Hollywood Histories Revealed

Often, our first exposure to some of the most remarkable stories from the past comes from watching movies with the famous epithet “based on a true story”. But so often the story in the movie is far from reality. Sometimes, characters are changed to suit a writer or director’s whim, sometimes events happen out of order, or parts of the story are altered, and sometimes the whole thing is a complete fabrication. So how to separate fact from fiction? That’s where Hollywood Histories Revealed comes in. Over the next 100+ pages, we’ll tell you what really happened. If you enjoy reading this bookazine, don’t forget you can get more great stories from the past every month in History Revealed magazine. editor@historyrevealed.com…

Mel Gibson’s biopic of the Scottish patriot William Wallace is one of the most controversial historical films ever made. !e debates surrounding the film can be corralled into two opposing camps. Its detractors regard it as a historical farrago. Like Gibson’s other forays into history, Braveheart is by turns cloyingly sentimental and savagely violent, and the past is twisted and distorted to suit these ends. Numerous articles, books and websites have been written detailing its falsehoods. Nevertheless, its admirers enjoy it as an action-packed epic and as a celebration of Scottish heroism, history and heritage. Not since the musical Brigadoon "1954# had a film so lovingly featured bagpipes, kilts and misty highland landscapes. !ese qualities, together with the film’s celebration of the rebellion of a common man against an authoritarian…

The 20th July 1944 was a stiflingly hot day in the muggy forests of East Prussia, where Hitler plotted the progress of the war in his military headquarters known as the ‘Wolf’s Lair’. Hitler’s generals dreaded their visits to this gloomy, isolated spot – one referred to it as “a cross between a monastery and a concentration camp” – but their attendance at the military briefings was compulsory. So just after noon on that day, in a conference hut with windows opened in the hope of a breeze, some 21 officers, two stenographers and the Führer himself sat down at a long and heavy oak conference table to consider the latest dispatches. "e news was not good. Russian troops advancing along the Eastern Front were little more than 60 miles…

S olomon Northup published 12 Years a Slave – an account of his kidnapping and the ensuing years of captivity when he was forced to live as a slave in the Deep South of the United States – in January 1853. !e book’s first-hand account of southern brutality astonished readers in the North, and it became an instant bestseller. Now, 161 years later, the story is making a great impact again. !e film adaptation of Northup’s memoir has been acclaimed by critics and historians alike for its unflinching portrayal of American slavery. As a major Hollywood success, both financially and in terms of its many awards, 12 Years... may signal a new willingness in the US to come to terms with this most depraved aspect of the nation’s history. SOLD…

Films about the British monarchy have long centred on the most charismatic rulers and legendary moments of crisis or triumph during their reign. Henry VIII and Elizabeth I figure prominently in this tradition, and each has been portrayed by a string of fine actors. _e King’s Speech, by contrast, is remarkable for bringing to the screen one of Britain’s least imposing monarchs, King George VI, and for dramatising the hitherto littleknown problem of his stammer. It is even more remarkable for making this shy, awkward figure a sympathetic and compelling character, and for illuminating the transformation of the monarchy in the age of mass media. George VI was born in 1895 as Prince Albert, the second son of the future King George V and Queen Mary. He was known within…

The masterly space drama Apollo 13 opens on a historic night for NASA and human history: 20 July 1969. Among the millions glued to their televisions to watch Neil Armstrong walk on the Moon was fellow astronaut Jim Lovell (played in the 1995 blockbuster by Tom Hanks). Lovell was Armstrong’s backup and had gone into space three times – twice in the Gemini programme, as well as orbiting the Moon with Apollo 8. What happened nearly nine months on from that one small step changed his life and will be remembered as a tale of heroism in the face of overwhelming odds. UNLUCKY LAUNCH Apollo 13 is hailed for its accuracy. So cinematic was the real-life mission that when director Ron Howard called for feedback after the premiere, one person…