World War 2 Movies
Die 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 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…
Read MoreThe Sea Wolves – 1980 – A charming true story
All Clickable links in Red Genre – War Movie (true story) Language – English Time: 2 Hours Platform: YouTube (Free) Throughout history, many nation have depended on goods carried by merchant ships trade for their daily survival. It is more accurate for island nations like Britain and Japan. Britain was almost strangled by…
Read MoreBattle of Stalingrad – Multiple films
ALL CLICKABLE LINKS IN RED The Battle of Stalingrad is considered – rightly – as one of the biggest Nazi Germany defeats and the turning points on the Eastern Front. It started in August 1942 and the last German troops surrendered on February 2, 1943. It proved once and for all that the Russians…
Read MoreThe Ultra Secret – Superb Slow Burn Films on Enigma
All clickable links in red In 1974 a book, The Ultra Secret, was published. The contents were nothing short of sensational for anyone who bought it. Lest people thought it was a joke, more documents under The Thirty-Year Rule were released on the topic. Simply put, The British were reading ALL GERMAN-CIPHERED SIGNALS, SOMETIMES IN NEAR…
Read MoreThe Navarone Films – One, a Classic. Its Follow-up Mediocre
All clickable links in red Alistair MacLean was an exceptionally successful writer who crafted a series of adventure-war-spy stories. His experience as a sailor in the “Arctic Convoys” resulted in his first – and probably his best – book, HMS Ulysses (1955). After that, there was no looking back, as many of his 1960s…
Read MoreTora Tora Tora (1970) – A Classic
Dir: Richard Fleisher. Kinji Fukasaku. Toshio Masuda Cast: Martin Balsam. Jason Robards. Multiple Stars. (All clickable links are in red) When 9/11 happened, many, including US President George Bush Junior, said that it was Pearl Harbor of the 21st century. The comparison may only have been for the devastating surprise attack on December 7, 1941.…
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