One of my all time favourite war movies. The film re-enacts the famous paratroop landing at Arnhem by the British and Canadians the agonising and bitter fight while surrounded by the Germans.
What makes this film of interest is that the actors in this film are the actual Allied troops who fought the battle. As an added bonus the re-enactment was filmed on location in Arnhem and features the local inhabitants playing themselves.
The films opening sequence was shot in a Nissan hut and as the camera pans down a row of beds with soldiers lying on them while the narrator introduces them by name, occupation and town of residence.
Most of the movie proper is a series of re-enactments combined with actual footage shot during the battle. The standard of acting is pretty good but a couple of the speaches made to the men are well wooden to say the least. But by the same token I've seen a lot worse.
One thing that amazes me is how closely many scenes in the famous movie A Bridge Too Far resemble those in Theirs is the Glory. A co-incidence perhaps?
During the closing scenes of the movie it is mentioned that of the 10,000 troops who landed, scarcely 2000 survived. Bearing this in mind the closing scene is not only harrowing but also one of the most moving I've ever seen as the view pans down the same barracks but showing empty beds and a few disheveled tired men with the haunting words 'just ordinary men'