I'm confused by this statement. As the children articulated, the "big rifle" becomes a "small rifle" in the hands of the same actor in the tree. Are you saying that the "small rifle" (M1A1 Carbine) is really TWO carbines?
The Magic Gun Genie
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I'm confused by this statement. As the children articulated, the "big rifle" becomes a "small rifle" in the hands of the same actor in the tree. Are you saying that the "small rifle" (M1A1 Carbine) is really TWO carbines?
I am seriously enjoying this journey ...so last night at dinner I was invited to attend a classroom session to hear a guest who is coming to discuss "history-film-television" with these children. Like myself, this man was brought into the discussion by a child attending the WWII course. At the age of 17, still in school, he had worked summers as a Clerk/Scout for an independent production company (SELMUR) which produced the TV series COMBAT in the 60s. Today he's a grandfather of two and helps with homework ...wrote a note about how the audiences back then took technical issues seriously ...the majority of these letters were from actual combat veterans, and while the letters were encouraging ...the cause for writing was almost always a technical issue they would try to address.
And SELMUR always answered. The complaint that took first place, which they corrected, related to the many features of the U.S. M1 Carbine, which went through changes over the years and made dated configurations easy to spot for a veteran, easy to understand. Anyone really remember this TV series? I'm looking forward to hearing this gentleman on Friday.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat!
And SELMUR always answered. The complaint that took first place, which they corrected, related to the many features of the U.S. M1 Carbine, which went through changes over the years and made dated configurations easy to spot for a veteran, easy to understand. Anyone really remember this TV series? I'm looking forward to hearing this gentleman on Friday.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat!
Outlaw75
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Same thing in the Coen brother's True Grit, when Ned Pepper signals Rooster Cogburn by drawing his Remington SAA, holding it up even with his head and firing a shot.
This sort of thing has been going on since people started making movies/TV. The old "infinite repeating" six gun or lever gun in the B and W day. Nothing new
Tommygunn
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theotherwaldo
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Why, some of these guns fire almost as many shots as my Mattel Fanner Fifty - and to about the same effect... .
Flintshooter
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Yep, staring Vic Morrow.
As is often the case, when one Network has a successful show another will imitate it. In the case of Combat!, another Network offered Gallant Men that had kind of an Ernie Pyle flavor to it.
Trunk Monkey
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I was watching The Rookie the other night. Not sure why but the trainees carry M&Ps and the trainers carry Glocks, I think Glock 22s because that's what LAPD carries. So anyway The Rookie and his Training Officer are pinned down in a fire fight and the TO runs out of ammunition so The Rookie hands her one of his magazines and she inserts his M&P magazine into her Glock and continues the fight.
You would think they'd have actually tried that in rehearsal and knew it wouldn't work but they filmed it that way anyway.
There used to be a show called Rookie Blue that was notorious for showing people shooting BHPs or 1911s DA. I actually commented on it on their Facebeast page and one of the directors PMed me back and explained that Canadian OSHA rules required that any time a real gun was used in a scene the unit armorer had to inspect it to ensure that it wasn't loaded, then everyone in the scene had to inspect it to ensure it wasn't loaded (I'm sure they did it all at the same time) then it was dry fired as a final safety check. He said no one thought to cock the hammer again but assured me it wouldn't happen again. That's how I knew I really was talking to a director because it never did happen again.
You would think they'd have actually tried that in rehearsal and knew it wouldn't work but they filmed it that way anyway.
There used to be a show called Rookie Blue that was notorious for showing people shooting BHPs or 1911s DA. I actually commented on it on their Facebeast page and one of the directors PMed me back and explained that Canadian OSHA rules required that any time a real gun was used in a scene the unit armorer had to inspect it to ensure that it wasn't loaded, then everyone in the scene had to inspect it to ensure it wasn't loaded (I'm sure they did it all at the same time) then it was dry fired as a final safety check. He said no one thought to cock the hammer again but assured me it wouldn't happen again. That's how I knew I really was talking to a director because it never did happen again.
Trey Veston
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I was watching Jack Ryan on Amazon last night with my girlfriend and the most common error was observed in which the actor is using a Glock and it runs out of ammo, so they continue to pull the trigger with clicking continuing.
I pointed out to my girlfriend how that was impossible. She didn't care. Only that John Krazinski is cute. *sigh*
I pointed out to my girlfriend how that was impossible. She didn't care. Only that John Krazinski is cute. *sigh*
Officers'Wife
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I hate watching old-time westerns with my dad simply because invariably he's going to comment that the scene set before the Civil War shows people with 92 Winchesters or cartridge style revolvers.
