of The British Documentary Film The Battle of the Somme and Jean Epstein’s The Fall of the House of Usher
Student Full Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course Full Title
Instructor Full Name
Due Date
A Historical Comparison of The British Documentary Film The Battle of the Somme and Jean Epstein’s The Fall of the House of Usher
Introduction
The Battle of the Somme is a 1916 British documentary that was shot by two camera operators, Geoffrey Malins along with John McDowell, who was sent to the front to collect miscellaneous footage of the preliminaries and initial skirmishes of the Battle of the Somme. It mainly features the British Expeditionary Force preparing and taking part in the early periods of the battle between July 1 and November 18, 1916. The documentary was edited by Charles Urban together with Geoffrey Malins and distributed by the British Tropical Committee for War Films. On the other hand, The Fall of the House of Usher is a 1928 French film adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s Gothic short story The Fall of the House of Usher.
The film follows the same narrative plot as Poe's story except for a few major alterations. For instance, in the film, Roderick Usher summons his friend to his derelict mansion, where he lives with his dying wife Madeline, who in the short story is his sister. The Fall of the House of Usher is more of an impressionist film that focuses on the sensational, as is demonstrated by Jean Epstein’s artistic obsession with evocating the transcendental force of nature. Unlike The Battle of the Somme, which is more hands-on in its intention to spread propaganda and bring closure to the families left back at home, The Fall of the House of Usher is more theatrical in its endeavor to capture the motifs contained in Poe’s short story. This essay will conduct a comparison of the two works with a specific focus on their history and roles.
The Battle of the Somme
The Production of The Film
The Battle of the Somme was a great success and quickly became the most widely watched non-fiction film in the 1920s. A large number of pundits have hailed the film as the first documentary and media incident in history, even though the contents of the film only cover the first two weeks of the five-month-long battle. Still, The Battle of the Somme can be correctly described as a clear and authoritative guide to the most bitter and largely unsuccessful battles in the history of the British army. On the first day of the battle, the British army lost as many as 19,000 men and suffered 57,000 casualties. By the conclusion of the battle, more than 3 million soldiers on both sides had perished. One of the biggest reasons for the heavy losses on the first day of the war was the gross assumption on the British army commanders' part that a week-long artillery barrage would all but obliterate the German defenses. This miscalculation proved to be costly as nearly half of the waves of British troops came under heavy artillery, leaving many dead and a large number of soldiers wounded.
A large number of casualties in the Battle of the Somme is widely believed to be the reason why the film was released in the first place: many critiques have referred to the documentary as a propaganda film intended to obfuscate the losses incurred by the British army as well as inspire support among the public. The Battle of the Somme was, in many respects, a surprise to both its producers and its audiences. When Geoffrey Malins was sent to the front by The British Tropical Films Committee for War Films to collect footage of the British army preparing for the battle and launching the biggest battle it had ever fought, the contents were meant to appear in news bulletins. A consortium of newsreel companies had obtained permission from the government's War Office along with the then-secret War Propaganda Bureau (also known as the Wellington House) to collect footage of the British army's activities. Malins and McDowell arrived a few days before the battle to gather newsreel footage for the British Topical Committee’s own newsreel series.
Malins was at the north end of the line where the largest losses were incurred, while McDowell positioned himself at the south end where the British and French forces were situated. The British Topical Film Committee screened Malin’s and McDowell's footage on 12th July 1916 and immediately decided against using them in its newsreel series but rather develop a single feature-length film. The chairman of the committee and the director of Imperial Pictures (one of the first and most successful distributors in the country), William Jury, served as producer. Although Charles Urban and Malins acted as editors, Urban was the more senior of the two. As a fellow of the British Topical Films Committee, he had a more editorial say in The Battle of the Somme. Besides, Urban was known by camera operators in the entire film world for choosing efficiency over montage aesthetics (thus the nickname "The Butcher"). Therefore it is not surprising that the film was ready for preview screenings by 7th August with a general release two weeks later to 34 London cinemas.
The Purpose of The Film
The finished film was intended to generate a documentary audience, but even more importantly, it was intended to draw public support for the war. The Battle of the Somme managed to achieve both objectives: the six weeks following its release saw it reach a British audience of 15 to 20 million viewers, approximately a third of the entire British population. The film was also exported to other countries and even encouraged the institution of propaganda agencies in Germany. In response to the film's success, the Germans felt compelled to develop a counter-documentary (With Our Heroes at the Somme), although it did not receive the same acclaim. The black-and-white silent footage depicts the battle of the Somme in five parts, where the first part concentrates on war preparations behind the British front line. Most of the footage focuses on British troops marching to the front and the stockpiling of munitions. There are also footages of a speech by Major-General De Lisle as well as preparatory bombardments. The second part of The Battle of the Somme shows the troops moving into the frontline trenches and the fortification of artillery barrage.
On the other hand, the third part concentrates on the events of the first day of battles, such as artillery action, bombardment, recovery of wounded soldiers, and capture of German prisoners of war. The fourth part shows the aftermath of the first day of battle, including the clearing of the battlefield and the tending of the wounded British soldiers. Finally, the fifth part of the film shows the devastation left by the battle and British soldiers preparing for the next leg of the battle. Even though the film, at first glance, is simply a propaganda film, its contributions to governmentality cannot be separated from its role as a documentary. The film is, at heart, a documentary since even by the manner in which the camera operators shot it, it is evident that it was intended to feature as newsreel footage. The Battle of the Somme does not give credit to any author or director in particular, and its editing is strictly practical. Contemporary viewers of the film would not imagine the film as anything more than a long newsreel. Besides, the cumulative development process of The Battle of the Somme is similar to that of many documentaries.<...