War Movies
Hell in the Pacific (1968) – A unique film
Clickable links in red Genre – War Movie Time: 1 Hour, 43 minutes Platform: You Tube Free Director: John Boorman. Cast: Lee Marvin. Toshiro Mifune. There are war movies and then there is Hell in the Pacific. A unique film with ONLY two characters onscreen. The American cannot speak Japanese while the Japanese…
Read MoreEast (2020) – Unique film on a forgotten war
Genre – War Movie (based on true events) Time: 2 Hours 20 minutes Platform: Amazon Prime Language: Dutch Historical background: World War 2 showed to the colonial subjects that their Colonial Masters were not a hundred feet tall and could be defeated. This was especially so in the Asian colonies,…
Read MoreIll Met by Moonlight (1957) aka Night Ambush – Unbelievable but true
All clickable links in red Genre – War Movie (true story) Time: 1 Hours 30 minutes Platform: You Tube Director: Michael Powell, Emrich Pressburger Powell and Pressburger, forged their collaboration during World War 2, as they produced war propaganda films, including the wartime classic 49th Parallel (1941). Their films epitomize British cinema and…
Read MoreDanger Close (2019) – War is hell
All clickable links in red Genre – War Movie (true story) Time: 2 Hours Platform: Amazon Prime Director: Kriv Stenders. Platform : Amazon Prime Whenever we think of the Vietnam War, the popular image is the American image, with helicopters ferrying troops, US air force combat planes blasting and napalming jungles and pictures of various…
Read MoreDie Gustloff (2008) – Slow but poignant
All clickable links in red Director: Joseph Vilsmaer Genre: Drama – WW2 True Story Language : German Time: 1 Hour 41 minutes Platform: You Tube Free – with hard coded English subtitles Cast: Kai Wiesinger. Valeri Niehaus. Heiner Lauterbach. Which was the world’s biggest maritime disaster? With three movies on this topic, it…
Read MoreEye of the Needle (1981) – Superb spy thriller
All clickable links in red Genre: Spy Movie Time: 1 hour 50 minutes Platform: Amazon Prime (rent or subscription) Director : Richard Marquand Cast : Donald Sutherland. Kate Nelligan. Christopher Cazenove. Ian Bannen. It’s the proud boast of British Intelligence that they controlled all the German agents in Britain during…
Read MorePilecki’s report (2024) – Harrowing and tragic
Genre – War Movie (true story) Time: 1 Hour, 58 minutes Platform: Netflix Director: Krzysztof Lukaszewicz Language: Polish During WW2, every occupied country in Europe suffered untold horror and privations but none so more than Poland. It was the first to be occupied by armed conflict (Austria and Czechoslovakia were occupied without a…
Read MoreThe Longest Day (1962) – Superb; a perfect blend of history and film
ALL CLICKABLE LINKS IN RED Genre – War Movie (true story) Time: 2 Hours, 58 minutes Platform: Amazon Prime (on rent) Director: Ken Annakin – British and French segments. Andrew Marton – American segments. Bernhard Wicki – German segments. D-Day means a particular date on which some operation or event is supposed to…
Read MoreEastern Front – Part 3 of 3 –Eastern Front
All clickable links in red The Eastern Front was a charnel house with unparalleled brutality on both sides . The German propaganda of treating all Soviet citizens as subhumans had some unusual self-goals. Latvia, Estonia , Lithuania and Ukraine, who considered the Russians as “occupiers”, actually welcomed the Germans as Liberators. The foolish…
Read MoreEastern Front – Part 2 of 3 – Hollywood and Eastern Front
ALL CLICKABLE LINKS IN RED When Germany attacked the Soviet Union, the British and then the Americans sent material aid to the Russians. By late 1943, the effects were evident as the Soviet Army swiftly gained higher mobility thanks to the trucks supplied by the Americans. In the spirit of cooperation, Hollywood made…
Read MoreThe Eastern Front – Part 1 of 3 – a brief history (and some movies)
All Clickable Links in red May 8 is an important date for Europeans. On this day in 1945, the European part of WW2 ended. VE day as it is known to the Western Allies, is celebrated in various ways. In Russia , it is celebrated as Victory Day with a huge military parade that…
Read MoreOperation Valkyrie– Three films on the July 20, 1944 plot
All clickable links in red Never disturb your enemy when he is making a mistake – Napoleon The above quote aptly summarizes Hitler’s overall non-professional conduct and oversight of the German wartime effort. It could also be a description of the July 20, 1944 plotters when they tried to assassinate Hitler at his Headquarters…
Read MoreKatyn (2007) – A horrific true story
All clickable links in red Genre – War Movie (true story) Time : 2 Hours Platform: You Tube Free Language : Polish Director : Andrzej Wajda There is a Cold War joke that goes like this Its 1981 and the Soviets are making threatening noises to invade Poland (like they did with…
Read MoreApocalypse Now (1979) – Timeless Classic
All Clickable links are in red Genre – War Movie Time: 3 Hours , 20 minutes (Redux). 3 hours, 5 minutes (Final Director’s Cut) Platform: You Tube Free Director : Francis Ford Coppola Some films are easily forgotten after watching. Then there are films that have a lasting impact on you and remain…
Read MoreLetters from Iwo Jima (2006) – Superb view of other side
Genre – War Movie (true story) Time: 2 Hours, 20 minutes Platform: Amazon Prime (on rent), You Tube (on rent) Language: Japanese, English Director : Clint Eastwood It’s a rare Hollywood / Western film that shows the enemy’s view of the same battle. There have been some examples in the past (and covered…
Read MoreFlags of our fathers (2006) – Superb retelling of war’s cost
All clickable links in red Genre – War Movie (true story) Time: 2 Hours, 12 minutes Platform: Amazon Prime (on rent), You Tube Free Every world event, be it social, political, technological, has a defining moment and defining image. The Berlin Wall being knocked down by ordinary people symbolized people power over…
Read MoreWil (2023) – Morality or Survival
Genre – WW2 resistance film Time: 1 hour 50 minutes Platform: Netflix Language: Dutch. German. All clickable links are in red Every country occupied by the Nazis (and Japanese) between 1940-45 had indigenous Resistance movements of various shapes and sizes. Some, like the Norwegians, had some stunning successes (refer to the post on…
Read MoreNorsk Hydro / Operation Gunnerside – three movies
All clickable links in red What would have happened if the Nazis had developed the Atom Bomb? The results are there for us to see in the superb alternate history TV series, The Man in the High Castle, which ran for four seasons from 2015 to 2019 (and is available on Amazon Prime). Though the…
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