Movies that should be made about World War II

I noticed in the film-remakes thread from a couple weeks ago some people where talking about films they also think should be made, so here you go.


Films focusing on Operation August Storm and another focusing on General Stillwell are 2 I would like to see.

 

A so far neglected area is the fight that Edson and his men put up against the Japanese on Edson's Ridge on Guadalcanal. I'd love to see a movie about his contribution to the war effort. Same thing goes for Carlson's Raiders. I think Gung Ho was made from an idea about them or I could be mistaken?

I'd also like to see another one made about General Frank D. Merrill and his Marauders-though I thoroughly enjoyed watching Jeff Chandler playing the General.

 

Band of - Tommies in the Desert.

Cheers,
Adam.

 

here here .. i must say old chap well said

 

Perhaps there is already something like this out there, but if not then I would like to see something from the point of view of soldiers in one of the "foreign" Waffen SS divisions. Their hopeless situation and how they got there has always been very difficult for me to understand.

Also, I would enjoy seeing something like David Robbins "The End Of The War" where the end in Europe is told from several sides. It would have to me a miniseries as it's too ambitious for a single feature film.

Good call on the Band Of Tommies

 

That would work for me too!!

 

Hmmmmm......
Well, the one I would have suggested- The Bielski brothers- has actually been made into a movie due out this year, so that shoots that down...... What about a movie about the Warsaw uprising, a movie about the Huertgen forest...Dont get me wrong, I love "When trumpets Fade" but the timing on it was gone to hell in a handbasket, so perhaps a different version is overdue.

 

Are there really no movies about Warsaw 44? For some reason I thought there was one, but I can't find anything now that I'm looking. Something tells me Tom Hanks and Spielberg will be jumping on this one eventually, as someone certainly should.

I would like to see another Huertgen movie, but I don't quite understand what you meant by "the timing on it was gone to hell in a handbasket" in When trumpets Fade

 

Mannerheim ( Renny Harlin wants to do one but lacks the money )

Modernization of the Bismarck "run"

Stalin and Moscow 1941 ( Downfall type of movie where Stalin is in his "bunker"...)

Kharkov 1943- the Red Army attack and German counter attack by Manstein

Sevastopol 1942 ( the big guns! )

 

To add to my main wish for Tommies in the Desert;

Band of - Poles/Kiwis/Canadians/Indians at Cassino.
Band of - Aussies at Tobruk.
Band of - Gurkhas in Burma.

Detecting a theme here? Any change from excessive cinematic focus on Normandy and a non-American viewpoint within a truly high budget 'bells and whistles' project would make such a refreshing difference.

Cheers,
Adam.

 

Non- American, you mean there were other countries involved in the war effort?

I'm a little tired of that as well! Which is why I liked Letters from Iwo Jima so much, a different perspective. I would like to see more like that.

 

I wholeheartedly agree. If it's made right, It will be spectacular.

Some other events/battles/operations/personnel to consider:

Ploesti (Operation Tidal Wave)
The USS Indianapolis or USS Juneau
Operation Chariot (St. Nazaire Raid)
Battle of Samar (Taffy 3 vs. Kurita's "Center Force")
Buzz Beurling
Kursk

 

I was going to mention Kursk but you beat me to it. I'd like to see a movie made about the German Sixth Army from it's beginning to it's destruction and capture; at Stalingrad. I'd like to see this movie focused on all aspects of that battle including the Luftwaffe's massive failure to keep the 6th Army supplied. Also, i'd like to see an updated and English language version of The Doctor From Stalingrad.

 

This also comes to mind. I'd love to see a movie made about Jake McNair of the Filthy Thirteen. This guy and his Filthy Thirteen were a reality-and also not to be confused with The Dirty Dozen.

Jake McNair was with the 505th? P.I.R. and was also a Pathfinder who jumped into the fight for Bastogne on Dec 23rd 1944. This would really be some great stuff.

 

Movies from non-American points of view are uncommon, sounds good.

Downfall, Letters from Iwo Jima, and Battle of Britain are the few I have seen.

