Retro Review: Rebecca (1940)

Recently I had the absolute pleasure to watch 1940's Rebecca directed by none other than that supreme suspense shooter, Alfred Hitchcock. As perhaps is no secret, I'm a huge fan of retro films, whether colored or black and white. Alfred Hitchcock of course, is a film giant who is well known for his mystery and suspense. The book which Rebecca is based on is - criminally I am told - unknown by the greater public nowadays. Penned in the 1930s and published in 1938 by Daphne du Maurier, it tells the tale of all the tragic goings on at Manderly, the ancestral home of the de Winter family.

That the book was an amazing success would be an understatement. Going from smash hit to box office in two years is pretty exceptional in this time period. What was also exceptional was that Alfred Hitchcock, who wanted to make the film more 'funny' was told no. One just didn't do that to Hitchcock! With that in mind however, Hitchcock still delivers his classic thriller drama and shows off some amazing camera work in this film! It won two Academy Awards, and in 2018 it was chosen for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Beginning in the South of France (as one does in the 1930s when dealing with the British upper crust) at Monte Carlo, we come across our nameless protagonist (Joan Fontaine) as she serves as a paid companion to the stuffy and overly chatty Edythe Van Hopper. One morning, while out for a stroll, she oversees a man she assumes is moments away from commit suicide, so she calls to him. The man, visibly annoyed, tells her to mind her own business, but does not jump.

She next encounters him with Edythe, and learns that he is in fact Maximilian de Winter (Laurence Oliviere) the heir of the great de Winter family. Our nameless protagonist is timid and used to being pushed around, and Max, as he likes to be called, is forceful in his ways. However, he takes her on a whirlwind romance and, unexpectedly, asks her to marry him.

From there, she is whisked away to the Manderly estate, the realm of the great de Winter family. There she is introduced to the eerie Mrs. Danvers, the matron of the household staff and begins to see that tragedy haunts the halls of Manderly. A specific specter lingers over her as well, that is the ghost of Maxim's former wife, the eponymous Rebecca.

The film does an excellent job of ratcheting up the tension from the opening shots, to the claustrophobic moments where we zoom in on a character's face to see their terror written plainly across it. The atmosphere and the acting is all geared towards making you fear for the poor nameless protagonist as she is thrust into a new world which is strange and alien to her, and one haunted by a vengeful dead woman.

Fontaine portrays her nervous and bewildered character well. She has nervous ticks, slouching and constantly rubbing her hands together when feeling stressed. Cringing away from others, but especially the terrifying Mrs. Danvers who proves to be her indomitable adversary.

Mrs. Danvers (played by Judith Anderson) becomes a horror in her own right. While outwardly severe and at least maintaining the facade of the new Mrs. de Winter being in charge, she bullies and cajoles Maxim's new wife and attempts to drive her away. She is fanatically loyal to her former employer, even after her death.

Rebecca is a phantom in this film. Having died one year before the events of the film we know her only by her reputation and the effect of even mentioning her to Maxim has. Her rooms in the West Wing are all off limits, and maintained by Danvers as a mausoleum to her deceased employer. Her grace, beauty, and effortless excellence is often commented upon in relation to our poor nameless protagonist.

Perhaps the best scene in the whole film is one where we are tracing Rebecca's last steps. Almost done entirely in narrative, with the rare presence of an actor, it uses the camera, props, and the rising and falling in the voice of Maxim to stage and follow the scene. In this scene, we get a sense of the never seen character, Rebecca. It is, put simply, a masterpiece of film. You are lead around and can practically picture the character there, even though you never once see her directly in the film. The narrative is so gripping and intense with revelation that you cannot look away.

Hitchcock of course, does an excellent job setting atmosphere with his work in the film. From creepy dissolves where Mrs. Danvers ghostly face fades menacingly into another object, to well cut footage of characters in states of shock, anxiety, or grief. With less camera angles than a modern director could manage without, he uses easy shots to capture your attention and fix you on specific points within range, all the points he wants you to see. His method of shooting the film "in camera" was designed to make the film one seamless production from start to finish. He rejected some of the more melodramatic suggestions of the producers and manages to create a grand spectacle of cinematography.

