Best World War II Films

Hi Bel, some great choices and, id completely forgot about A Soldiers Story though the era portrayed is usually too new for me. I havent seen that film in years but remember thinking it was well made. I also thought that Hamburger Hill and Gardens of Stone were also well made.

 

I would include The Cruel Sea in the list.

The story of a corvette on the trecherous atlantic convoy routes. The first movie that showed me that in war nobody wins. Particularly interesting as it was made only 8 years after WWII.

[video=youtube;eoQOyhB1ppk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoQOyhB1ppk[/video]

 

A Bridge Too Far,brilliant analysis of market garden

 

Personaly, I think A Bridge Too Far is better than average, but seems to get mixed reviews from the rouges here.

 

I just realized how many more films I need to see...

Downfall is great
Letters from iwo is another fav.
Flags of our fathers was much better as a book IMHO
No one mentioned u571? I saw it once. Thought it was entertaining but was wanting others input.
Also not mentioned is "life is beautiful" thoughts on that movie please?
The counterfeiters was also good I thought.
Patton was also good but didn't like the tanks not being legit (being non ww2 models) but where you going to find that many German tanks to use lol


Thanks for list time to start renting some movies!

 

Trust me, U-571 is mentioned in this thread. As a 'popcorn' film, it is entertaining, but its loose hold on acuracy rubs most members the wrong way. As a typical American I speak only two laguages, english, and loud english, so non-english speaking films have a hard time holding my attention. I have DVD copies of Downfall and Letters as I reguard them as classics, but I have only seen parts of Life is beautifull and the Counterfitters. I thought the second was the better of the two.

 

Recording the bridge at remagen on military channel now....any good?

 

If you take into account that it was made in 1945, "Objective Burma" with Errol Flynn is one of the best in my opinion.
No flashy special effects like in "Saving Private Ryan" but a very good war movie.

 

The movie is a well made well acted and well produced movie. I have two sills from the movie that show Robert Vaughn as the German Major. One is a bridge scene showing him with his two Hauptmanns-Hans-Christian Blech and the other is unkn to me.

Plenty of action and it is a fast paced movie-also based on Lieutenant Timmermann - who was the Ami Offz who first crossed the bridge.

 

My opinion Bridge at Remagen gets 8 out of ten - if you haven't seen it you definitely should, and although like all films it isn't totally historically accurate, it isn't far off and it really captures the general attitude in the days leading up to the bridge in a way that only veterans stories usually manage. Some of the larger unit fighting scenes are a bit lacking probably due to budget, and a few of the actors are a little over-stereotyped perhaps, but for sure Robert Vaughn was excellent, among others.

My biggest gripe with the film is that it didn't show the Arado jet bombers attacking the bridge, which is a shame but doesn't really detract from the overall....

Altogether a great watch - I've probably seen it too many times (in the UK when I was younger it was on almost every Christmas for some reason), so maybe 8/10 isn't quite what it deserves.

Enjoy

 

Carl - you posted about this movie a little while ago, but being a newbie, I just saw it. The movie, A Time To Love And A Time To Die, is that the John Gavin movie? I haven't seen it for years, but I remember one of the lines from it, it is one of my all time favorites lines. It being years I won't be able to quote it word for word but it was something along the lines of:

Gavin's character is looking for his wife and he goes a professor(?), the man lives among the bombed out buildings and helps the "undesirables" escape the Nazis, to see if he has seen her, but the professor has not but he tells Gavin something like, "Go with God," and Gavin is dumbfounded that the professor could still have faith, he asks him how he can still believe after all that had happened and the professor says to him that when it was all over God wouldn't have to answer for "what has happened here," but that rather that he was afraid "we will have to answer to God for it."

Do you have that movie? I'd love to know the exact quote and I've not seen it for years.

So many movies, not sure I can narrow it down, but I have always liked Battleground and I do like Operation Burma (which bill39 mentioned), The Big Parade, All Quiet on the Western Front. I am rather partial to Band of Brothers, even though it's not technically a movie.

 

check this Clementine - might give you what you need;

A Time to Love and a Time to Die Quotes, Sayings and Quotations
A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958) - IMDb

and All Quiet on the Western Front is one of the best ever, especially the 1979 version.

I hope to watch a time to love and a time to die soon, got it coming, will keep an ear out for the quote you're looking for

 

I love the film, great cast and great action scenes.

 

Hi Clementine, it sure does have John Gavin in it as Corporal Graber-who gets killed at the end of the movie by one of the Russian "partisans" that he releases from captivity after shooting that SS-Special Action Squad man.

Its been about 20 years since I last saw the movie in full, I used to have a copy on tape but, accidently gave that tape away about 5 years ago :-( However, it is available on DvD and you can pick up a copy off ebay for about $10 bucks. Its not an American release but, Korean I think? However, the film is restored and is in English but with Asian subtitles. I THINK you can see the movie without the subtitles? not sure. The same thing happened to another favorite of mine: 55 Days At Peking with Charlton Heston, David Niven, John Ireland, Ava Gardner and Kurt Kaznar. This is a Korean release but I think at least on this one, I think you can see it without subtitles? I have this one but its been a year since I last watched it so cant remember the subtitle thing. I dont yet have A Time To Love and a Time To Die on DvD yet, but I plan on getting it soon.

