Heroes of Gallipoli
Heroes of Gallipoli contains the only known filmed scenes of the Allied involvement in the Gallipoli Campaign. It is an edited version of an earlier film, With the Dardanelles Expedition. This is amateur film, shot under the most trying conditions, yet it provides unique footage of Gallipoli and some of the most vivid frontline images of the First World War.
Heroes of Gallipoli was deliberately edited to tell a story of Australian military achievement. However, the film footage also tells a story of British and New Zealand action that the intertitles never mention.
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Heroes of Gallipoli
Heroes of Gallipoli contains the only known filmed scenes of the Allied involvement in the Gallipoli Campaign. It is an edited version of an earlier film, With the Dardanelles Expedition. This is amateur film, shot under the most trying conditions, yet it provides unique footage of Gallipoli and some of the most vivid frontline images of the First World War.
Heroes of Gallipoli was deliberately edited to tell a story of Australian military achievement. However, the film footage also tells a story of British and New Zealand action that the intertitles never mention.
Year: 1915 (Retitled and edited 1918)
Length: 18:00
Production Company: Australian War Memorial
Credits: Filmed by: Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett & Ernest Brooks, Re-titled & edited by: C E W Bean.
Source: Australian War Memorial
Catalogue Reference: F26835 Heroes of Gallipoli
Location: Gallipoli, Turkey
This film footage was shot by Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, with the assistance of photographer Ernest Brooks, between July and September 1915. The original version premiered in London in March 1916 under the title With the Dardanelles Expedition. It had no narrative structure, but consisted of scenes in random order. The Australian War Records Section purchased an incomplete copy of the film in 1918. This was edited by the official Australian War Historian C E W Bean and re-titled Heroes of Gallipoli.
Bean served in Gallipoli and visited it again in 1919. No-one had a better knowledge of the campaign, yet his sole interest was Australian achievement. The film shows scenes at Anzac Cove and of the British forces at Cape Helles. The climax is the August offensive on Gallipoli. The embarkation of the British forces from Imbros Island, and the landings at Suvla Bay, are shown, but Bean deliberately uses the Suvla scenes of trench fighting and artillery bombardments to represent the Australian fighting at Lone Pine.