Best World War II Films

I'm very fond of Yangtse Incident.......'Have rejoined the Fleet south of Woosung - No damage - No casualties - God Save The King'. Nothing to do with WWII, but I think the last time that Great Britain 'sent in a gunboat' so to speak.......

 

And the part where she slipped anchor....music has me on feet cheering...

 

I completely forgot about Tora Tora Tora... I used to watch that one all the time as a kid.

 

Anyone ever see The Misfit Brigade? It was pretty good even though they used SU122s as Stugs. Pretty funny in a Kelly's Heroes kind of way.

 

Just watched Free Men a French movie about Algerian Muslims using the Paris mosque as a base for resistance operations.
Good movie.

 

Hi folks, steve from the UK here, for me one of the all time greatest docu/films is/was "All this and WW2" it's a compilation of Beatles music sung by variouis artists, (Tina Turner, Leo sayer etc) but put to news real footage of WW2, to see our troops being rescued from the beach head at Dunkirk while listening to Leo Sayer sing the Long and Winding road or seeing TOGO and his carriers approaching PH to I am the Walrus will make your hair stand on end. I don't think it was ever available on general release, mine is copy of the TV back in the 60's, but if you can track a copy down, get it ! if not I may be able to make a copy from mine?

 

Where did you find it?

 

While not absolute favorites...

"Captain Newman M.D." (1963) really made an impression on me when i was a kid. It's about Post Traumatic Stress and Psychiatry

Another tv movie I saw and really enjoyed was "Young Joe, The Forgotten Kennedy" (1977) about the oldest Kennedy boy, who flew bombers in the war.

 

1. Battle of the River Plate (even with the US Cruiser as a poor Graf Spee);
2. Dunkirk;
3. Come and See;
4. Ill Met By Moonlight;
5. A Bridge Too Far;
6. The first twenty minutes of 'Saving Private Ryan';
7. The Foreman Went to France;
8. Went The Day Well?;
9. Cross of Iron;
10. The Thin Red Line (remake);

 

VERY interesting list. I like the combination of older and newer films. Good spread. Some people either have an 8 minute attention span and forget that good movies were made before the year 2000. others are snobs who cannot seem to aknowledge that there are good or great movies that have been made after 1970.

If you had to list complete films, not just sequences, would Private Ryan be taken off and if so, replaced by what title?

Had never heard of Foreman Went To France, gotta look it up.

Local library has a copy of Ill Met By moonlight but it seems to have been misplaced. Been trying to get it for months. Love Powell and Pressburger. (Colonel Blimp was very smooth)

 

Thank you. 'The Foreman Went to France' is a 1942 Ealing Film, based on a true story, about a factory Foreman who travelled to France in 1940, in the midst of the German invasion, to recover a cannon-making piece of machinery. It is of its time but it holds up well.
'...Colonel Blimp' is very, very good. I ummed and erred about whether it's a war film and decided no.
The Saving Private Ryan alternative is a tough question. 'The Dambusters' is the answer I think.
'Ill Met By Moonlight' is in the list as it's one of those films where it works partly because it's a true story and that grips you.

 

Damn fine choice!

Why "Went the Day Well?" on your list. I haven't seen it.

 

It's another wartime film. It has stood the test of time very well (imo) and works today. The plot is that a company of soldiers arrives on exercise in a sleepy, south of England village. The residents take their arrival at face value but, after a few slip ups on the part of some of the soldiers, it turns out that they are in fact Fallschirmjaeger - an advanced party who have set up a C3 centre as a precursor to a German Invasion. The villagers are taken hostage and the Home Guard killed but they then fight back against the Germans and a local collaborator. Cracking stuff!
Edit: it seems highly likely that Jack Higgins' 'The Eagle Has Landed' was in part inspired by the film.

 

This scene below is representative of the film Downfall. Unfortunately, this clip isn't captioned, but you see General Weidling telling his adjutant he's been ordered to go to the rear and be shot. The next scene is General Mohnke trying to get the untrained Volksturm personnel out of the way so his trained troops can actually fight - he's overruled by Himmler's orders. Then they move onto various people in the carnage trying to get water or scraps of food.

Any list should include this film.

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

 

The problem with "Any List" is that we all have our faves that transcend lists.

I loved "Downfall" but I'm a whore for "Force Ten From Navarone". The cheeseball in me responds to it. It has no place on ten best lists, but I just can't help loving it. For me "Downfall" is an unpleasant movie to watch. I recognize its quality. I just have to be in a particular mood to watch it. "Patton" is another.

 

There are some very good films that are hard to watch; I probably couldn't watch 'Come And See' again as it was draining, tbh. 'Hannibal Brooks' however, despite the fact that it isn't too serious a film, is up there with 'Force Ten...', 'Where Eagles Dare' etc for enjoyment.
I liked 'Downfall' but, for me, the interest was in the portrayal of Hitler in the film's opening scene. The remainder of the film was me thinking 'That actor's way too tall to be Goebbles...' etc.

 

I've been thinking of seing it again. I agree it is in the same category of films. Rewarding but tough as all hell to watch.

I just saw a movie starring Christian Bale that is like that. "Flowers of War" about the Nanking massacre.

 

One that doesn't get a lot of talk, (or air play) is the TV movie "Ike". Sellack did a fantastic job.

Reminds me of Tora, Tora, Tora

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401504/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_15

 

Saw the first forty minutes. He's a very under rated performer. Loved the scene where he almost fires Patton. Wonder if the bit with the helmet was deliberate of an accident. It adds so much to the malaise of the scene.

 

I copy my post from another thread cause it fits here (sorry inluded other history films not only WW2)

Some of the best:


Thin Red Line
Apocalypse Now
Das Boot
Talvisota
Remagen&Arnheim are ok, but not outstanding
Kingdom Of Heaven (minus the romance and religious stuff)
Platoon is also ok for movie which views a war in a war (means the duel of both the sergeants)
Waterloo.... sadly not very historical
Master&Commander (minus the too much talking of the doc and cap)
Downfall / Der Untergang
Path Of Glory
Breaker Morant

I wanted to ASK you guys about GOOD roman war films if there are any ?? I mean how the Legions fought etc. There are pieces in Gladiator and the series "Rome" ..

Uuumh...are only WW2 films meant for this thread ???

If no I could add the movie "Ironclad" to my "kind of fave" list. It had some good battle scenes as well a nice castle as well 2 or 3 actors were top. Quite unknown film I believe.

Also as series:

Hornblower & Sharps Rifles (I know that especially the 2nd one has much romance&adventure going on, but there are also top battle scenes and acting in both series)