Greatest WW1 and WW2 War Films

[Robert Mann Z.]

Keith ,

i think the topic was ww1 ww2 movies, with that said i think vietnam has inspired a lot of great films...

[Dylan Couper]

Doh, how could I forget Das Boot! My all time favorite war movie!


Keith, haven't seen Team America yet, I think I'll wait until video though.

And yes, we're talking only WW1 and WW2 films.

[Keith Loh]

Oops. I totally missed the thread title. Apologies everyone.

[Rob Lohman]

I haven't seen much yet but thought Band of Brothers and
Enemy at the Gates where nice. Still need to see some of the
big ones like saving private ryan and such.

[Jeff Patnaude]

I guess I love just about all of the movies you mentioned.

Rob Mentioned "enemy At The Gate," which was a great movie from the Soviet point of view.
I have to admit to a guilty pleasure- I bought the game "Call Of Duty" and it's amazing. There is a recreation of the scene from "Enemy at The Gate" where you are on a boat with other soviets, one gets a gun- one gets ammo.. very cinematic and visulally more realistic than anything I've seen in game-world before.

[George Ellis]

I cannot believe that no one has mentioned Sargent York yet. Jeez. :)

[Keith Loh]

Jeff, "Call of Duty" liberally takes from almost all of the good WWII films and shows, doesn't it?

[Jeff Patnaude]

{Jeff, "Call of Duty" liberally takes from almost all of the good WWII films and shows, doesn't it?}

Keith,
Yes, I'd say it does take from a lot of different war movies. A couple of times I had a motar round go off rather close, and I experienced the "Saving Private Ryan- Effect", where everything slowed down, blurred, and the audio muted frequencies.

A couple of the scenerios look to be straight from "Band Of Brothers"- such as the the action destroying the German cannons (name?) through the trenches that were pounding Omaha Beach. Also the Dutch city of Carentan was eerily similar.

I can't liken any of the British segments to films yet. Sorry.

Jeff P.

[Keith Loh]

The expansion title also takes more from Band of Brothers. Like that attack on the town near Bastonge with the haystacks.

[Joe Carney]

WWI? J'ACUSE, a french film made with actual soldiers that indicted much of the French leadership. Actually shot during the war either right at or just before the French Army muntinied.
Almost all the soldiers who played the ghosts later died in combat. creepy.
Sgt York.
Have seen paths to Glory, though I recently bought the DVD.

WWII
The Longest Day. Movie about D-Day. Even without the cussing and gore a better movie than Private Ryan IMHO. But I do like Saving Private Ryan just the same.

Catch 22. A WWI movie that was really more about modern late 60s america than WW2.
The Best Days of our Lives.
Dealt with the aftermath, when the GIs came home and tried to reintegrate into society. Many right wing types in Hollywood tried to get this one banned as unamercian. Wasn't unAmerican, just honest.

[Michael Sinclair]

The dialogue is pretty funny.

[Keith Loh]

<<<-- Originally posted by Joe Carney : WWI? J'ACUSE, a french film made with actual soldiers that indicted much of the French leadership. Actually shot during the war either right at or just before the French Army muntinied.
Almost all the soldiers who played the ghosts later died in combat. creepy.
-->>>

Your post reminded me of Le Grand Illusion, Jean Renoir's film which is a classic film period. For those who haven't seen it, it's a film about French POWs in WWI who have been imprisoned in a mountain top castle. Among them is an officer with aristocratic origins. The German commandant also is an aristocrat and he tries to bring the French officer on-side by appealing to their shared backgrounds (during peacetime they might have been colleagues or familiars). But the French officer refuses (even though they clearly are friends) and participates in an escape attempt with his fellow prisoners. What I like about this film is that it shows that people on all levels are humans although they are enemies or have differences. There is a conflict between not just the enemies but also between the men from different backgrounds. One of them is a Jew, one is working class and then there are the aristocrats.

[Gints Klimanis]

Wow, a lot of good suggestions for war movies.

For WWII, I really liked the movie "Midnight Clear" with Ethan Hawke and Gary Sinise. It was more personal than the large scale attacks in the other movies.

Another awesome movie of the Soviet/Afghan invasion is "The Beast", with generous mood contributions by to the soundtrack by one of my favorite artists, Mark Isham. The movie stars Jason Patric and Georg Dundza, and even includes, chuckle, a Baldwin brother, Stephen Baldwin. Beautiful imagery insterspersed with thrilling action and tragedy.

[Shawn Mielke]

The Thin Red Line !!!!

Imran, I agree and identify with your take on this film and war films in general. Mallick is, well, we are very lucky to have him with us.

Johnny Got His Gun was very important to me in my younger youth (I am only 28, after all). (wwi) Especially the book, but the film too.

I recently watched a slough of Nazi Germany related documentaries (thank you, Netflix). Several stood out, to be sure, but one called

Architecture of Doom

really gets into the head of Hitler and the party and therefore the war, or a portion of it. Amazing. If anyone is interested in other Nazi Germany docs, I'll rattle off a bit of a list of goodies.

[Keith Loh]

The Wansee Konferenz - this is a film presented in 'real time', a docu-drama about the conference where various Nazi party officials, military and SS people determined on the disposition of the Jewish population. Chilling but great performances. In German.

Along the same vein, Mephisto, starring Klaus Maria Brandauer about a stage actor who gains the support of the Nazi party at the cost of his friendships and the lives of the people he is supposed to protect is wonderful. Also in German.

A rather strange but pretty interesting film is Aneigska Holland's Europa, Europa about a Jewish boy who tries to hide his true heritage by attending a school for Hitler Youth. This is only the start of his misadventures as he ends up fighting against the Russians and then for them. I forget what happens at the end.

I have a lasting affection also for Lars Von Trier's Zentropa, the post-war film about an American of German heritage who goes to post-war Germany to work as a sleeping car conductor but then becomes wrapped up in an anti-occupation insurgent group called the Werewolves. Very interesting production design with lots of rear projection and experimental digital and photographic effects.

Again in the fantastic mode, Map of the Human Heart is about a Canadian Inuit who eventually (after again lots of twists and turns) becomes a bombardier in WWII. Starring Jason Scott Lee and Patrick Bergin.

Speaking of bombardiers, doesn't anyone like Memphis Belle? It's only the best depiction of the big bomber battles on celluloid.