NationStates Jolt Archive

There are many but I shall have a go at putting the most memorable ones in a poll. The rest of them, you will have to note down yourself.

I personally think that Downfall (a German film which came out a few months ago) was excellent in its portrayal of the final days of the Third Reich and the Battle of Berlin.

Oops the Great Escape appears twice

Band of Brothers, not technically a film i know but hey

The Thin Red Line
Das Boot
Empire of the Sun
Kelly's Heroes

i put saving private ryan, but i havent seen enemy at the gates. i read the book and it was amazing.. so maybe the movie was good.

Band of Brothers= pwzorz.

I like Saving Private Ryan a lot, though The Longest Day is probably the best overall.

Cross of Iron

A bit O' Class

Schindler's list.

Add it. Now.

Tora! Tora! Tora! was another excellent WWII film.

Enemy at the Gates was very good as well.

Tora! Tora! Tora! was another excellent WWII film.


Yes that is an excellent film.

DAS BOOT

What a movie!!! Claustrophobic and all too human.

The Dirty Dozen

As if I give a damn about WWII, my country didn't even exist back then!

As if I give a damn about WWII, my country didn't even exist back then!

Nothing like getting in on the ground floor!

The Eagle has Landed is very good too. I saw it recently. Unlike many films, it actually makes some of the Germans out to be reasonable, brave people.

Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List are my favorite films. I haven't seen many WWII films, so I guess I have to settle for SPR because of the Spielberg factor and the media hype about it.

Enemy at the Gate was a good film, since I'm a fan of SWS (sniper weapon systems), but some of it was rather unrealistic and not enough was done to humiliate the Ivans. I'm not a fan of Ivan, ya see.

How good were the WWII films adapted from Alistair McLean novels, like The Guns of Navarone? I haven't seen them but I'm curious.

How good were the WWII films adapted from Alistair McLean novels, like The Guns of Navarone? I haven't seen them but I'm curious.

Very entertaining when it first came out, however, I don't belive I have ever seen a movie that compared to the book. I don't even think it is possible.

Liverbreath']Very entertaining when it first came out, however, I don't belive I have ever seen a movie that compared to the book. I don't even think it is possible.

Movies tend to abridge novels since the sotry's told within 3 hours.

It seems like everybody is just voting for the new one, the one they have seen. Saving Pricvate Ryan was a great movie, but I liked 'A Bridge to Far' better, I was just wondering if anyone who voted for Ryan has accualy seen any of the older ones.

Since you guys are talking about books I'm going to add "King Rat" and "The English Patient" to my list.

The Thin Red Line
Das Boot
Empire of the Sun
Kelly's Heroes
King Rat
The English Patient

As if I give a damn about WWII, my country didn't even exist back then!
But you can watch the movies, can't you!?

Patton is also a great movie. Battle of Britain is one of my favorites too.

How about we add a few movies from the "other side"?
Das Boot was very good. Stalingrad is a really good film. All Quiet on the Western Front was pretty good (but the book was infinitely better).
Modern: Downfall is excellent and I urge all of you to check it out - if you have any decent cinemas near you.
Pretty much every older war movies makes the Germans statists (in the great escape they make them stupid too).
And finally: The Looney Toons from that time! Ever seen one? Jeez....

Russian: A zori zdes tikhie (The Dawns Are Quiet Here)

Western: Cross of Iron

Saints and Soldiers
The Longest Day
Downfall
Stalingrad
Das Boot
Band of Brothers
Pacific War-mini series (not out yet but it is by Tom Hanks and Speilberg so it will be great)
The Big Red One (Reconstruction only)
The Dam Busters for accuracy
plus many many others

Oh, I forgot to add:

"Stalingrad"

Before Saving Private Ryan, that was the most graphical (and truly violent) war movie. The prisoner exchange scene is one you don't forget. A bitter one.

Best World War II film there is: Patton.

Why did nobody mention the best World War II film there is?: Patton.
Because most people don't agree with you on that one.

Band of Brothers definetely, followed by Schindler's List.