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Tommygunn
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Actually, I believe THE GALLANT MEN ran on ABC, the same network that ran COMBAT! By the way, both series are available on dvd for those interested. THE GALLANT MEN only lasted one season, due largely according to some, because ABC thought one WW2 series was quite sufficient. It nevertheless is a good series, dealing with the Italian Campaign and the Salerno Landing.
COMBAT! is noted for using Reising smgs as German MP-40s early in the production. They had trouble acquiring the German guns so the prop department created dummy parts to make the Reising look like the MP-40.
A telltale of this is the collapsible wire stock has an oval shoulder piece; on the Reising it encircles the magazine, on actual MP-40s it does not.
Flintshooter
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Really, the all time champions for this kind of thing is the History Channel. A story
I did watch Twelve O’Clock High and it made showing the wrong guns to a whole different level. Every time the Luftwaffe was shown attacking a bomber formation you saw closeups of .50 Brownings being fired by P-47s and P-51s
Happy for the correction. Truth be told, I seldom watched Combat and don’t know is I ever watched Gallant Men so it didn’t take much for me to be wrong.
I did watch Twelve O’Clock High and it made showing the wrong guns to a whole different level. Every time the Luftwaffe was shown attacking a bomber formation you saw closeups of .50 Brownings being fired by P-47s and P-51s
Combat! ? I sure do. My Pa was a drill instructor during the WWII (his age + dependent kids resulted in stateside assignment , unlike his bachelor brother...) - we watched all that stuff. 12 o'clock High was another favorite.
That is one of my favorites - the empty semi-auto going click click click. The magic cycle ...?
Tommygunn
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I recall that series as well. As for Fw-109s using Browning guns .... a LOT of WW2 stock footage was used .... I have to guess the tv producers had no access to footage of actual German aircraft guns being fired.
I seem to recall an episode of COMBAT! in which a American soldier was being strafed by a Kraut airplane .... with German markings on the wings .... but it was clearly a P-51 Mustang. Ooooooops.
Flintshooter
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McHale’s Navy regularly shows an F4F Wildcat in Japanese markings beginning a dive to strafe. And I don’t think I’ve EVER seen a documentery type show on the Pearl Harbor attack that didn’t include at least one clip - and its always the same exact one - of three Douglas Dauntless dive bombers attacking.I recall that series as well. As for Fw-109s using Browning guns .... a LOT of WW2 stock footage was used .... I have to guess the tv producers had no access to footage of actual German aircraft guns being fired.
I seem to recall an episode of COMBAT! in which a American soldier was being strafed by a Kraut airplane .... with German markings on the wings .... but it was clearly a P-51 Mustang. Ooooooops.
The TV show Mysteries at the Museum had a story on Alvin York that showed soldiers in battle during WWI using flintlocks.
Thanks! ...the kids somehow found the entire series GALLANT MEN and COMBAT ...should be fun to watch. My oldest brother remembers watching both with family who were WWII veterans.
That's really interesting ...the trouble they went through, and I don't think it would happen today. You rarely see or hear about the Reising ...I became interested because I had an uncle who had been issued a Reising as a paramarine.
lysanderxiii
Member
Well, Krags in general might have been issued to read eschelon troops, such as prison guards. But they would most likely be Danish or Norwegian.....
Before I googled this, I couldn't help forming a silly mental image of a soldier jumping off a ship with a parachute...
Outlaw75
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That's one thing that always bothered me about WWII movies, the whole Wehrmacht always seemed to be carrying MP-40's.
Tommygunn
Member
Well, true,there were MP-38s, as well as other models of smgs as well. Hollywood tends to use what is available. Take westerns.... all cowboys in those old 1950-60's westerns almost alway had Colt Peacemakers, because they were very available. But there were many other types of handguns around in the real west. Some of them weren't revolvers ....many that were were percussion, and the there were conversion revolvers of all sorts, anD Opentop Colts.
Hollywood is really just entertainment. Make-believe. Enjoy the film's and tv. Just don't take it too seriously.
Before I googled this, I couldn't help forming a silly mental image of a soldier jumping off a ship with a parachute...
...he would have loved that comment and they used to joke they preferred FLYING DEVIL DOGS. After the Canal the surviving Paras were absorbed into Marine Raiders and the Raiders absorbed into divisions ...I held a Reising at the Marine museum and asked if it was as bad they said. "...it would rust if a careless talker even mentioned the word ISLAND, and most thought the name was spelled RISING because they had to lash the barrel down to the toe of a boot to keep the muzzle from rising."
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