Released: December 4, 2019 (London), December  25, 2019 (United States), January 10, 2020 (UK)

Director:   Sam Mendes

Written By:  Sam Mendes, Krysty Wilson-Cairns

Stars:   George MacKay (Lance Corporal William “Will” Schofield), Dean-Charles Chapman (Lance Corporal Thomas “Tom” Blake), Mark Strong, Andrew Scott, Richard Madden, Claire Duburcq, Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch

Plot:  April 6th, 1917. As a regiment assembles to wage war deep in enemy territory, two soldiers are assigned to race against time and deliver a message that will stop 1,600 men from walking straight into a deadly trap.

How did this movie do:
Budget:  $95 million
Box office: $385 million

1917 received ten nominations at the 92nd Academy Awards, winning for Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects. It received three nominations at the 77th Golden Globe Awards and won two awards: for Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Director. It also received eight nominations at the 25th Critics’ Choice Awards, winning three awards, including Best Director, and nine nominations at the 73rd British Academy Film Awards, winning the most awards – seven, including Best Film, Best Director and Outstanding British film. It was chosen by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute as one of the top ten films of the year.

• On April 6, 1917, the United States formally declared war against Germany and entered the conflict in Europe. Fighting since the summer of 1914, Britain, France, and Russia welcomed news that American troops and supplies would be directed toward the Allied war effort.
  
  
• Sir Sam Mendes (director) and Lee Smith (editor) stated that despite the apparently continuous shot (broken only by one interval of unconsciousness), there were actually dozens of “invisible” edits, concealed by transitions through black, moves behind objects, and so on. According to Mendes, the shortest unbroken shot was 39 seconds long, while the longest single continuous shot was 8 1/2 minutes long.
  
  
• It took 6 months for the actors to rehearse the movie before shooting started.
  
  
• Inspired by Sir Sam Mendes’ grandfather’s experiences in WWI: “The Autobiography of Alfred H. Mendes 1897-1991.”
  
  
• Over 5,200 feet of trenches were dug for the film (just under one mile).
  
  
• The lighting rig used for the burning church was five stories high and consisted of 2,000 1K tungsten lamps, a total of 2 megawatts. It was one of, if not the largest, lighting rigs ever built for a film. According to director Sir Sam Mendes, the ‘burning church’ was the largest rig ever created by his DP Sir Roger Deakins. This myriad of lights was transformed into the ‘blazing inferno’ by visual effects in post.
  
  
• One of the biggest headaches for the film crew was a cigarette lighter that wouldn’t work on cue in one scene, leading to several retakes and wasting most of a day’s filming.
  
  
• Sections of the film were shot in and around Low Force, on the River Tees, Teesdale in June 2019. The production staff posted signs warning walkers in the area not be alarmed by the bodies strewn around.
  
  
• The flares flying over the ruined town were suspended on wires in order to control the direction of the shadows they cast. They were also designed to burn with a warmer color that was closer to tungsten light.
  
  
• Cinematographer Sir Roger Deakins won a total of 40 awards for his work in the movie.
  
  
• Soldiers drink alcohol in many scenes. During WWI, battle rations included 2.5 fluid ounces (70 mL) of alcohol. Soldiers behind the lines got it twice a week. Those on the front lines got it daily, with double rations when they went “over the top.”
  
  
• Sir Sam Mendes saw Paths of Glory (1957) when he was about 10 years old. When he reviewed it while preparing to make this film, he realized the long, uninterrupted tracking shots in Stanley Kubrick’s WWI drama were not as lengthy as most people thought.
  
  
• The movie was shot from April to June 2019 in Wiltshire, Hankley Common, and Govan, Scotland, as well as Shepperton Studios. Conservationists, concerned that filming on Salisbury Plain could disturb potentially undiscovered remains in the area, requested an archaeological survey be conducted before any set construction began.
  
  
• This is Sir Sam Mendes’s first official writing credit.
  
  
• The retreat of the German forces was a part of a real event called Operation Alberich. It was a tactical German retreat to the old Hindenburg Line which was more easily defended. However, the date the movie provides is in error as Operation Alberich took place from February 9th to March 20th 1917. What is real is the devastation and booby traps the German forces left while retreating.
  
  
• Because changing focal lengths would (in most cases) cause the hidden edits to become apparent, the majority of the film was shot on a single 40mm lens.
  