Of course, the film is not completely faithful to the novel. While there is heavy emphasis on the perfect nature of our ghostly Rebecca and the emphasis is on our nameless protagonist, each fall short of du Maurier's vision. Her work wanted to emphasize how different Rebecca was from the standard female protagonist (while also making her something of a victim) and using our nameless protagonist as a victim of her society, being dominated by her husband, who must have things just so. This sadly is not picked up on by most, and the protagonist becomes attached (perhaps from Stockholm Syndrome) to Maxim and hopelessly devoted to him.

Oliviere plays the forceful and haunted Maxim well. Blustering between goodnatured enthusiasm to temperamentally domineering, going into a frenzy when he is reminded in almost any way of the dead Rebecca. His brooding nature is revealed gradually throughout the film, but he is never anything but controlling in his mannerisms.

The supporting cast is well rounded, from Maxim's devoted servants and to his manager and friend Frank Crawley. They all bring their subtle and powerful moments to the story.

The score, while appropriate for a 1940s audience, will probably grate and frustrate a 21st century audience. Relying on string music to bring in the tension, it is appropriately discordant at times, while also seeming confusing and out of place at others. It was an issue in evolution and though I do understand how it is supposed to work, I find that my ears just don't like string music in supposedly comforting scenes vs tense ones.

Rebecca, though, is a great film if you're looking for something suspenseful and shocking. The twists are all amazing, and you will be on the edge of your seat as our poor nameless protagonist tries to unravel the mysteries of Manderly. Another retro film I encourage you to see.

Some Quick Streaming for January and February

Just in the last few days I've learned of some interesting series and films coming up. I'm hoping to share them with you so you too can enjoy what promises to be a fascinating few hours of Netflix and streaming.

Firstly, we have the History Channel. True to form, having moved on from history and WWII to aliens and conspiracies is broadcasting the historical drama Project Blue Book which will be a 10 episode series following Josef Allen Hynek who in real life was involved with the aforementioned Project Blue Book, one of several studies undertaken by the US to determine the existence of UFO's and whether or not they were real.

The subject of constant investigation and curiosity, it will I think, make for some interesting watching. Whether the History Channel will continue its proud tradition of mucking about with real history remains to be seen though. However, a perusal of the real Project Blue Book does make for some interesting reading all its own.

Secondly we have the Netflix film IO which premiers January 18th. Set on a post-apocalyptic Earth made toxic by global warming, humanity has largely evacuated their home world to colonize the Jovian System, specifically Io. Some however, have been left behind. We will be following the efforts of Sam (the daughter of scientist Henry Walden) and another survivor named Micah. They are hoping to make it to the last launch of a rocket leaving for Jupiter. The question is whether they can survive the toxic wasteland which used to be Earth to get there.

On January 25th we get the absolutely bonkers action flick (adopted from the graphic novel of the same name) Polar. A retired hitman, settling into a life in a remote Alaskan town, only for the assassin company he worked for to try and 'appropriate' his retirement policy by trying to kill him and kidnapping his one friend. He goes on a rip snorting bloody string of vengeance in a familiar trope, but one that looks like it will be simply epic.

In February we have two spooky ones coming out.

Firstly is one which I had the pleasure of seeing on Halloween a few years ago. Happy Death Day was Groundhog Day meets Scream, which was an admittedly amusing combination. Now we have a sequel just in time for Valentine's Day. Happy Death Day 2 U. With a similar premise, but now more people are effected by the Ground Hog Day like experience, and maybe this will try answering the weird issues which surround how it got started in the first place.

Though I'm not sure how I feel about this sequel, I'm very open to giving it a shot.

Secondly we have Velvet Buzzsaw which seems to be an intriguing look into the high art world through a horror lens. When an unknown artist is found dead, his works seem to come to life and exact grizzly revenge on those who used the art world for money. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal and other amazing people such as Renee Russo and John Malkovich, it looks like it will be an amazing romp through the high art world with some bloody massacres in between!

