I enjoy battle of Britain, Run silent run deep, Memphis Belle, Letters from Iwo Jima.
While none of these may be accurate they are enjoyable to watch which is what a movie is for... It is nice if it's historically accurate but it's ok to me if it portrays the conflict in general rather then specifics. Memphis Belle is like that for me. It doesn't portray what happened to it's namesake but it nods to what the folks went through without being WAY off the path (PH for instance).
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Here's a few from a different perspective:
1. Tora Tora Tora - quasi-documentary - great to see both sides of the story 2. Retreat from Kiska - deals with the Japanese Navy trying to rescue the soldiers from Kiska. The Japanese were able to take off the entire garrison of 5,183 officer's and men plus the remains of 115. 3.Fires on the Plain - Japanese soldiers retreating in the Phillipines in '45.
Saving Private Ryan, for amongst other things: setting the bar for any other 'combat' movie that followed. I would say the first 25 minutes of that film were a revolution in combat movie making. Films which came after that just went for the traditional Hollywood combat scene (oh just have a lot of guys running around and big explosions) simply looked like crap after SPR. You may not like other parts of the film but the first 25 mins can't be argued with (actually from a historical perspective there are but lets not get nitpicky...seriously lack of tactical formations in Band of Brothers? what?)
Band of Brothers is not technically a movie, it is however the greatest piece of television ever made. imho..;D
Downfall is great, scary, but great (and also the most overdone meme of all time).
There some bw wwii film with David Niven which ends in N.Africa that I always enjoyed...anyone know the name?
< Message edited by troop76 -- 3/6/2012 7:50:58 PM >
I love "Land and Freedom" (Tierra y Libertad) by Ken Loach, about the story of the POUM (partido obrero de unidad marxista) during the Spanish Civil War.
There are many italian movies about war, maybe the more truthful (not realistic) is "La notte di San Lorenzo" with the conflict of italian partisans and italian black shirts:
To add a movie not mentioned above: Kukurushka, a low budget production (i think finnish) about a finnish sniper pressed into german service, who is in a complex situation with a russian officer and a lappish woman, each speaking a different language.
By the way from my point of view I like the "fact moments" in Pearl Harbor, of course the plot is ridicoulos, but the Scense with the Japanese planning the attack etc. are very accurate i think.
Turns out it was 'The Way Ahead', which is pretty much a propaganda film but I still rather enjoyed it.
And a great quote from Niven on his wartime experiences "I will, however, tell you just one thing about the war, my first story and my last. I was asked by some American friends to search out the grave of their son near Bastogne. I found it where they told me I would, but it was among 27,000 others, and I told myself that here, Niven, were 27,000 reasons why you should keep your mouth shut after the war."
Yes, around the Ardennes the funeral sites are indeed very impressive (and there are a lot of those in that area). If you visit such a place, you really get a total different idea of what did happen there. Especially when one takes into account that for every Allied site, there is also a German one around in the area...
It won 2 Oscars in 1950 & was nominated for 4 more including Best Picture. I never see it mentioned in any thread like this but it is well worth watching.
Joyeux Noel Slaughterhouse 5 Mother Night Platoon The Beast of War Tobruk Waterloo Spartacus The Counterfeit Traitor Von Ryans Express The Long Ships
It's quite out of the WWII era for some In that case, I shall add some that are not about WW2 : - Blue Max (fiction on a german pilot in WW1) - Alexander Nevsky (soviet propaganda film 1938 in B&W, but I like it it's epic nevertheless) - War and Peace (the one made in the 60's, the film with the best napoleonic era's battle scenes, showing the Battle of Borodino) - Iron Cross (fiction on a decorated, desillusioned german soldier on the eastern front, WW2)
< Message edited by micheljq -- 3/8/2012 2:18:18 PM >
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Michel Desjardins, "Patriotism is a virtue of the vicious" - Oscar Wilde "History is a set of lies agreed upon" - Napoleon Bonaparte after the battle of Waterloo, june 18th, 1815
< Message edited by micheljq -- 3/8/2012 2:18:00 PM >
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Michel Desjardins, "Patriotism is a virtue of the vicious" - Oscar Wilde "History is a set of lies agreed upon" - Napoleon Bonaparte after the battle of Waterloo, june 18th, 1815
ORIGINAL: micheljq - Blue Max (fiction on a german pilot in WW1)
Starring George Peppard, also colonel John "Hannibal" Smith in A-Team tv series and starring in Blake Edward's masterpiece Breakfast at Tiffany's.
