If you were a movie director, and were making a WWII film, what would it be about and why?

I try the Casino "challenge": 1. a wide camera sweep over the area 2. then go back shortly to explain the origins of the battle, means the allied landings 3. show situation of both sides 4. pick some characters of both sides on which the story focuses so the viewer has someone to identify with 5. show some strategic planning of both sides generals 6. then go back to low rank guys on the lines 7. show fruitless attacks 8. make clear there were of these but don´t show them 9. show again higher rank guys who confer how to solve the deadlock 10. a scene where the Germans save the art & artifacts of the monastry and the monks there 11. then back to the frontline this time from the air, show bombers and their crews on the casino mission 12. results of bombing on the ground 13. finally show that the bombing was a failure, but at last German position was broken, show both sides one is retraeting other advancing in the rubble. No superheros & patriotism in it please...show wounded that suffered and some troops that question the conduct of battle.

 

the extreme horror, so, maybe some more people, would not want war

 

Would be a documentary, cgi and would compare weapon systems of each nation, for each generation. Would generate realistic battle confrontations, and try to crown the king of all weapon systems. 1900 to 1950.
Zombies are allowed...Kind of enjoyed "Sucker Punch" - just the action /music scenes.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0978764/


ps- the series Deadliest Warrior sucked. Just terrible. Had a good idea but couldn't make it work.
- just like "sons of guns", could have been a good show, but hollywood had to stick its nose in.

 

Oh, now I can let my fantasies loose...

1. Something about a typical infantry assault action. Too many war movies focus on a famous person, a dramatic incident, a special forces unit, a commando raid, or something like that. Of all the Vietnam movies I have seen I think I like Hamburger Hill the best, because it focuses on what the infantry typically do: attack objectives, often over and over again, until they are taken. There are innumerable examples of such actions by the infantry in WWII: the Mignano Gap, the Gothic Line, British 1st Army in the Tunisian djebels, EPSOM and so many other Normandy battles, US 10th Army on Okinawa, US 6th and 8th Armies on Leyte and Luzon, the Australians on Tarakan, the Canadians at Ortona and the Scheldt Estuary, and so on. Hard, dirty, unglamorous, and very costly work, but without such drudgery by the PBI the war could never have been won.

2. The Brazilian Expeditonary Force in Italy. How many people even know Brazil was an ally?

3. Something about the French Army on the road back (42-45). Tunisia and/or Monte Belvidere might be good. (No, the French were not all 'surrender monkeys')

4. Lucian Truscott.

5. Buna. My God what a nightmare that was, the Pacific equivalent of the Hurtgen Forest. And it would give an opportunity for people to learn that the US Army was in the Pacific too, as were the Australians. (19 US Army divisions, 6 Australian, 6 USMC)

6. RAF Coastal Command. The Cruel Sea is one of the great war films of all time, but it doesn't cover the vital work of the airmen.

7. The Rifle Brigade action at SNIPE (2nd Alamein). A WWII version of Zulu, only with tanks and 6-pounders.

8. I'd like to see a TV miniseries like Band of Brothers following a British unit throughout WWII. The Tommy gets no respect, not even from his own film industry. To my dismay, even the British people on our sister site had no enthusiasm for this idea. ('No money,' can't be done,' etc.)

9. The 1 August 43 raid on Ploesti. This has long been a favorite idea of mine. Plenty of dramatic characters and incidents, and no shortage of action. Plus it would feature the B24, one of my favorite aircraft.

10. My old elementary school teacher's story. She was a Jewish girl from Antwerp, and in 1940 she and her mother were in the refugee columns trying to flee to Dunkirk. They didn't get across the Channel, but a year later she and her mother escaped from Belgium to Paris to Spain to Cuba, and finally to the US. Her mother was an amazing woman, a great, stylish beauty with brains and guts. (To be played by Penelope Cruz? Sofia Vergara?) I think it's one of the best WWII stories I know, and unlike so many Holocaust tales it has a happy ending.

 

The good news is that the Spielberg-Hankses will be doing "Masters Of The Air" soon and this raid will in most likelyhood be covered.

 

Saw War Horse. Was better than expected, but the deliberate tear jerk irked me. Thick skinned me.

 

I've started my long promised A Thousand Shall Fall Screenplay.
Book written by Captain Murray Peden of Winnipeg Manitoba.
The only production crew I would pass this to is that of Foyle's War. Hope our member drops in and reads this.

I thought it might be fun for us to do this as a team project here.
We all hate and despise movies and TV Series that are not historically accurate. Right?
So why not pool our talent and energy into one that is done perfecto?

Are you in? Then read A Thousand Shall Fall, 90% is up in Google Books Preview.
- So you have no excuses. K?

Pick a chapter and write a segment for the movie or TV Episode. Sounds like a fun project. Eh?

The stated objective is to aim to win an "Oskar" or TV Award for EVERY SINGLE category. Does that get your juices flowing?

Cont...

See: http://www.ww2f.com/topic/38106-a-thousand-shall-fall-by-murray-peden-perhaps-the-best-bomber-command-book-ever/?hl=+i#entry601937

From: http://www.ww2f.com/topic/38106-a-thousand-shall-fall-by-murray-peden-perhaps-the-best-bomber-command-book-ever/

 

I would want to make a movie about Chiune Sugihara or maybe Sir Nicholas Winton because neither of them are talked about and Chiune saved more Jews than Oskar Schindler, and although Oskar Schindler should be considered a hero, I think Chiune Sugihara deserves as much notice as Oskar Schindler did

 

108 comments in this thread and 107 of them are wrong. I already pointed out that Mortain would make the best war film on the very first page.

 

That would be an interesting one Kodiak

 

I don't know if this has been said, but I'd do a movie about the war in Africa. There aren't a lot of modern featuring Africa.

 

Actually a fair number of pictures have been made about the war in Africa, mostly by or about the British. These include Ice Cold in Alex, several movies about Tobruk, The Desert Fox, Five Graves to Cairo, Sahara, The Hill, and The Immortal Sergeant. The American experience in Tunisia is covered in parts of Patton, The Big Red One, and The Story of G.I. Joe.There is even at least one movie about the East African campaign, a South African picture called Seven Against the Sun.

 

Hmm Terry. First one I looked for showed up on Youtube. Gonna have to check the rest of the list.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyfx8MDjAzU

 

Rats of Tobruk comes to mind..Chips Rafferty (Aussie actor) and from memory, Richard Burton playing the Pommie Major...

 

I meant modern movies. Most of these are quite old. I don't really fancy watching black and white movies. Thanks for the suggestion though..

 

Why, the older ones are usually the best ones. Their not chock full of PC political/social/global warming messages, outrageous CGI and weird story lines.

 

I had a thought that maybe another topic to make a WW2 themed movie about is Hitler's plot to send agents into America and sabotage the American war effort. Has there ever been a movie about that? :unsure:

 

Not that I can think of, but it would probably be better made as a comedy since the entire operation was a comedy of errors. Within six months the Federal BI rounded them all up and the plot was over and done with. I believe they were all hung not long afterwards.

 

I recently (6 months recently) caught a documentary on that very operation. What a farce. And the fact of the matter is the US government, from my interpretation, really didn't force their hand into making stupid errors. I'm glad they did but it is quite shocking how badly the SD ran this event.