Shaving Ryan's Privates is a great film, but there's a lot of missing greats on the list:

Bridge Over River Kwai
Midway
Run Silent, Run Deep
Stalag 17
The Longest Day
Tora Tora Tora
The Thin Red Line
Memphis Belle
12 O'Clock High
The Tuskegee Airmen (HBO)
A Soldier's Story
Tobruch
The Sands of Iwo Jima
The Fighting Seabees
The Bridges At Toko-Ri
PT-109
The Guns of Navarone
The Desert Fox
Catch-22
Vita e Bella (Life is Beautiful)
Schindler's List
The Flying Leathernecks
The Caine Mutiny
Mister Roberts

...and many more that I'm sure I'm missing myself.

Good call on Das Boot and The Battle of Britain -- I'd forgotten about them.

I would say that there probably hasn't been one single American WW2 movie that wasn't just an appeal to base patriotism. Think about it, they call Private Ryan an "anti-war" movie, only to then have their actors standing on a bloody cemetary and playing heroic music while the US Flag flies in the wind...that's not anti-war.
If you want to see proper anti-war films, you have to look at films from Germany for example. And no one in the US seems to do that.
They did it for Vietnam - Full Metal Jacket for example is a good anti-war film. Maybe it's just easier for people to be anti-Vietnam than anti-WW2...

--snip--
All Quiet on the Western Front was pretty good (but the book was infinitely better).
--snip--


That one's about World War I.

That one's about World War I.
Yeah, it impressed me nonetheless though.
And it's not really an American movie either, the novel is German.

It depends on perspective I suppose...

For the "Big Picture" and historical accuracy I'd have to say "the Longest Day"


As modern ones go, for pure realism, combat, and a look at battle from a soldier's perspective "Saving Private Ryan" is quit deserving. Ironically of course that both of these films involve the landings on D-Day, perhaps the emotion and scale of that day is an effect as well.

I am interested in some of the Russian films (post-Stalinism) on the subject...I have also heard very good things on "Stalingrad" and "Downfall"

I haven's seen any of them but the final bit of The Great Escape

Band of Brothers definetely, followed by Schindler's List.

Band of Brothers was a TV series, but it sure as hell brought back some of the Saving Private Ryan feeling!

I would say that there probably hasn't been one single American WW2 movie that wasn't just an appeal to base patriotism. Think about it, they call Private Ryan an "anti-war" movie, only to then have their actors standing on a bloody cemetary and playing heroic music while the US Flag flies in the wind...that's not anti-war.
If you want to see proper anti-war films, you have to look at films from Germany for example. And no one in the US seems to do that.
They did it for Vietnam - Full Metal Jacket for example is a good anti-war film. Maybe it's just easier for people to be anti-Vietnam than anti-WW2...

I seem to be picking up after you today.

Speilberg for the most part is a flag waver, like Leni Reifenstal was for the Nazis and Sergei Eisentstein for the Russian Revolution, but the Thin Red Line is anti-war, made by an American. So is Catch Twenty Two and, to a lesser degree, Kelly's Heroes.

Stalingrade, of course

A German made movie about the defeat of the German army on the Russain front.

Pacific War-mini series (not out yet but it is by Tom Hanks and Speilberg so it will be great)

It would be great to see some dead Japs for a change. LOL!

I would say that there probably hasn't been one single American WW2 movie that wasn't just an appeal to base patriotism. Think about it, they call Private Ryan an "anti-war" movie, only to then have their actors standing on a bloody cemetary and playing heroic music while the US Flag flies in the wind...that's not anti-war.
If you want to see proper anti-war films, you have to look at films from Germany for example. And no one in the US seems to do that.
They did it for Vietnam - Full Metal Jacket for example is a good anti-war film. Maybe it's just easier for people to be anti-Vietnam than anti-WW2...
Agreed. I don't like war movies which are about heroes and heroistic battle scenes. The same problem occurs in British ww2 movies. I do like A bridge too far but the best ones are Russian or German. (Stalingrad, Idi i smotri (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091251/)) There are also few decent Finnish war movies (Finland-USSR) e.g. Talvisota (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098437/) (winter war) and Tuntematon sotilas (the unknown soldier).