  
• In an interview, Krysty Wilson-Cairns said that George MacKay never left the day of shooting without shaking everyone’s hand. He knew everyone’s name, he had time for everyone on set; all the assistants, all the runners, he knew everybody’s name. He spent a lot of time learning about them and learning about their lives.
  
  
• The verse that Schofield recites to the French baby is part of the poem “The Jumblies” by Edward Lear. The poem could be seen as a metaphor for Blake and Schofield’s mission. (“Though the sky be dark, and the voyage be long, Yet we never can think we were rash or wrong…”)
  
  
• Blake mentions to his superior officer that he was hoping to be home by Christmas. When the war broke out in 1914, many people infamously predicted the conflict would end by Christmas that year, but the war would go on till 1918. In Christmas 1914, both the sides of the war, especially the British and Germans, sang carols, mingled with each other, exchanged gifts, and even played football (soccer) together. However, from 1915 fraternizing with the enemy was forbidden.
  
  
• First prestige war film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects in nearly 50 years. The last prestige war films to be nominated were Patton (1970) and Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), with the latter film taking the prize.
  
  
• Sir Roger Deakins reveals a total of 48 edits in his commentary on the film.
  
  
• The film is dedicated to Sir Sam Mendes’ grandfather, a Lance Corporal in The Kings Royal Rifle Corps during The Great War. The Kings Royal Rifle Corps merged with The Royal Green Jackets in 1966, then merged with other “Red Coat” regiments to form The Rifles in 2007.
  
  
• Rats are seen feeding on a corpse of a dead soldier. Rats were an infamous problem in the war, as they feasted on bodies of the dead and reportedly grew as big as cats.
  
  
• German trenches were in much better condition than British trenches. The Germans anticipated the war would last a long time, and tried to make their trenches comfortable as possible, with underground bunkers and even electricity in some parts.
  
  
• In conjunction with costume designer Jacqueline Durran, sound designer Stuart Wilson experimented with various fabrics in which to conceal wireless lavalier mics on the actors, testing the noise of various wool and leather materials.
  
  
• This is Sir Sam Mendes’s second war film. His first was Jarhead (2005).
  
  
• The two collisions that Schofield has with two soldiers were unplanned but George Mackay continued running. The rule on set was to keep acting no matter what, until director Sam Mendes said cut.
  
  
• Other than images in the family photos, the young woman who offered Schofield shelter, and the young baby she’s caring for, are the only female characters to appear in the film.
  
  
• The movie was filmed and edited to make it seem like one continuous shot. Alfred Hitchcock created this effect 71 years previously in Rope.
  
  
• Schofield encounters two German soldiers named Baumer and Muller. Both characters are in “All Quiet on the Western Front,” a 1929 book that depicted struggles of German soldiers in World War 1.
  
  
• This film, to an extent, can be considered the British version of All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). Like the latter film, this film centers on young men trying to survive the horrors of the Western Front with Schofield being the main protagonist while the other film centered on the Germans.
  
  
• Schofield is seen loading 5 rounds into his rifle. Later on, he shoots 9 times without reloading. This is because the Lee-Enfield magazine holds 10 rounds, but were usually only loaded with 1 clip of 5 to save the magazine spring. They are preparing 10 rounds for battle.
  
  
• Sam Mendes persuaded many of the stars in the supporting cast to appear small roles on the condition that they would not be asked to promote the film when it was released.
  
  
• Early in the movie Blake and Schofield discuss Schofield trading a medal he earned for a bottle of wine. Blake, confused, tells Schofield it’s more than just a piece of tin. Later, the letter from the General would’ve been destroyed in the river if it wasn’t in Schofield’s tin case.
  
  
• Became the first war film to win Best Visual Effects since Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970).
  
  
• The partners are both corporals. In the First World War the casualty rate among corporals was extremely high because the NCOs would be ahead of their men when advancing. Many who were elevated to the rank of corporal during boot camp would rip off their stripes on the boat to France so that they would have a better chance of surviving.
  
  
• No location is ever repeated due to the constant momentum in real time.
  
  
• Whenever we see ravens, they were also filmed on blue screen and digitally placed in the scene where we see the dead in the bomb craters.
  
  
• Hope is a dangerous thing was also said by Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redemption (1994).
  