So there's some good entertainment, terrifying and action packed, coming up. Stay tuned for it!

Vice 2018: The Cheney Story

On December 27th, 2018, I went to see a film with my family which I had originally seen the trailer for in October. That trailer was for the film Vice starring Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Steve Carell and San Rockwell, among others. Written and directed by Adam McKay (known for such classy films like Talladaga Nights, Step Brothers, The Other Guys). It purports to tell the narrative of the rise of one of the most infamous and powerful Vice Presidents in American history, the VP to Bush Junior, Richard "Dick" Cheney.

With its all-star cast, interesting subject matter, and definitely controversial interpretation of the VP, I was definitely interested to see the story it had to tell. The film begins by openly stating that they had a difficult time gathering information on one of the most secretive VP's in history, but they did their best.

There's a cold open where the VP is evacuated to the bunker beneath the White House in response to the September 11th Attacks, and where he gives unilateral authority to shoot down planes to Donald Rumsfeld, ignoring the fact that he does not have authority from the president to do so. Setting the stage in 1963, we see a younger Dick Cheney (Christian Bale) being pulled over for drunk driving.

A sudden flashback and flashforward is not the first time the film will play fast and loose with the timeline for 'artistic merit' so be prepared for a few jarring moves backwards and forwards. This all helped by our fictitious narrator,  Kurt, who relates much of Cheney's life and an interpretation of events.

We pick up with a tale of Dick marrying Lynne Cheney, but failing out of Yale and barely managing to keep a job due to a combination of alcoholism and constant brawling. Berated by his wife, he vows to do better. Jumping forward once again, we see he is a congressional intern and is falling under the wing of then economic adviser to President Nixon, Donald Rumsfeld. Under Rumsfeld's tutelage he becomes a canny political operator, and one of the few men who survives the Watergate scandal. Using this to climb the ladder of political power, he is knocked off by the election of Democratic President Jimmy Carter, stalling his journey into the seats of national influence, for now.

From here we see Cheney's emerging heart problems and his time going forward to becoming Vice President under George W. Bush. All narrated by our fictional narrator Kurt, whose role becomes much clearer later on.

Now it must really be noted that from here on out, the film, while it has made no bones about having a bias against Cheney, goes into overdrive to frame the various scandals surrounding the man as a bid to control American policy through a nitwit president.

McKay's work in the past with mostly comedies (and notoriously immature ones at that) shines through at times. Some of the jokes do feel weak and childish, but for a film coming from a primarily comedy producer and director, it is shocking he delivers some great scenes and chilling pieces of dialogue depicting this man. As someone who really doesn't like any of his previous work, that he manages to deliver moments worth of House of Cards is very impressive.

Despite the intention to create a dramatic film, elements of farce or parody seep in. Whether being overly dramatic intentionally or unintentionally, scenes seem written around what is amusing rather than what is going to grip the audiences attention. This creates mood whiplash in the audience as you may go from a scene portraying torture to witty asides by our narrator and intentionally comedic commentary. This can work, but here it feels as though McKay is sticking to his strengths.

While Vice does make sure it lines up with known facts, it has no problems with filling in the blanks about Cheney's motivations and actions with informed speculation. So anyone who was predisposed to like Mr. Cheney will find the film a total hatchet job, while anyone who is opposed to him will see it as a]well informed assessment of the man. The film even pokes fun at its obvious slant by taking a not so subtle swipe at the audience in an end credits scene.

Now we could debate the known facts, the innuendo and the speculation around former VP Dick Cheney forever, but that really doesn't answer the question of whether this film is any good.

For my own personal taste, the way the film leaps back and forth throughout the timeline in delivering 'artistic' speeches seems a bit contrived, and sheds no real light on the supposed motivations of Cheney as a character. Cutting to scenes of his unruly younger years, spliced with his early years in the Nixon White House and accompanied by powerful poses of the elderly man we all know in the halls of power really don't add much to the film. Some attempts to inform his motives also fell a little flat, as they passed into parody territory which detracted from the film at inconvenient times.