Enemy At The Gates is my favorite on that list. I finally saw Saving Private Ryan awhile back, and I actually wasn't a fan. Just annoyed me. They let the pussy live and killed off the pimp sniper - totally not cool.

Tora! Tora! Tora! was another excellent WWII film.



Provided you have better-than-average eyesight. It gets tricky as Hell trying to read the white english subtitles against the white clouds, the white-painted naval vessels, and the white uniforms.

I got eyestrain trying to follow along with that one.

My choices for best WWII films:

Slaughterhouse Five
Bridge Over The River Kwai
Catch-22
Mel Brook's To Be Or Not To Be

Enemy at the Gates, because it shows what the people went through on both sides. The devastation of the city, the tearing of families and the general cruelty of war.

Personally, do you people prefer to see Germans or Japanese as villains? I think there's too much Germans being killed on film so it'll be good to watch some dead Nips for a change.

Personally, do you people prefer to see Germans or Japanese as villains? I think there's too much Germans being killed on film so it'll be good to watch some dead Nips for a change.
I prefer to see Russians (and Germans) as villains. Wonder why...

I personally think that 48 hours (spy thriller) is the best world war two movie. The best combat movie would be Tora! Tora! Tora!

Band of brothers. Dont really care that its not a movie, it still takes the cake.

Never have I seen a movie before that actually showed that Carbines were so numerous, as opposed to troops having 90% thompsons and 1911's, with a few garands in. I even saw an M3a1 a few times. It was nice.

I prefer to see Russians (and Germans) as villains. Wonder why...

Well, you're a Finn. I don't like the Russian, but I tend to admire the Nazi image (but loathe the ideology).

Since I'm Chinese, I have my cultural bias for seeing dead Nips.

Band of brothers. Dont really care that its not a movie, it still takes the cake.

Never have I seen a movie before that actually showed that Carbines were so numerous, as opposed to troops having 90% thompsons and 1911's, with a few garands in. I even saw an M3a1 a few times. It was nice.

More M3s arrived in China than Thompsons when America pledged to support the KMT. Was the M3 considered technolgically superior to the Thompson?

The Great Escape was the best. So many great actors in that movie. Although The Bridge on the River Kwai was pretty good.

More M3s arrived in China than Thompsons when America pledged to support the KMT. Was the M3 considered technolgically superior to the Thompson?

No, just cheaper. But movies never include it, it seems.

No, just cheaper. But movies never include it, it seems.

If it's a Chinese-made Korean War movie, you'll see a lot of Chinese troops with them, along with old Mauser k.98s, an assortment of capturer Japanese arms and Russian PPShs.

In no order....

Saving Private Ryan (The most graphical and realistic war film. Anti-War? I don't think showing a soldier, barely a man, with his intestines hanging out, screaming for his mother as pro-war.)
Stalingrad (Depicting the most important battle of WW2)
Cross of Iron
A Bridge Too Far
Enemy At The Gates (spoiled slightly by the overlong sex scene and silly love triangle, and the early death of an interesting disillusioned character)
Guns of Naverone (Brilliant atmospheric adventure and suspense)
Where Eagles Dare (Excellent atmosphere accompanies a suspensful and nerve wracking mission with more twists than you can shake a fist at.)
The Longest Day (Chronicling the allies and Nazis of D-Day through stories of their encounters. Brilliant.)
Band of Brothers
Das Boot
The Great Escape
King Rat
The Colditz Story
At Dawn We Dive
The Dirty Dozen
The Thin Red Line
The Empire of The Sun
Force 10 From Naverone
The Bridge on The River Kwai

And loads more I've forgetten.

Battle of Britain.


Historical accuracy, something that is missing in many war films, fantastic cast (Michael Caine, Laurence Olivier, Trevor Howard, Kenneth More, Harry Andrews, Curt Jurgens, Ian McShane, Susannah York, Christopher Plummer, Robert Shaw) and highlights the death on both sides as RAF and Luftwaffe alike are seen with empty places in the mess or at the dining tables following raids. The confusion of the dogfight is highlighted with well shot scenes and a marvelous musical score.

