| Author |
 Topic Search  Topic Options
|
Jim Garten 
Special Collaborator
Retired Admin & Razor Guru
Joined: February 02 2004
Location: South England
Status: Offline
Points: 14693
|
 Posted: September 05 2007 at 12:38 |
Off at a slight tangent here, but apart from the obvious 'All Quiet On The Western Front', and the risible 'The Trench', does anyone know of any major films regarding the First World War?
The only one I can think of personally is 'A Very Long Engagement' 
|
Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
|
 |
Jared
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 06 2005
Location: Hereford, UK
Status: Offline
Points: 19499
|
Posted: September 04 2007 at 07:13 |
 Atavachron wrote:
I'm a bit more of a WW l film fan-- Paths of Glory, All Quiet on the Western Front, and What Price Glory with James Cagney is excellent. For WW ll Longest Day is amazing, and Run Silent, Run Deep is fun.
|
two of the finest WWI movies are not on your list there.... Renoir's 'The Grand Illusion' and Losey's 'King & Country'.... 
|
|
Music has always been a matter of energy to me. On some nights I believe that a car with the needle on empty can run 50 more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. Hunter S Thompson
|
|
mrcozdude
Forum Senior Member
Joined: July 25 2007
Location: Devon,UK.
Status: Offline
Points: 2078
|
Posted: September 04 2007 at 06:31 |
I love band of brothers and saving private ryan,im always searching for new ww2 films but my searches are getting norrow though im still yet to see letters from Iwo Jima.There was a few ww2 films released this year werent there, which didnt get much press? Imdb it is!
|
|
|
|
Bastille Dude
Forum Senior Member
Joined: November 30 2005
Status: Offline
Points: 906
|
Posted: September 04 2007 at 06:15 |
|
I can't believe I didn't see this poll until now. Many great WWII movies here but THE LONGEST DAY is my favorite.
|
|
DEATH TO FALSE PROG!
|
|
Atavachron
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: September 30 2006
Location: Pearland
Status: Online
Points: 65289
|
Posted: September 04 2007 at 04:02 |
|
also how incredibly well made they are, Jim, I always feel the same when I see Goodfellas or some other terribly violent film... they're of such high quality, I have to watch
|
|
Jim Garten
Special Collaborator
Retired Admin & Razor Guru
Joined: February 02 2004
Location: South England
Status: Offline
Points: 14693
|
Posted: September 04 2007 at 03:56 |
TheProgtologist wrote:
Band of Brothers is EXCELLENT.I have the boxed set DVD's and never get tired of watching them. |
You know, that's something I think about occasionally - why is it I get 'pleasure' from watching and re-watching movies such as SPR, Schindlers List, BoB, The Pianist, The Black Book & so on... these are all in their own way brutal films... I hope I enjoy them for their inner sense of the survival of hope & overcoming adversity, not the vicarious thrill of the (admittedly well done and, yes, exciting) battle scenes
|
Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
|
|
Jim Garten
Special Collaborator
Retired Admin & Razor Guru
Joined: February 02 2004
Location: South England
Status: Offline
Points: 14693
|
Posted: September 04 2007 at 03:52 |
stonebeard wrote:
I didn't like Flags of Our fathers that much. The story is good for what it is, but the non-combat aspect of it didn't appeal to me much, and I thought the combat aspect was mostly routine and unexciting. |
I don't think the point of the film was to make it 'exciting'; I think the point there was the exploitation of the soldiers and the American public to raise money for war bonds; certainly makes me think every time I see that iconic photograph now.
|
Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
|
|
NotAProghead
Special Collaborator
Errors & Omissions Team
Joined: October 22 2005
Location: Russia
Status: Offline
Points: 7870
|
Posted: September 03 2007 at 16:50 |
Voted for other.
IMO Soviet movies "Cranes Are Flying" (director M. Kalatozov), 1957 Cannes winner, and "Ballad of a Soldier" (by G. Chuckhrai, 1959) are the best.
By the way lots of great Soviet/Russian movies dedicated to the World War II are unknown outside the former USSR. Unfortunately.
My favourite from the list is "Das Boot".
