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Video
Diaries of Rifleman Harris 4
(1994)
69 minutes
Sharpe
Reviews
Jason
Salkey on Sharpe
Video
Diaries of Rifleman Harris 1
Video Diaries of Rifleman Harris 2
Video Diaries of Rifleman
Harris 3
Video Diaries of Rifleman
Harris 4
Video Diaries of Rifleman
Harris 5
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By
RICHARD MOORE
 Harris
is back with handycam in hand zipping around behind
the scenes of the great Sharpe series.
The
fourth installment of the Video Diaries of Rifleman
Harris starts back in the Crimea, at a place called
the Baidar Valley where the night shoots for Sharpe's
Sword are being worked on.
It
is cold, the boss is cost-cutting (as usual) and all
the actors have to put up with things that you can
bet would have most wishing they were back waiting
on tables.
Mind
you, in the Video Diary of Riffleman Harris 4 you
get to see what a tough life really is when Jason
Salkey takes his camera out and about to see how Ukrainians
survive. Not easily it should be said.
Anyway,
apart from giving us a lot of visual reasons why Communism
deserved to die, Salkey is able to focus on the filming
and production of Sharpe's Sword rather than the chaos
that usually accompanied the filming of Sharpe movies.
There
are scenes of Jack Speare's retreating with his redcoats
from the French fort - complete with telling scenes
of an interpreter letting the Ukrainian soldiers know
what they are supposed to do. And hand-to-hand action
as the Froggies defend the fort in which we see our
video hero kicking Froggie butt in a most serious
way.
We
also get to see Sean Bean challenge the nasty Colonel
Leroux to a duel - having been prepped by Jason Salkey's
voiceover suggesting it was straight out of the actor's
training in a Yorkshire pub.
Now
if I may throw in a personal view here I have to say
that Sharpey looks like he really needed to do a bit
of weight training as he looks a bit thin in the chest
department. However, the girls on the production clearly
didn't mind as they were queuing up to make sure his
bandages (that would never be seen under his shirt)
were put on properly.
There's
also the personal relationship angle with marriages,
affairs and even the fact that our hero 'fesses up
to the fact he's got his good lady pregnant and so
marriage is in the air.
One
of the amazing things to be seen in Harris 4 - well,
to any ardent follower of the series anyway - is the
fact that Michael Cochrane (the guy who plays the
odious dork Simmerson) is a favoured member of the
team.
To
quote Jason Salkey "Michael Cochrane was as natural
to Sharpe as Nature itself."
Now
this puts anyone who has viewed the character as a
little scumbag - wonderfully summed up by Stephen
Moore (Colonel Berkeley) as a "horrible little
brute" - on the back foot.
Oh
well.
And
speaking of someone who should be beloved, Emily Mortimer
as the delectable Lass is lovely and ... well ...
there are lots of pictures of her.
After
the horrors of the Crimea, the Sharpe mob head for
Portugal where life is better and the movie is wrapped
up.
It's
fair to say in Harris 4 our beloved correspondent
isn't anywhere as ratty as he has been in previous
episodes and that's a shame. Perhaps it was impending
daddyhood.
We
have no doubt he'll be back and we look forward to
seeing more of the behind the scenes goings on of
Sharpe. Here's to our courtier to Lord Bacchus!
NB:
There are six episodes of this series now available
on DVD for all regions. The films are shot on Hi-8
and digitally transferred to Applemac's Final Cut
Pro 6.
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