And starring Ursula Andress wow!!!!
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Michel Desjardins, "Patriotism is a virtue of the vicious" - Oscar Wilde "History is a set of lies agreed upon" - Napoleon Bonaparte after the battle of Waterloo, june 18th, 1815
I was watching some DVD last year, I forget which, and the trailers at the beginning included a blurb for a 25th (I think) Anniversary edition of "Das Boot" ... is this out yet?
Is it? I didn't like Saving Private Ryan at all. To much "Hollywood" style, I'm afraid. However: taste is personal, isn't it.
Personally, I think that Stalingrad is the best movie about WW II on land. However, I am a little biased by this, because my greatuncle from Austria did fight at Stalingrad and there are some parts of his war diaries that were used in the movie (especially the scene early in the movie when they are on the train in Russia on the way to the front is taken largely from his diary). He was one of the lucky ones: he was wounded (granatesplitter in his back and lost the use of his right arm) and was able to get out of the encirclement by walking to the airfield and catch a plane. He was in the elite "Sturmpioniere" battaljons who the German command send in to take the famous Tractor Works from the Russians. Of his battaljon (all coming from the same Austrian village) only a few came back out of Russia. I've read his diaries on the war after he died (he did only give copies to the producers of the movie, we found out after his death that he did so and that that scene was taken from his diary). He never ever spoke of the Stalingrad period to his relatives, not even to his wife... The movie Stalingrad is good and looks very cruel at some places. However: it doesn't even come close to all the violence and strange things I've read in that diary...
< Message edited by Centuur -- 3/13/2012 12:36:06 PM >
Centuur's last comment about his Great uncle immediately brought back memories of a book I read whilst still a teenager (likely 30 plus years ago) . The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer. That book is an incredible true story from a soldier fighting for the Germans on the Eastern Front. Well worth a read if you can get hold of a copy.
Forgotten Soldier is good...I think that is the soldier from Alsace or Lorraine? And I think he is in the GrossDeutschland division?
There is one from a soldier in the 10th or 12th SS division ... 'The Black March'. A little chilling at times.
I like personal memoirs from soldiers. I don't think very many are translated....so in another country, you would only see the better ones.
In the USA, I have read a couple boring ones from American soldiers. One was from a guy in the Signal Corps......he is thus always behind the lines, and nothing all that interesting ever happened to him. So I doubt anyone in another country will ever read that one.
Forgotten Soldier is good...I think that is the soldier from Alsace or Lorraine? And I think he is in the GrossDeutschland division?
That is correct, french from his father and german from his mother.
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Michel Desjardins, "Patriotism is a virtue of the vicious" - Oscar Wilde "History is a set of lies agreed upon" - Napoleon Bonaparte after the battle of Waterloo, june 18th, 1815
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Most of the good ones have been mentioned. My favorite was always Patton, but for authintic equipment and fun (but nothing else authentic) you can't beat Kelly's Heroes
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Most of the good ones have been mentioned. My favorite was always Patton, but for authintic equipment and fun (but nothing else authentic) you can't beat Kelly's Heroes
I too was curious about all those Shermans etc. This is what I found:
"...Yugoslavia was chosen mostly because earnings from previous showings of movies there could not be taken out of the country, but could be used to fund the production.
Also the Yugoslav army had in its inventory U.S. Sherman tanks (part of the military aid packages received when Marshal Tito split ways with Joseph Stalin and the U.S. feared a Red Army intervention through Hungary)..."
The Tiger tanks were apparently T-34's already modified for a Soviet film shot a year before.
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RE: OT - Best WWII movie? - 
borner, if you mention that film by name again I will report you to Erik okay? It is The Film That Shall Not Be Named or TFTSNBN 
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