The whole episode of the Allied (note allied as attention is given to the value of other nationalities, particularly the Polish for whom Britain had joined the War, and whom were cruelly betrayed following Victory) defiance in 1940 that halted the Nazi's advance and heralded a turning point in the War is captured superbly.

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

Sorry who said Saving private Ryan? Americans ovbiously, sure it has great special effects, but what abouth all the other armies that fought the war, remeber, Britain, Cananda, Russia, France, Poland etc etc etc etc, and the script is rubish flag waving properganda. A Bridge too far has to be about the best made that I have seen so far.

I prefer to see Russians (and Germans) as villains. Wonder why...

Imagine that they made a movie about this unit:

http://www.feldgrau.com/articles.php?ID=19

I seem to be picking up after you today.

Speilberg for the most part is a flag waver, like Leni Reifenstal was for the Nazis and Sergei Eisentstein for the Russian Revolution, but the Thin Red Line is anti-war, made by an American. So is Catch Twenty Two and, to a lesser degree, Kelly's Heroes.
You are...
Maybe I should go to bed early tonight. And no food or TV for you, young man!
But I must say, I haven't seen any of those movies, so I don't know how well-known or popular they are. They aren't on the list, are they?

Saving Private Ryan (The most graphical and realistic war film. Anti-War? I don't think showing a soldier, barely a man, with his intestines hanging out, screaming for his mother as pro-war.)
But if you look at this scene in context - it really doesn't have a message. It's there more or less for shock value.
There are no German characters (you can't call the one guy a character, he's not been developed or explored at all) and as was rightly pointed out, watching the film one could think there were only Americans fighting the war.
And it starts and ends with the stars and stripes flying in the wind and hopeless patriotic duckspeak overlaid in the final scene.

of the ones listed probobly saving private ryan or the longest day. My overall favourite would be Band of Brothers, i know its not techcnically a film, damn good though.

But if you look at this scene in context - it really doesn't have a message. It's there more or less for shock value.


Personally, I think it does have a message which is the shock value. It's saying "Look, this is what war is like, in all it's horrific bloody gore. Not nice is it?" That is of anti-war sentiment.


There are no German characters (you can't call the one guy a character, he's not been developed or explored at all)


Actually there was two main German characters in the film. One was the prisoner known as Steamboat Willie in the credits for his like of Mickey Mouse, and the other is the SS soldier who fought the US soldier in the room.

As for them being developed or explored, I disagree. One is a German who appears to be conscripted, and appears not to be a diehard Nazi, the other is. Both are contrasts.


and as was rightly pointed out, watching the film one could think there were only Americans fighting the war.


One could think that, if one was not aware the events in Saving Private Ryan took place on Omaha Beach and it's sector onwards, which was a US zone of invasion operations, and not the British or Canadian. To include them within the time line of the area would have been unrealistic.



And it starts and ends with the stars and stripes flying in the wind and hopeless patriotic duckspeak overlaid in the final scene.

Although I agree with your sentiments of patriotic hogwash, nonetheless, in this case, The stars and stripes in the film are from the Omaha memorial, and is the only national flag flying there because only Americans are buried there. I know this because I have been there.

It would have been nice to show all the flags of the allies at the end, but the character was at the Omaha memorial, and as a memorial for US Soldiers who died there, only the US Flag waves there, as does the British and Canadian flags at their memorial.

As for the patriotic duckspeak, that's what Yanks are 'good' at doing.

Actually there was two main German characters in the film. One was the prisoner known as Steamboat Willie in the credits for his like of Mickey Mouse, and the other is the SS soldier who fought the US soldier in the room.

As for them being developed or explored, I disagree. One is a German who appears to be conscripted, and appears not to be a diehard Nazi, the other is. Both are contrasts.
Aren't they both the same guy? I reckon that was the one deeper point of it, that the guy they let go actually ended up killing two of them.
And why is the guy in the room a diehard Nazi? Because he fights for his life, just like the Yank is doing?
I was always under the impression that he stabs him so slowly is to make sure he dies quickly. If you stab someone quick, they'll usually die slowly, bleeding to death or so. I would have to research that though.
And whether they are one or two guys, neither of them gets nearly as much attention as any of the Yanks. Their intentions are not explored, nor is where it is they come from emotionally. Their inner life, so to speak, is left untouched.