Some scenes are darkly humorous, such as when Cheney's heart condition is often played for laughs to break moments of tension, or Rumsfeld's character is a hoot for how cynically irreverent he is. However, in some scenes, such as when the film breaks for Dick and Lynne to speak to each other in Shakespearian verse, go on too long and seem unflattering to the overall pacing of the film. (Though McKay has a thing for this kind of dialogue, and his ending scene echoing Richard III works well).

The acting, though, is phenomenal. Bale comes to life as this reserved, powerful and calculating character. You do feel as though he is playing a scheming, flawed and power hungry man which is echoed on by Adams portrayal of a powerful woman who seeks to advance through her husband, each using the other to bring their dreams of power and influence into a reality.

The supporting cast also bring this tense Washington gang together. Steve Carell as Donald Rumsfeld is an unexpected treat, as he goes from fawning mentor to betrayed underling across the decades. Bush Junior by Sam Rockwell is good, but genuinely unflattering to the former president. The pained portrayal of Colin Powell by Tyler Perry of a man trying to reign in the excesses of a power hungry cabinet member while obeying the orders of his President is endearing, and does make you feel for him despite the implication he was betraying his integrity by carrying out the tasks assigned to him. Justin Kirk as the scheming sidekick Scooter Libby makes one think of the dead eyed Steven Miller who goes to bat for President Trump every so often.

Though Bale and Adams steal the show, one cannot overlook the performance of Allison Pill as Mary Cheney. A story the film plays to the hilt is Cheney's unwillingness to compromise the support of his daughter despite her being a lesbian, something notably opposed by the right-wing Cheney also supports. Her support for her father and her initial troubled coming out are all powerful scenes, making the ending of that troubled relationship all the more meaningful.

Powerful performances as those delivered by Bale and Pill are why I think this movie ought to be seen. Bale is amazing on screen, jumping into this persona with gusto, which should be applauded. It really does deserve every award it has been up for.

Ultimately the film, though not without flaws, will be enjoyed based on the audiences political leanings. It has been divisive amongst critics for that reason, though I dare say not that reason only. Some jokes and scenes are legitimately hamfisted, some of the comedy fairly weak, and portions of the script could certainly have been improved upon. The acting saves it from being a mediocre, while showcasing a series of definitely award winning performances.

For Christian Bale's act as one of the most powerful VP's alone, this film is worth watching at least once.

2018 Recap

I'm happy to say I have had a successful year in 2018. In recap I finished my goals for 2018 in writing (major submission of a novella to Tor) and began new goals, writing a horror anthology which I hope to release now in 2019, working on other short stories for submission, and increasing my blog output.

I also accomplished my goal of reading over 50 books this year, coming in at 51, though I quibble if reading a series of anthologies counts, I've been informed it should so I nicely just squeak over the line.

I'm setting a new goal for 2019, aiming for 60 books read. It's realistic and I hope to make a good dent in that goal in the coming months!

Projects coming up in 2019 now:

• Completing my short story anthology for Halloween 2019, which includes the work in progress short stories Finiphobia, Priests of the White God, and adding two other stories, one a work in progress (which I aim to be longer) and the already complete The Disappearance of Wilson and these I'm aiming to release in October 2019!
• Working on completing a travelogue of my time crossing the Pacific and back, which has been under way for about a year. It will chronicle my visit to Hawaii and Australia and my first time dipping my feet in the Pacific, with visits to Honolulu, Pearl Harbor, and Adelaide. Hopefully a short humorous piece. Tentatively preparing for a February release.
• Work on other as yet secret projects which I won't reveal too much about. One is science fiction and another is a long term fantasy project. Both are hopefully going to reach novel length at 100,000 words.

These projects, among other things, should keep me busy through the coming year. Lots to do and much to be accomplished!

All in all 2018 was a very good year for me. Personally, professionally, and writing wise. Happy New Year everyone!

