Films

A small selection of internet hosted YouTube films and documentaries about the Dardanelles and Gallipoli Campaign have been brought together to view from this website (click on the link images below) ...

These currently include:

• The Great War [1960s]- This is the Gallipoli episode of the original 26 part documentary series from 1964 on World War I. It was a co-production involving the resources of the Imperial War Museum, the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The main narrator was Michael Redgrave, with additional readings by Marius Goring, Ralph Richardson, Cyril Luckham, Sebastian Shaw, and Emlyn Williams. This episode *(produced here in smaller sections) is approximately 40 minutes long and features many interviews with veterans, including Gallipoli Association veteran members. The full series is highly recommended and is still available commercially.
• The Boys of the Dardanelles [1985] - A documentary film made by the Australian War Memorial. Featuring: in depth Gallipoli material on runners, Diggers, food aAnd experiences from the campaign.
• Battlefield Detectives: The Gallipoli Disaster [2003] episode on Gallipoli with Peter Doyle and Nigel Steel. This forensic documentary television series was aired on the History Channel from 2003 to 2006. The series explores famous battles focusing on the battlefield itself, and tell its story based on recent scientific research. It uses modern science to examine how the battles were won or lost. According to History Television, "This series approaches the perennially interesting topic of famous battles in a fresh and exhilarating way. Focusing on the battlefield itself, each programme takes an important battle telling its story and posing a puzzling central question about the battle that recent scientific research is helping to illuminate - a contemporary journey of discovery and a compelling story from the past."
• Anzacs [1985] was a 5-part Australian mini series set in World War I. The series follows the lives of a group of young Australian men who enlist in the 8th Battalion AIF in 1914, fighting first at Gallipoli in 1915, and then on the Western Front for the remainder of the war. This is the Gallipoli episode. The series follows in the wake of Australian New Wave war films such as Breaker Morant (1980), Gallipoli (1981), and precedes The Lighthorsemen (1987). Recurring themes of these films include the Australian identity, such as mateship and larrikinism, the loss of innocence in war, and also the continued coming of age of the Australian nation and its soldiers, namely the ANZAC spirit.
• With the Dardanelles Expedition: Heroes of Gallipoli [1915] - This film was shot by the British war correspondent Ellis Ashmead Bartlett shows scenes at Anzac, Cape Helles and Sulva Bay. It has written commentaries by C E W Bean. There are scenes of British and Australian troops, camps and supplies being unloaded. Each part of the film has a written commentary, first at the beginning of the film and again at the start of the scene. Included in the film are scenes titled 'Heroes of Gallipoli'. This is the digitally restored version done by Peter Jackson.
• Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett Film Extract [1915] - This 45 seconds of footage is believed to have been shot by the British war correspondent, Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett. He made a 20-minute documentary, called "With the Dardanelles Expedition: Heroes of Gallipoli", which showed troops in action in the trenches and helped to create the Anzac legend. But the newly discovered pictures did not feature in the documentary. The footage was found buried in a compilation reel of 35mm film from World War One, which the Australian War Memorial purchased fom a private citizen in 1938 but never properly examined.
• Gallipoli [1981] Australian film, directed by Peter Weir and starring Mel Gibson and Mark Lee, about several young men from rural Western Australia who enlist in the Australian Army during the First World War. They are sent to Turkey, where they take part in the Gallipoli Campaign. During the course of the movie, the young men slowly lose their innocence about the purpose of war. The climax of the movie, as shown in this clip, occurs on the Anzac battlefield at Gallipoli and depicts the futile attack at the Battle of the Nek on 7 August 1915. Eventhough the cinematography and soundtrack is truly superb, the film is heavily criticised for its historical inaccuracies.
• Rare Turkish film footage (silent) released in 2009 of the military build up on the Gallipoli peninsula, as seen from Turkish lines. All credit for this footage goes to the Turkish military and the Ottoman Military archives. Scenes include: Visits by the Turkish General Staff at 0:59. Destroyed artillery battery position at 2:29 . Turkish soldiers preparing meals at the front at 3:01, Turkish fort at 4:51 . Turkish soldier getting tooth pulled at the front at 5:07 (staged, watch for the tooth drop out of the dentist's hand accidentally). Bi-plane at 5:22. Lot's of footage of supplies being brought up by train, oxen and camel through what looks like sandbag reinforced villages at the front.
• The problem of human remains in the Anzac Battlefield, Gallipoli by Dr Peter Dowling, Heritage Officer, ACT National Trust, Canberra. During several visits to the Anzac Battlefield, since 2003, Dowling has located human remains exposed in areas of high tourist activity laying on road banks and verges which follow the lines of Allied and Turkish frontline trenches. These remains are in constant danger of being further disturbed or destroyed by the actions of roadworks, coaches and tourist activites. Despite National Trust representations to government authorities to initiate a conservation strategy to protect and conserve these remains little has been done. Dr Dowling discussed these issues and proposed a conservation strategy. This lecture on 15 April 2009 was presented by ANU Centre for Archeaological Research and the Canberra Archaeological Society.
• Music - Tracks by White Fire Sky about 'the man with the donkey', John Simpson Kirkpatrick called Shadow on the Shore and Eric Bogle's Dubliners version of Waltzing Matilda.

If you know of any more related films please email the webmaster with details.

To view any of the films or tracks mentioned above, please select and click on the images below.