  
• Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Strong, and Colin Firth all previously appeared in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011).
  
  
• Richard Madden and Dean-Charles Chapman both appeared in Game of Thrones (2011).
  
  
• Benedict Cumberbatch and Andrew Scott previously worked together on the series Sherlock (2010), with Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Scott as James Moriarty. Also, Mark Strong played the villain, Lord Henry Blackwood, in Sherlock Holmes (2009), starring Robert Downey Jr.
  
  
• For the scene in which maggots crawl over a dead man, the maggots were purchased from a fishing tackle shop the previous day. They were kept in the fridge in the provided container with sufficient ventilation. The maggots were later placed on a large blue sheet spread out in front of the camera. The film of those maggots was then digitally placed on the man’s face via CGI.
  
  
• The film, as the title says, takes place in 1917. This was the year the Battle of Passchendale took place, which was infamous for the muddy battlefields.
  
  
• Schofield reveals his first name as William. He goes by “Schofield” because solders are traditionally addressed by their surname.
  
  
• The final scene of Schofield finding Lieutenant Blake and presenting him with his brother’s rings was the very first take according to Sir Sam Mendes and Lee Smith.
  
  
• An extra said, “I can’t help but laugh at the final shot at the tree. About 100 extras used that tree to urinate on as the toilets were so far away. We had no idea that the ending would take place with the main actor sitting under it!”
  
  
• Sir Sam Mendes says his grandfather Alfred, who entered WWI as a 17-year-old in 1916, carried messages through no-man’s land. He was 5’4″ tall and was often hidden by the winter mist that reached as high as 6 feet. Two years in the muddy trenches left Alfred with a lifelong habit of washing his hands frequently. He didn’t talk about his wartime experiences until he was in his 70s.
  
  
• Blake’s face gets paler and paler as he bleeds to death. According to Sir Sam Mendes and Sir Roger Deakins, absolutely no post-production work was done to achieve this affect – Dean-Charles Chapman achieved it entirely on his own.
  
  
• When Schofield plunges into a river filled with dead bodies, Sir Sam Mendes describes this was meant to remind the audience of the mythical River Styx, bordering Hell. Especially as this scene evolves and lone hero Schofield is soon led to safety as he follows the ethereal solo voice of a singing comrade, the narrative seems to shift from a tone of naturalism to one of epic myth.
  
  
• The two main characters’ first names are not revealed until the end of the film.
  
  
• The events involving the found milk being added to the canteen and later given to a woman looking after a baby that is not her own are almost certainly inspired by an almost identical account given by Sergeant Richard Tobin, Hood Battalion, Royal Naval Division that occurred during the fall of Antwerp in October 1914. The account ends “The British government had lost a water-bottle, but a baby found a meal”
  
  
• Despite being such a graphic war film, only four soldiers are shown to be killed in combat: The German pilot, Lance Corporal Blake, the German sentry by the bridge, and the German soldier strangled. There are many soldiers behind Cpl. Schofield in the final charge who are seen falling from presumed gunfire or caught in explosions.
  
  
• The opening and closing scenes of 1917 both show Lance Corporal Schofield sitting against a tree. This was done to create two book ends on the film, but also to give a feeling of a journey being completed.
  
  
• When Schofield stumbles upon a female French civilian who’s caring for an orphaned infant, she asks him if he has any children of his own. Schofield doesn’t answer, but the glimpse of the photo he carries with him at the end shows that he does.
  
  
• Lance Corporal Blake consistently hesitates to kill, even when necessary. His hesitancy to kill the tripwire rat in the trenches mirrors his failure to kill the German pilot that would go on to take his life. He says “I knew I should have shot that rat,” but doesn’t learn his lesson.
  
  
• Schofield’s uniform is a good indicator of his mental state. At the start, he’s in full kit and somewhat chatty but irritable. By the time he loses his helmet and rifle, he is panicked and terrified. After losing his webbing, down to his basic uniform, Schofield breaks down sobbing before dazedly stumbling towards a group of soldiers, barely able to speak.
  
  
• Lieutenant Blake is briefly visible on the blood-soaked photo Corporal Blake shows Schofield as he’s dying.
  
  
• Even though Schofield and Blake are the main characters in the film, Blake dies before the halfway mark of the film.