Overlord

A few weeks ago, yes I've been a bit busy, I went and saw the film Overlord with a friend of mine. Billed as a WWII horror film, it generated a lot of buzz as it was helmed by a black actor in a WWII film. This, in and of itself, was rather remarkable. Black characters in horror movies have a stereotype of being quickly killed or reduced to secondary characters. With this trend being more reversed in recent years, it was understandable that this film should seem like it would bring something new to the table.

A firm WWII setting seemed like it would generate some good visuals, and theories ranged from Nazi zombies, to something set in the same universe as Cloverfield. With the film being produced by well known sci-fi personality J. J. Abrams, this wasn't an unrealistic probability. Soon we learned it was an independent production.

So did Overlord overwhelm me like Operation Overlord overwhelmed the Nazis?

Well, it mostly did.

The film opens in daylight, and we see that a stunning amount of the CGI budget must have gone towards these opening shots. We get lovingly rendered shots of the invasion fleet moving across the Channel to invade Fortress Europe, as the paratroopers fly overhead towards their objective.

Bear with me here, I'm going to be putting on my pedantic historian's hat a few times. Choosing to blow lots of CGI money on this scene feels really weird. Not only does it not make sense (the paratroopers would have been flying over at night, well in advance of the invasion fleet) but it causes some weird disjointedness in the film's timeline. It really seems like a bizarre waste of money, but ah well.

On the plane our main characters are all progressively introduced. The oft derided and ill thought of Ed Boyce (our black protagonist), the far too talkative Jacob Rosenfeld, the horrendously stereotyped Italian-American Tibbet, the no-nonsense Corporal Ford who is attached to make sure the paratroopers objective goes smoothly, the forgettable Dawson, random photographer Morton Chase  and the strangely compelling Sergeant Eldson.

Boyce is something of an enigma, but comes off as wishy-washy at first. Sgt. Eldson (played by Bokeem Woodbine) comes off as the much more interesting character. Tragically, the movie plays for keeps and the plane is soon blown out of the sky, many of the paratroopers along with it. In a truly well choreographed scene, Boyce is falling until he hits a patch of water and has to cut himself loose. He meets up with Ford, just in time to watch Eldson get whacked by the Nazis. Which is a crying shame, but does show that the film is not going to give anyone any mercy if they can avoid it.

The survivors of the crash landing, Boyce, Ford, Tibbet, Chase, and Dawson, regroup and make towards their objective. A radio tower where the Nazis could call in strikes on the landing beaches.

This motley crew overcomes further horrors of war as Dawson, in an unexpectedly hilarious death scene, steps on a landmine after perfectly finishing a sentence. I have to admit, the accidental punctuation made me laugh uproariously, largely because it was such a scene of unintentional black comedy I couldn't help it.

Despite this, I found the opening a little weak, as the characters meandered around and talked to no real end. It seemed like random explosions intermixed with somewhat pointless dialogue.

Moving on they stumble across a French villager, Chloe, who is scavenging the battlefield, and force her to lead them to the village. There they take cover while accidentally stumbling upon SS Hauptsturmführer (Captain) Wafner. He's actually an amazing villain, with the right amount of sneering Nazi contempt and unbridled violence which will make you love and hate him.

We learn not all is as it seems in this village. It is a radio tower sure, but the Nazis have a strange lab beneath the church where they have been steadily experimenting on the villagers to mysterious ends. Corpses and villagers go in, and only occasionally do diseased people come back out. One of those includes Mathilde's aunt who she keeps separate from her young brother Paul.

From here the movie moves between a somewhat confusing genre of action and horror. In a series of events which I don't think re-watching will explain, Boyce stumbles into the Nazi base by accident while he is supposed to be doing something completely different. Boyce seems to have a horrendous instinct for self preservation which at times made me sure he was going to die. However, it does lead to some of our creepier moments early on in the film.

I say that the genre is confusing because for all the horror elements, most seem to hit the notes of either a spy thriller or a war drama. There is one or two points where the soundtrack assaults your ears to scare you, but nothing in the film ever really made me jump. We have some legitimately creepy visuals in the Nazi labs, and a bizarre scene early in the film where they talk about the decomposing corpse of a 'jackal' but that never leads to anything.

