The Wipers Times

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Audience Member A very funny and entertaining film based on a fantastic true story. The way they have used comedy in this film is great. The acting is very good and the directing is great. I love the soundtrack to this film. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Audience Member At the start of this Chaplin says to Rhind-Tutt 'We've got plenty of ink, we've got paper, but no copy'. The writers too had paper and ink but no real idea what they wanted to do here. It's not grim enough to be a film about the triumph of the spirit in war - in fact, judging by the explosions the British army is up against boys with fireworks in an abandoned factory in Lancashire - and it's not funny enough to be a comedy either in the mould of the last Blackadder. Instead, it gives in to the sin of self parody of stiff upper lipped British officers leading the charge with dopey working class lads in the ranks scratching their heads at it all. It's an overused trope, the class issue in WWI and it's pummelled into submission here. I half expected Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse to wander on set as a pair of ludicrous senior officers sporting buck teeth and monocles. It's a story worth telling but it needs to be told better than this. Jolly bad show, chaps. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/23/23 Full Review Audience Member This is a true story and that what makes it a great film. It recounts well enough the time spent in the trenches in french areas fighting the germans (the huns) by our hero and his group. A group that knew and understood the futility, the ironies, the absurdities of the whole venture. The tone of the film is exceptionally well atuned to the story. The story itself is definitely someting to know. The horrors of war are not graphically exposed but are hinted with period photos and films. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Audience Member terrific show...although set in war time, its filled with humour and is really more about theatre and performance and art as such than war and battle...well acted including a perfect role for my hero Michael Palin ...a story more than well worth telling and done so in a unique loving fashion...the sort of little show i could look at more than once for sure...bravo and props to the makers and of course to the soldiers in WW1 who fought their pain boredom fears and superiors even to stand up for their right to entertain and survive Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review ron k People who still care about World War I will never stop looking for one more perspective, one more story or one more description of those terrible days of walking into machine gun fire, being bombed to smithereens or being gassed to death under a blue sky. It was a time of bayonets and charges. Tens of thousands killed in a day. Hand to hand combat in zero degree temperatures. A whole generation of boys and men gone. This is a movie presenting a little sense of humor to the madness. It's British humor so it may not appeal to Americans so much but the general effect was an earnest attempt to shed some light on a small corner of the war and pay homage to men who brought a smile where smiles were hard to find and a laugh to men who might have thought it impossible considering the circumstances. This was a slice of history well done. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member A thought provoking story about a British Captain Fred Roberts who, in the middle of the First World War, begins a newspaper called The Wiper's Times after discovering an abandoned printing press, which, he hopes will raise the morale of his men. He succeeds. Based on a true story, this is the tale of a man who went out of his way to keep things light hearted in a war of stalemates, mud, blood, shells and gas. A war where there seems to be no gain, or purpose. This film tells the story of how a little bit of good humor can go a long way, especially in wartime. This film certainly suffers from a severe case of optimism. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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