I am a Briton who really likes Americans , but it pees me off when films change history ,the latest being the American ship capturing the top secret enigma machine ,changing the course of the war,true story but it was Brits who did it .reactions !
To be fair, it has been pointed out by other posters here that the film in question never claimed to accurately represent particular events. It may have been our glorious media up to predictable tricks.
Besides, I suspect Carry On Columbus may not quite have been a genuine historical documentary.
It does not matter that these films don’t claim to reperesent the events accurately, what matters is that It kids most viewers (most of those being Americans) into believing in the story. They may not reperesent the facts, but they do nothing to make that fact obvious.
It pees me off too. I would have also liked to see at least some acknowledgement that Brits took part in the Normandy Landings in the film ‘Saving Private Ryan’.
Not that I/we are not eternaly greatful for the true parts that America did play in the war/s.
I understand your point, but it is not always possible without destroying the story or failing to represent some other equally significant group. Saving Private Ryan was about US soldiers, traced from the US landings at Omaha beach; the British did not land there. Forcing the inclusion of the British would have been difficult without ruining the point of the film; it would also be arguable that equal attention should be paid to the Canadian troops, and those of other nationalities.
Well it didn’t go down like the movie, but don’t forget us 'mericans did capture our very own Enigma machine. Two in fact. And the U-boat they were stored in. If you ever get to Chicago, you can tour the U-505.
The capture was the idea of Capt. D.V. Gallery.
Capt Gallery later made admiral, before retiring and writing several books.
Take heart, ** crawf54**. If the average American is anything like me, not only do they not think the movie is histoically accurate, they’ve never seen it, nor even knew of its existance. Since the film has gotten a mere 209 votes on IMDB, I don’t think I’m off the mark…
You mean, things like the British documentary “Breaking the Sound Barrier” that said it was the Brits who broke Mach 1 first?
Link (near bottom).
So the OP’s point is???
Wasn’t the story behind Master and Commander originally about an American ship?
If so, then you’re getting some fair turnaround in that regard…
Not really. In the book, I believe, the bad guy is Yank, not French. The movie simply made the whole point more palatable to the American audience by declining to make Yanks the villains.
I can see no reason to have misrepresented the truth in the movie about the enigma.
BTW, if you want to see one of the machines, there is one on display at the Smithsonian.
The real issue isn’t that Americans filmmakers like to inappropriately distribute credit for historical achievements. The problem is that Britain doesn’t have a competitive film industry that can make blockbuster films about historical events and take back credit.
Blah blah blah The Commitments, My Left Foot, Shallow Grave, Snatch, Trainspotting… all immaterial. For every internationally successful film that comes out of Britain, a dozen come out of Hollywood. It’s our own fault and nobody else’s.
Got to agree about the British film industry they dont seem to want to make watchable films anymore they`re too busy trying to raise our social awareness.
Jeez, I know the state of British filmmaking is sad but that doesn’t mean you need to claim Irish films as your own as well.
I was under the impression (having originally thought the same thing about that film in particular) that nobody associated with the film claimed it was a representation of the first capture - if I’m wrong, I’m heading back to that thread to point it out again.
Well it’s obviously a work of fiction then, isn’t it? You don’t get American bad guys in international situations. Not from Hollywood’s viewpoint anyway.
The French, however, are filling in where the Russians left off, being a nation of bad guys.
Eh, Master and Commander takes place 200-some-odd years ago, when Mr. Napolean was indeed a rather nasty fellow. The bad guy’s ship is built by the Americans.
That rather depends on which side you were on.
Yeah, Hollywood is happy to pass the bad guy role onto the French, but couldn’t face handing over the engineering quality of the ship too.
I think it’s called having your cake and eating it. 
According to the director’s commentary for the movie Enigma, a scene that gave proper credit for the seizure of the code books that allowed the cracking of the code was included in response to U-571.
Not that very many people noticed, of course. It was a small movie and not a blockbuster.