 

One about TF Baum and Patton's attempt to rescue his son in law from a POW camp.

It would be action packed, you could present both sides, in the end everybody loses. Presented as a serious, somewhat dark version of SPR it would work incredibly well within the Hollywood constraints for dialogue and action.
This one has everything Hollywood wants: Top officers as bad guys (Patton sending the unit on a private personal mission without telling them), tragic heros (the TF members who fight their way there thinking their mission is of great importance), the anti-heros who are equally tragic (the Germans who are confused, panicked and desperately trying to stop what they perceive to be a major breakthrough), a noble mission (rescue the POWs), its really got it all in a compact setting. Even the equipment could largely be authentic given the number of collectors out there today.

Another good choice would be a Cross of Iron type movie done from the Russian point of view.

 

Just a few suggestions but....
1. The British Invasion of Burma in 1944-definitely! As detailed in Max Hastings "Retribution" the British 14th Army under General Slim was the most colorful, polyglot army ever to take the field-Brits, Ghurkas, East and West Africans, Sikhs, Baluchis, Madrassis, Dogras, and Rajputs. General Slim was an excellent, if unassuming commander and his troops loved him and called him "Uncle Bill." The 14th moved across the most exotic landscape on Earth using bullocks and elephants for transport and routed the Japanese out of Burma. "The last hurrah of the British Empire".
2. Belov's Calvalry Raid into the German Rear during the Battle of Moscow. Deep snow, subzero and a lot of horses. Belov's calvalry broke through the German lines and raised havoc in the German year during the darkest days of the GPW. A powerfull image might be of the horsemen attacking and burning Panzers in their laagers-only please Hollywood, do not portray them as fighting mounted (I suppose they would have to!). When they were done they broke out of the German lines with some help and escaped with forces intact.
3. The Flying Tigers of China and Claire Chenault. This one needs a remake.
4. The Aussies at Tobruk.
5. Kovpak's raid into Ukraine (and don't tell me that a country that can produce a Bondarchuk and a Tolstoy cannot do justice to it's own incredible history).
6. The Americans in the Huertgen Forest.
7. The story of Chuikov and the 62nd Army at Stalingrad ("Every man a general!" Chuikov said, and as detailed in the Michael K. Jones book on Stalingrad Chuikov was a pugnacious fighter as well as a great military innovater. A Charles Bronson type actor would do well in this part).
8. A remake on the Rommel in North Africa story.
9. A "Longest Day" remake.
10. A movie about the Shadow Wars in South America (not a lot known but I had an uncle involved; http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0313270058/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link )
some photos; http://travel.webshots.com/album/65602408CbIGFR?vhost=travel
11. A movie about Field Marshall Rokkissovski; the dashing Soviet commander who at the start of the war was a "zek" in the GULAG with his teeth smashed out by Stalin's goons. At the final victory parade Rokkisovski was allowed to ride a dark horse (something to do with his noble Polish birth?).
12. A remake on Merrill's Marauders.
13. A movie about the Battle of Suomussalmi in Finland during the Winter War.
14. A movie about the French Resistance and Allied special forces based on Max Hastings "Das Reich" book.
15. A remake on the Battle of the Bulge.
16. A movie about the Battle of Moscow based on the Nogorski and Glantz books.
17. A movie about the tragic hero Draza Mihailovic; http://www.serbianunity.net/culture/history/Draza_Mihailovich/draza_russia.html (and yes it does now seem that Mihailovic was undone by the Cambridge spy ring http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v11/v11p348_Clive.html )
18. A movie about the Allied breakout from Normandy.
19. A movie about Zhukov at Khalkin Gol.
20. A movie about Operation Bagration/the Destruction of Army Group Centre.

 

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I'd like a Kursk one, also. But, I'd hate to see Hollywood ruin it(like Battle of the Bulge)using
American tanks as Tigers. Would be a lot of armor, they'd have to come up with.

 

Rembering Dieppe. Operation Jubilee, would be good From both sides.