Edited by NotAProghead - September 03 2007 at 17:14
|
|
Who are you and who am I to say we know the reason why... (D. Gilmour)
|
|
Atavachron
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: September 30 2006
Location: Pearland
Status: Online
Points: 65289
|
Posted: September 03 2007 at 15:43 |
|
I'm a bit more of a WW l film fan-- Paths of Glory, All Quiet on the Western Front, and What Price Glory with James Cagney is excellent. For WW ll Longest Day is amazing, and Run Silent, Run Deep is fun.
|
|
stonebeard
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 27 2005
Location: NE Indiana
Status: Offline
Points: 28057
|
Posted: September 03 2007 at 15:22 |
|
I didn't like Flags of Our fathers that much. The story is good for what it is, but the non-combat aspect of it didn't appeal to me much, and I thought the combat aspect was mostly routine and unexciting.
|
|
|
|
Leningrad
Forum Senior Member
Joined: August 15 2006
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Points: 7991
|
Posted: September 03 2007 at 15:14 |
Jim Garten wrote:
I've not seen Letter from Iwo Jima, but I was very impressed with Flags Of Our Fathers |
I loved LFIJ. Very well done.
|
|
TheProgtologist
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin
Joined: May 23 2005
Location: Baltimore,Md US
Status: Offline
Points: 27802
|
Posted: September 03 2007 at 15:07 |
Jim Garten wrote:
TheProgtologist wrote:
My maternal grandfather stormed the beaches of Normandy(Omaha Beach) on D-Day and wasn't alive when SPR was released,but I bet it would have freaked him out.He never talked about his experiences in WWII until a few years before his death(He fought from Normandy to Bastogne) |
A lot has been said in the past about the thin plot and the sentimentality underlying SPR, but to my mind the bottom line is this is the first film ever to have shown WWII for what it was; brutal, wasteful & terrifying.
It's not just the battle scenes either - there's a sequence with the platoon walking toward a village in the rain & this is filmed so well, you can virtually feel the water dripping down your back & sense the men's exhaustion. I'll also stick my head above the parapet on this one - I think Tom Hanks took the part bloody well.
Incidentally, not a film as such, but 'Band Of Brothers' expanded on the SPR idea, was filmed in much the same way & style and with the same impact (the series also benefited from the interviews & reminiscences of the veterans depicted)
TheProgtologist wrote:
And this poll should have included the excellent movies Flags Of Our Fathers and Letter From Iwo Jima. |
I've not seen Letter from Iwo Jima, but I was very impressed with Flags Of Our Fathers |
Band of Brothers is EXCELLENT.I have the boxed set DVD's and never get tired of watching them.That it's a true story gives it even more of an impact.
Incidentally,my grandfather was in the same division as those guys,101st Airborne(Screaming Eagles).
|
|
|
|
VanderGraafKommandöh
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 04 2005
Location: Malaria
Status: Offline
Points: 89372
|
Posted: September 03 2007 at 10:53 |
dwill123 wrote:
"Tora! Tora! Tora!", "Patton" and two that didn't make the list: "The Dam Busters" & "The Battle of Britain". |
Although The Dambusters and The Battle of Britain are slightly flawed, they are excellent films nonetheless, when you bear in mind when they were made. They literally got surplus Hurricane and Spitfire and used them in many different ways in BoB, some they made Taxiable, some even flyable. They even made mock-ups for blowing up on the ground. I don't think they could ever make BoB now and have the same charm (not that war is nice, but when these films were made, the RAF servicemen were deemed as heroes) and be able to capture the apparently nonchalent and cocksureness of the pilots. As for The Dambusters, again, this film was excellent for its time, yet still flawed. There were no Avro Lancasters used in the film, instead they used the slightly different Avro Lincoln. Peter Jackson is apparently going to make his own version... I think it will be physically amazing to see (CGI no doubt), but I don't think the film will actually be that good. We shall see. Will he be politically correct and change the name of Guy Gibson's Black Labrador? I hope not, for accuracies sake.
