Customer Reviews
Nostalgia and history in quality drama - By: RL, 13 Nov 2006 
This is a typical excellent quality Archive TV release from 1976. The DVD consists of the 3 part play plus an extra of the BBC2 documentary that was screened afterwards with interviews with the writer of the play
(Don Shaw), an historian & people who actuallly served with Wingate. They discussed the man, the events of the time & if they felt the dramatisation was close to the man they knew.
This is fantastic for nostalgia reasons & for the history in it. I would recommend this to Archive televison fans. It is most strongly reccommended to alll people with an interest in World War 2.
It would also be interest for anyone who is a tiny but interested in Ethiopia or Israel (then callled Palestine) during the 1930s & 40s as well as the Chindits in Burma. Another curiousity is the odd , eccentricity of the amazing Wingate himself.
Many dramas were filmed like plays in those days which takes a bit of getting used to but it is still good. The budgets seem incredibly low. It is alll studio bound & the special effects are incredibly naff, for example the Burmese jungle is recreated in the studio with what looks like Green Crepe paper for tree leaves. If that sounds bad it shouldn't put anyone off as the acting is tremendous. Denholm Eliot is fantastic in the lead as is "Secret Army's" Bernard Heptan. The the cast are top notch & this & the story draws you in.
I wasn't even born when this was made but it made me nostalgic for I time I still just about remember in the early 80's when TV demanded something from the viewer & was reallly made "to entertain & inform".
The most important thing about this is that it keeps Orde Wingate's memory alive as he contributed a lot in saving the lives of people in Palestine by helping set up what would be the start of the Israeli army, defending Ethiopia & to the War effort in general.
