Film Club – Stanley’s War/Private Peaceful

Wed 10th November 2021

Stanley’s War dramatises stories of love and sacrifice, following the lives of Suffolk people during WW1. The film recounts the true life-changing experiences at the Western Front of Stanley Banyard, a farmhand from Ramsholt Suffolk, and how he saved the lives of his comrades, lost in No Man’s Land by using the skills he learnt as a boy from a Suffolk gamekeeper.


The film also follows the Pretty family, factory owners from Ipswich, and the forbidden romance between Major Frank Pretty, (4th Batallion, Suffolk Regiment) and Edith Dempster (later Edith Pretty of Sutton Hoo fame), as well as the tragic story of Lieutenant Donald Pretty (4th Batallion, Suffolk Regiment) killed in action on 11th May 1915.
The film is directed by Tim Curtis (Life on the Deben) and features mainly Suffolk cast and film crew. The screenplay was written by Jonathan Ruffle


Private Peaceful is a 2012 British war drama film directed by Pat O’Connor and starring Jack O’Connell and George MacKay. It is based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Michael Morpurgo (War Horse). It was filmed at Christchurch Mansion and other Suffolk locations