Considering the precise nature of what the Nazis are doing is never really elaborated on, that isn't too surprising.

What did surprise me was how bloody fantastic the effects were. From the blood, to the bullets, and the firefights, it was A-list movie cinematics. All the gunfights were amazingly put together, and the gory effects of those (and the monsters) were gory and great. I was literally clapping during some scenes these fights were so awesome. An amazing scene where Chloe picks up a flamethrower was also well appreciated.

The scenes where the action picks up are what makes the movie shine. Considering the slow opening these intense and visceral scenes make you really appreciate both the actors and the effects. It leads to a climax which is immensely satisfying.

I found the movie good fun, but there were some points I found weird.

First let me put my pedantic historians hat on. At one point Boyce says he was drafted, and that's how he became a paratrooper. Not only is that blatantly false, but its doing a disservice to historic paratroopers who firstly had to volunteer for service, then they had to volunteer for dangerous service, and then had to volunteer for the intense paratrooper training.

Second, I think the film did a greater disservice by making some historical revisions to incoporate Boyce and Eldson into the 101st Airborne. If you've ever seen the amazing HBO drama Band of Brothers you'll know that the 101st Airborne circa 1944, was all white. They were a unit of volunteers famous for being the tip of the spear in the Allied landings. Why the film chooses to do this strikes me as odd, this is especially true because doing some research I discovered there were black paratroopers in WWII, the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion. Though they did not directly see combat, they were a parachute unit.

The film would have done itself a far better service had it made those men the focus of the film. Cooler still had there been a few survivors who found themselves drafted into the mission against the tower because Ford pulls rank and uses them to accomplish his mission instead of one they were originally assigned. The film would be arguably stronger, the interaction between characters more interesting and the historical revisionism to pull it off slightly better.

Historic pedantry aside, the final shots of the film give us an interesting question. Why didn't the navy shell the bloody church? Or hell, someone just drop a bomb on it? Sure civilian casualties, but if it was so important (and so close to the beach) that wouldn't have saved it from Allied planners. The final shots of the film show the whole village as being really close to the beaches, sending paratroopers was a huge bloody waste here.

That aside there were scenes where the day/night dynamic suffered. The film opens in broad daylight, but minutes later its the middle of the night. There are scenes in Chloe's house where its clearly daytime outside, but then we see the night when they look out. It was a baffling failure in editing. Just goes to show why you don't blow your money showing an invasion fleet.

This all being said, the acting was great,

Jovan Adepo as Boyce really matures into his role. The script left his character flailing, but Adepo did a wonderful job building him up as the film wore on. Mathilde Oliver as Chloe is just badass. She is multilingual (without it feeling forced) and handles herself amazingly in action scenes, and it never feels like she's being molded into a role just for the sake of being a strong female character, she just is a strong female character from start to finish.

Wyatt Russel as Ford is also fantastic. His gritty "gotta-be-bad-as-'em-to-beat-'em" attitude (implied to have been picked up fighting the Nazis in Italy) is well done, with its logical flaws pointed out. His single-minded drive to complete the mission, no matter the cost makes you love and fear him.

John Magaro as Tibbet is really fun, but he plays too much of a stereotyped Italian-American. Almost like the William Guarnere stand in from Band of Brothers. But he is a fun character.

All this being said, I came away really liking the movie. There were enough parts where the action and the characters were simply awesome enough that getting behind them was absurdly easy, and with a villain I loved to hate I couldn't get enough of seeing the SS mowed down. Though the horror elements were weird, I found it engaging.

Despite a slow build up, the film redeems itself in the end and really delivers A-list quality to B-list material. As a fun action flick, this is hard to beat and I will certainly be watching it again.

Benedict Arnold Gets a Bad Wrap

Perhaps the phrase most synonymous with traitor in the English language after Quisling, is Benedict Arnold. For those of you not in the know, Benedict Arnold was an American general serving in the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War. Now, despite the fact that almost everyone knows Benedict Arnold was a traitor, most cannot quite name what exactly he did.