|
|
|
|
andu
Forum Senior Member
Joined: September 27 2006
Location: Romania
Status: Offline
Points: 3089
|
Posted: September 03 2007 at 08:20 |
TheProgtologist wrote:
Saving Private Ryan is my choice.The opening D-Day invasion sequence is so horrific,you almost feel like you are there. |
I voted SPR too, but the best WWII-kind-of-experience for me was the game "Call of Duty". It's a fantastic ride, incredibly realistic, and it lasts longer (I needed about 8 hours to complete the single player at medium difficulty at the second or third try). It also has a breathtaking scene of invading land from water, similar to the Normandy D-Day; it happens in Stalingrad, where you, as a Soviet trooper, come from the water and climb a hill to enter the city and take it back from the Nazis.
|
|
dwill123
Forum Senior Member
Joined: December 19 2006
Status: Offline
Points: 4460
|
Posted: September 03 2007 at 08:03 |
|
"Tora! Tora! Tora!", "Patton" and two that didn't make the list: "The Dam Busters" & "The Battle of Britain".
|
|
Jim Garten
Special Collaborator
Retired Admin & Razor Guru
Joined: February 02 2004
Location: South England
Status: Offline
Points: 14693
|
Posted: September 03 2007 at 07:35 |
TheProgtologist wrote:
My maternal grandfather stormed the beaches of Normandy(Omaha Beach) on D-Day and wasn't alive when SPR was released,but I bet it would have freaked him out.He never talked about his experiences in WWII until a few years before his death(He fought from Normandy to Bastogne) |
A lot has been said in the past about the thin plot and the sentimentality underlying SPR, but to my mind the bottom line is this is the first film ever to have shown WWII for what it was; brutal, wasteful & terrifying.
It's not just the battle scenes either - there's a sequence with the platoon walking toward a village in the rain & this is filmed so well, you can virtually feel the water dripping down your back & sense the men's exhaustion. I'll also stick my head above the parapet on this one - I think Tom Hanks took the part bloody well.
Incidentally, not a film as such, but 'Band Of Brothers' expanded on the SPR idea, was filmed in much the same way & style and with the same impact (the series also benefited from the interviews & reminiscences of the veterans depicted)
TheProgtologist wrote:
And this poll should have included the excellent movies Flags Of Our Fathers and Letter From Iwo Jima. |
I've not seen Letter from Iwo Jima, but I was very impressed with Flags Of Our Fathers
|
Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
|
|
Jared
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 06 2005
Location: Hereford, UK
Status: Offline
Points: 19499
|
Posted: September 03 2007 at 06:45 |
andu wrote:
(I have yet to see Paths of Glory)
|
and when you do Andu, you will realise that qalthough it is an undeniable masterpiece, it is also in fact a) an anti-war movie and b) set in the trenches of WWI...hence why I haven't voted for it....
so I've gone with Schindler's List....
...although I do think '49th Parallel' is worth a mention..... 
|
|
Music has always been a matter of energy to me. On some nights I believe that a car with the needle on empty can run 50 more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. Hunter S Thompson
|
|
limeyrob
Forum Senior Member
VIP Member
Joined: January 15 2005
Location: England
Status: Offline
Points: 1402
|
Posted: September 03 2007 at 02:57 |
There seems to be two types of war movie - the portraying of actual events and fictional adventures. I chose Where Eagles Dare as a good adventure and would have chosen The Longest Day as a very good documentary style movie.
I might have got my titles mixed up but wasn't The Wild Geese a mercenary film set in Africa? With Richard Burton, Roger Moore and Richard Harris.
|
|
Novalis
Forum Senior Member
Joined: April 15 2007
Location: New Zealand
Status: Offline
Points: 338
|
Posted: September 03 2007 at 00:40 |
andu wrote:
Other great war movies - Copolla's Apocalypse Now, Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket.
|
Agreed.
|
|
kazansky
Forum Senior Member
Joined: December 24 2006
Location: Indonesia
Status: Offline
Points: 5085
|
Posted: September 03 2007 at 00:36 |
|
Saving Private Ryan is great indeed, but i feel like the plot is a bit...silly?
Vote for Enemy at the Gates
|
|
The devil we blame our atrocities on is really just each one of us.
|
|
Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.
/PAlogo_v2.gif "Progarchives.com Homepage")
Second World War Movies
