OT - Best WWII movie?

[micheljq]

ORIGINAL: Titan

Im suprised Cross of Iron (1977) hasn't been mentioned, Thats my favourite.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074695/

One of my favourite too. The iron cross holder on the eastern front, I like it.

Another favourite, but on WW1, Blue Max.

[Extraneous]

"Band of Brothers" & "The Pacific" falsify history to much FOR ME. Both movies lacked any tactical formations.

A tactical formation (or order) is the arrangement or deployment of moving military forces such as infantry, cavalry, AFVs, military aircraft, or naval vessels.


If you don't believe me watch any WWII movie that shows troop movements.

Examples:

A Walk in the Sun (1945)

Go for Broke! (1951)

To Hell and Back (1955)

The Devil's Brigade (1968)

[WarHunter]

Orm,
Enjoy your WWII movie watching and let us know what you ended up viewing.

1) Which WWII movie do you think is best?
Sahara
Attack
War Kill
Cross of Iron
The Big Red One  
Hell is for Heroes
To Hell and Back
Sands of Iwo Jima

2) What WWII movies do you feel is truthful to the actual event(s)?
Midway  
Patton
Downfall
Longest Day
Tora Tora Tora
Bridge at Remagen

3) What WWII movies do you think falsify history to much?  
Dirty Dozen

4)Honorable Mention, not a movie
Victory at Sea

[Taxman66]

Kinda surprised no one mentioned Stalig 17. Not sure if I'd call it my favorite, but worth mentioning.

[Extraneous]

"Victory at Sea" now there is realism!

A friend of mine had the music and sounds on “reel to reel” to play on his stereo when his neighbors started playing their music to loud.

16 inch guns firing at a high volume would shake the building.

Or he would play his train wreak tape.

[CSSS]

DownFall

Valkerie

Das Boot

Saving Private Ryan

[Orm]

ORIGINAL: WarHunter

Orm,
Enjoy your WWII movie watching and let us know what you ended up viewing.

Thank you all for the movies you have recommended.[:)]

I begun with rewatching A Bridge To Far. A great movie that I feel is better than many of the later WWII fantasy movies.

Next on the list to see is Das Boot. A movie I already had decided it was time to see again and it was because I somehow came to think of Das Boot that promted me to ask these questions. I thought that I probably had missed alot of good WWII movies and you proved to me that there are several nice ones out there I need to watch.

You guys mentioned so many movies that I want to see as soon as I possibly can. [:)] Alas, I think that it will be a while before I am done. At the moment I don't have time for more than one a week. [:(]

I will soon see if I can get my hands on a DVD version on at least some of the movies you have mentioned. Preferably with spoken English and Swedish subtexts.

[Centuur]

My first post in this forum...

I would also give as tip the Dutch movie: "The Assault" (I think it won an Oscar for best foreign movie). This movie gives a really good understanding of what it was to live in an occupied western country during the war...

[michaelbaldur]

a month ago I bought ANZAC . a world war I series ...

that is very good .. can recommend it ..

[michaelbaldur]

CENTUUR. welcome to the forum  

[pmelheck1]

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).

[AndyG1]

I find it interesting that we are all tending to post the same films as ones to watch!

I'll just post my opinion on ones to watch, rather than saying whether they are historically correct etc:-

Ice Cold In Alex (1958) - it's been my favourite movie of all time for a long time!

The Thin Red Line - the atmosphere in this is just amazing - a WW2 story from a different perspective.

Conspiracy

Das Boot

Stalingrad (made by same people as Das Boot I believe)

Letters from Iwo Jima

Saving Private Ryan

Band Of Brothers

The Pacific

Battle of Britain

Enemy At The Gates

Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence

The Great Escape

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: AndyG1

I find it interesting that we are all tending to post the same films as ones to watch!

Warspite1

That's because a good film is a good film in any language! Pleased to see you have Conspiracy on your list. An absolutely fantastic piece of drama.

[Edipa]

ORIGINAL: peskpesk

There is only one Number One for me "Das Boat".

Das Boot really is great.I love it! The soundtrack comes to my mind immediately as i think of it, lol!

________________________
Happy games likeFamily Guy Online and Farm Kingdom relax me.

[wesy]

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.

[trooper76]

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?

[marcejap]

There some bw wwii film with David Niven which ends in N.Africa that I always enjoyed...anyone know the name?

Maybe this one?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_of_Enemies

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:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT_9db9IMzk

[fallgelb]

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.

[trooper76]

ORIGINAL: marcejap

There some bw wwii film with David Niven which ends in N.Africa that I always enjoyed...anyone know the name?

Maybe this one?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_of_Enemies

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."

[Centuur]

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...