I remember the scenes where Graber visits Professor Pohlmann (Erich Maria Remarque) but I dont remember what they say? I have about 20 stills from this movie and already have them on a photo CD. I need to get my newest batch on CD-which include 3 shots from: Pork Chop Hill with Gregory Peck, Woody Strode and Norman Fell, in one pr more of these stills. Soon as I get these on another CD (in about another 10 or so days) ill be glad to make you a copy of it and mail it to you. I need to make a couple copies of that newly made CD-because there are a couple other people here who wanted a copy and I can get them all out at the same time. Ill let you know soon as I get that done and if you want to send me any address you can get it at? that will be great ;-))

Battleground is an excellent movie, I have it and I also have an original Still from the movie which shows Van Johnson and Marshall Thompson inside of (Denise Darcels) house in "Bastogne" and I also have an Actors Print from that movie - which is a one of a kind print--that I bought directly from Marshall Thompsons Daughter-Janet--a little over a year ago.

I still have about 20 stills in storage that I need to dig put and get them on the CD too. These include several from Firefox w/ Clint Eastwood, another of Eastwood as Dirty Harry, a few with the Three Stooges in them-two show Moe and Curly as Japanese Soldiers-I never could find the one with Larry as a Japanese Soldier. I also have another one with Van Johnson in it along with Kerwin Matthews-called: The Last Battalion. Apparently they were German Soldiers in that movie. I also have some odds and ends stills too-just cant remember what is on those as its been a long time since I last looked at them. Im currently trying to get a few with Charlton Heston, Katy Jurado, Brian Keith and Milburn Stone in: Arrowhead, and more with James Cagney in: The Fighting 69th.

 

I just got 'A Time To Love and a Time To Die' - thinking about watching it towards the weekend - quick flick through it looks a lot, lot better than expected for a film that age (sorry but I'm not usually a big fan of 'older' films)

Ref; Bridge too Far - the cast is IMO unbelievably good and perfectly chosen, and the ability to have so many quality stars from so many different countries in one film is near genius. I personally have some issues with some of the armour used for the film, while most was pretty accurate there were some bits that make a tank head cringe, which always bugged me because it seemed they could have gone the extra yards to make it spot on. I do understand why they didn't though, and if you aren't too tank puritanical it doesn't take away from what is close to the best war film ever, and certainly the best 'international' one.

 

Hi Nigel, I think you will like it well enough. It doesnt have a lot of action but, IMO, it didnt need it either ;-)) As im a Russian Front fan, this movie fit in perfectly for me even when I first saw it about 23 years ago ;-))

Smae here on A Bridge Too Far, I loved the movie and always will love it ;-))

Im kinda confused on something though. I saw you posted two links for things to do with A Time To Love..... movie. The second one I looked at shows the IMDB page. First though, the review you see by someone named: The Ringo Kid--is me. That review is mine. I did about 20 or so more over there before and in 2007 ;-)) That is the name I use at the JWMB website on John Wayne ;-))

That said, and what im a bit confused on is, is the movie finally released on DvD by some Country other than Korea? If so? please let me know more as I would much much rather having an American release of this classic than the Korean but the Korean as a last resort ;-))

 

Nice - so your Ringo Kid has been hijacked (didn't think it was you 'cause the spelling wasn't too bad) (only kidding - the grammar is all your own )

There was apparently a UK DVD released in 2009;

IMDb :: Boards :: A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958) :: UK DVD
A Time To Love and A Time To Die DVD (1958) - LOVEFiLM

not sure if that would be available in the US though - I can PM you about the other way if you like

 

Heh heh--yup, and there is another person signed on there-much later than me, who is also known as ringo kid--spelled with small letters and not with caps like mine. That guy is from Ireland :mourn:

Thanks also for the UK release info. Let me know if it is a clean DvD meaning-nothing to do with Korean release. I might want to order a copy and then my next DvD player will be one that will play all regions. I hate this region thing and would love to see them done away with and buried.

 

There are a lot of great World War 2 movies and I have a lot of my own favorites. Not all of them are realistic, but that isn't a must for me. If the film has good actors, a nice story, some fun and action and is at some point serious, then I'll give the movie at least an 5.5/10. But the classic ones score the best. Some of my favorites, which are all above 8.5/10:

The Great Escape (10.0)
The Longest Day (10.0)
Kelly's Heroes (9.5)
Where Eagles Dare (9.5)
Letters from Iwo Jima (9.5)
Das Boot (9.5)
Come and See (9.0)

And many more...

 

May not deserve being on the list but I have to mention "Oddball" from Kelly's Heroes. Sutherland was too cool!

"It is good that men such as you and I meet in the struggle of life. There is Iron in your actions, therefore, there is iron in your words and so - it shall be life."
Ten Bears
The Outlaw Josey Wales