To give some background, ol Arnold had enlisted early to the Revolutionary cause, and had a particular zeal and charisma about him leading to his appointment to command early in the conflict capturing Fort Ticonderoga. In fact he headed the ill-fated invasion of Quebec, while mounting the delaying action at Valcour Island which slowed the coming British invasion of New York. In 1777 he was instrumental at the Battle of Saratoga where the British force was captured, bringing France into the war. In doing so however, he suffered terrible leg injuries which put him out to the proverbial pasture rather than earning another field command and instead being assigned to command the city of Philadelphia.

However, Arnold was known for getting involved with disputes, most famously with Horatio Gates who actually sacked him during the Saratoga Campaign, only for Arnold to disobey orders and lead attacks on the British anyways. In Philadelphia, he came up against prominent local businessmen and was brought up on charges of embezzlement, though he was eventually acquitted.

It was during this time Arnold married the young Peggy Shippen, who was the daughter of a Loyalist sympathizer. After the marriage he became far more bitter against the Continental Congress, which he felt had unfairly brought charges against him, and passed him over for promotion. It had also heaped praise on his foe, General Gates, for Saratoga, where he had been unfairly sacked.

The exact causes of his decision to betray the Continental Congress are the subject of much speculation, but many believe his smoldering resentment against the Congressional leadership, and his sudden ingratiation with Loyalists through his wife (and a lavish spending style racking up debt) led him to decide to betray his former comrades in arms.

That being said, his whole plan was to surrender West Point to the British. The important fortifications could have significantly altered the balance of the war in New York, but the plan never got off the ground. The British spy carrying the papers which revealed Arnold's plan was captured. Exposed, Arnold fled for his life and despite a brief command with the British Army, he soon retired to London where he would die in 1801.

In sum totality, Arnold's treason did very little to hinder the American cause, and nothing to help the British, costing no American lives. Though arguably his greatest act, was while leading British troops engaging in the massacre of the garrison at Fort Griswold (though whether Arnold is explicitly to blame for that has also been long debated) late in the war. However, this again had no impact on the war overall.

Yet for all this, he is remembered as the greatest traitor in American history. Is that really fair?

I would argue, no.

Even were one to factor in the casualties at Fort Griswold, Arnold did far more to help the Revolutionary cause than he did to hinder it. He was instrumental in a number of significant victories, and comparatively caused more damage to the British. With those considerations in mind his greatest sin seems to be portraying George Washington's trust.

However, let us compare him to a few lesser known, I would argue, greater traitors.

Remembrance Day 2018

1914-1918

Today 100 years ago, the guns fell silent across the front. On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the German Empire agreed to an armistice. The Great War, was over. For four years, three months and two weeks the greatest war the world had yet seen has raged across the face of the globe. From Europe, Asia, Africa, to South America, the war has been fought. The Central Powers have collapsed, and the Entente has won, but at great cost.

The fighting though, is not completely over. In Russia, a brutal civil war between Communist and anti-Communist forces rages on, and will do so into the next decade. Post war skirmishes between the new nations carved out from the corpses of old powers are springing up, and revolution is in the air in Germany and the former Hapsburg Empire.

However, for the Entente powers, the war is won. All that has to be decided now, is the peace.

Today, I remember the service of my own ancestors. Most specifically, William Schoular, my great grandfather. He fought with the Canadian Corps across the fields of France and recently I was able to view letters he wrote during the war.

These small memories and pieces of personal history are always fascinating, and these little looks into my own family history will allow me years of study on the subject.

Let us remember though, even though one great war ended 100 years ago, the fighting around the world rages on today. Canadians are still giving their lives on foreign battlefields, whether to keep the peace, or fight terrorism, they fight to protect us and others.

We should not, cannot, forget the sacrifice of those who came before us, or those who even now lay down their lives for our freedoms. Take a moment today to remember the brave men and women who have fought and bled for us, and if you can, thank a veteran.

Lest we forget.