Slitherine

I saw a similar thread over in the Matrix WIF forum and thought it'd be fun to start one like that here. Here are my nominees.

Band of Brothers

The Pacific

Schindler's List

Twelve O'Clock High w/Gregory Peck http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041996/

Judgment at Nuremberg w/Spencer Tracey and Burt Lancaster http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055031/

Letters from Iwo Jima

Flags of our Fathers

Band of Brothers - I thought it was excellent. Pacific was IMHO a poor cousin by comparison, but that might just be my bias in that it was framed from an entirely American 'GI' perspective which was harder to swallow for a Pacific setting for a Pacific native.

Saving Private Ryan, gets my vote for a movie even though some of it irritated the hell out of me (I know it happens but the 'coward' guy lugging the typewriter really grates, but maybe thats just the soldier in me). Although my wife tells me I irritated the whole theatre by being able to eat my snacks during the first 20 minute sequence.

I also remember telling friends at the time the same advice a I give to those who were visiting concentartion camps in their Tours.

Don't plan a party for the evening after - you really won;t be in the mood.

As a kid a really liked the TV series The Rat Patrol (I had to behave extra well to be allowed to stay up for it)

of course that was in NZ which would have been a rerun from teh original screening dates in the US

Battle of Britain, A Bridge to Far and The Longest Day all deserve a mention

almost forgot Peckinpah's Cross of Iron.

On the not great but fun list you could have:

The Dirty Dozen
Kellys Heroes

richardsd wrote:Band of Brothers - I thought it was excellent. Pacific was IMHO a poor cousin by comparison, but that might just be my bias in that it was framed from an entirely American 'GI' perspective which was harder to swallow for a Pacific setting for a Pacific native.

I really enjoyed The Pacific miniseries but I agree that it's 100% from a US perspective. One reason that I enjoyed it so much is that I had seen the PBS documentary series, "The War" by Ken Burns and much of the material and stories presented there I would assume served as background for The Pacific mini-series. My interest in WW-II growing up had been on the War in Europe or the naval battles in the Pacific.

It's only recently in the last few years that I've started studying about the US island campaign in the Pacific. I picked up a documentary DVD out of the Wal-Mart bargain DVD bin for $5 about Iwo Jima. This included mostly interviews with US veterans of that battle. I think it was the Marine 5th division that landed. They were told that the operation would take 3-days but took 33-days. One veteran said that the US army air corps landed and set up an air base near the end. He was struck by the lack of any security from the army. There were still about 100 or so Japanese defenders still left at the time and they launched an attack against the undefended camp, killing several. The marine veteran telling the story said that they had already been loaded back on ship but were brought back to finish mopping up the remaining Japanese defenders.

richardsd wrote:almost forgot Peckinpah's Cross of Iron.

I really enjoyed that movie too until the ending, which was a bunch of stills and was abrupt. I read that it was ended like that because they ran out of money and couldn't film the ending that they had intended.

Really good and historical war moves are the German ones like
* Das Boot
* Stalingrad
* Der Untergang (downfall in English)

http://allaboutwarmovies.com/2010/10/26 ... e-you-die/

Good American / British ones not mentioned:
* Enemy at the gates
* The Pianist
* Patton (from 1970)

Norwegian ones:
* Max Manus

Dad's Army of course, or 'Allo 'Allo!

It ain't half hot mum is probably pushing it.

I really liked the WWII episodes of "Dog Fights." It's cool to see air tactics and how the different sides fought the air war.

To get something here from very much underpresented Russia. "Shtrafbat" (Penal Battalion) was a nice surprise when I saw it on our national network. Maybe not the greatest FX for such a new work but great characters and atmosphere. Although it's also the only Russian made series/film of WW2 I've seen, so my view is bit limited.

"Max Manus" was similar surprise too, after all, before that my other film experience of WW2 era Norway had been "Heroes of Telemark"

'Allo 'Allo!

*Cue French accent* Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once: now this one is truly great

My list could probably include 50 or more, there are so many excellent WW2 films. I started out with the idea that this would be in order of preference but as I recalled films that idea was scrapped. In no particular order....

Band Of Brothers (TV Mini-Series)
Stalingrad
Downfall/Der Untergang
Cross of Iron
Das Boot
Saving Private Ryan
The Bridge/Die Brücke
The Pianist
Letters From Iwo Jima
Flags of Our Fathers
Soldier of Orange
The Eagle Has Landed
The Great Escape
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Stalag 17
Black Book
Where Eagles Dare
Empire of the Sun
A Bridge Too Far
The Winter War/Talvisota
Kelly's Heroes (silly but fun)
The Train
Casablanca (sort of a war movie:-))
Boy With The Striped Pajamas (saddest movie of all time, but well made IMO)
Enemy at the Gates
Oorlogswinter (Winter In Wartime)
A Midnight Clear
Hell in the Pacific
The Thin Red Line
Defiance
Battle of Britain
The Counterfeiters
The Guns of Navarone
Europa Europa
Von Ryan's Express
Hope and Glory
Eye of the Needle
The Longest Day

Supposed to be great but I have not seen: Come And See

Didnt really care for these:
Kokoda
The Pacific (TV Mini-Series)
Saints and Soldiers
U-571
Pearl Harbor
Tora! Tora! Tora!

A pretty comprehensive list can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_II_films

Secret Army - great acting and scripts with a superb baddy in Kessler. A mystery why the BBC never repeated it on their mainstream channels in the 30 odd years since it was made - maybe we have Allo Allo (!) to thank for that.

Come and See (Russian, 1985)

- The Eastern Front was not pretty behind the lines (or anywhere really).

A Midnight Clear (1992)

- also small scale about a US platoon in the Ardennes.

Talvisota / The Winter War (1989)
- a pretty good film on the the Russo-Finnish conflict 1939--1940
- More info. here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098437/

My top 10

1. Band of Brothers
2. The Longest Day
3. Saving Private Ryan
4. Great Escape
5. Von Ryan's Express
6. A Bridge too Far
7. Das Boot
8. Memphis Belle
9. The Guns of Navarone
10. Letters from Iwo Jima

Malta Story

I just watched this over the weekend on Netflix and really enjoyed it. I sort of knew about the siege of Malta but this movie did a great job bringing it to life for me. Afterward I did a bit of research on Operation Pedestal Specifically, I didn't realize Malta was that close to surrendering.

Operation Pedestal in August 1942 was the final effort to supply Malta before she was forced to surrender.

Also, I didn't know the story of the US tanker, "SS Ohio". Also, I didn't realized how high the losses sustained by the Royal Navy escorts and the Merchant Ships they tried to get through to Malta were.

Two movies I really like which I didn't see posted are:

Enemy at the Gates (Stalingrad sniper movie)

Dark Blue World (About Czech fgihter pilots fleeing and joining the RAF)

Where Eagles Dare isn't the most realistic movie but it's fun.

Sink the Bismark!