To include them within the time line of the area would have been unrealistic.
The question remains: Why did they choose this specific place?

Schindler's List.


One of the finest films ever made, in any genre.

Kelly's Heroes! (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065938/)

http://www.amachron.com/KH2.jpg

Aren't they both the same guy? I reckon that was the one deeper point of it, that the guy they let go actually ended up killing two of them.


No, they are not the same. Steamboat Wille wears a Wehrmacht uniform, whereas the one in the room wears a Waffen SS Uniform.

The point is is to show that War in itself is unpredictable. That one act of compassion can come back to haunt, as can an act of aggression (Jackson sniping at the German troops below, then being blown to pieces by a Self Propelled Gun.


And why is the guy in the room a diehard Nazi? Because he fights for his life, just like the Yank is doing?


No. The SS uniform gives it away, not the savage fighting he and the Yank engage in.


I was always under the impression that he stabs him so slowly is to make sure he dies quickly.


The Yank is stabbed slowly because he is resisting the German's efforts to do so, thus the German telling him to give in, that it would be over soon, to weaken the American's resistance to the knife.


And whether they are one or two guys,


It was two.



neither of them gets nearly as much attention as any of the Yanks. Their intentions are not explored, nor is where it is they come from emotionally. Their inner life, so to speak, is left untouched.


Good point, and a common criticism. Have you seen Stalingrad or Cross of Iron? A brilliant German viewpoint of WW2.


The question remains: Why did they choose this specific place?

Omaha Beach was the bloodiest beach for allied casualties, thanks to nearly all the tank support for the infantry sinking before reaching the beach and inaccurate bombing of the German bunkers.

To show a bloody introduction to war for the uninitiated with the setting on D-Day, Omaha was suitable.

Not to mention it was an American film, and Americans tend to make films about US soldiers. They have the money to do so, Europe's most expensive effort for a WW2 film was Enemy At The Gates.

Definately Patton

Schindler's list definitely

lots of good WWII movies

Patton
Big Red 1
The Longest Day
Saving Private Ryan
Schindlers List
Midway
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Dirty Dozen
Kelly's Heroes

Because most people don't agree with you on that one.

Look:

Best World War II movie: Patton.
Patton is also a great movie.
Definately Patton
lots of good WWII movies[:]
Patton
-snip-
:)

It would be great to see some dead Japs for a change. LOL!

I am deeply offended by this language. Everyone knows the proper term is "Meatballs."

EDIT: Now for some on-topic discussion. I just recently(two days ago about) saw Saving Private Ryan, and it was pretty good, that one guy with the ammo belt was really annoying though. I saw the Great Escape and I liked it a lot. It was funny. I thought the guy died though, I thought someone told me that, so I was surprised. I saw the first part of Enemy at the Gates, and it was really cool. I couldn't see the whole thing cause it ended at like 1:30 in the morning.

some of my favorites

Longest Day and Saving Private Ryan... different looks from different eras at the same event, and both made as well as the technology of film making allowed for at the time. Both are classics.

Stalingrad (the German viewpoint) and Enemy at the Gates (more of the Russian viewpoint)... as above

Kellys Heros, Where Eagles Dare, The Dirty Dozen..... action movies first, war movies second, but all three are always fun to watch.

Cross of Iron is about as critty as Saving Private Ryan and Enemy at the Gates... damned hard to find though.

Not mentioned and worth seeing...

The Cruel Sea
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004CILW/202-7531624-8179051

The Enemy Below
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004CKID/qid=1120587920/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2_2/202-7531624-8179051

these two, along with Das Boot, are outstanding looks at the Battle of the Atlantic, and damned good films too

The War Lover
Steve McQueen as a B17 pilot
and
12 O'Clock High
Gregory Peck as a B17 bomb group commander

both are better movies than Memphis Belle

Hell is for Heros
http://www.amctv.com/show/detail?CID=1471-1-EST/

this comes on TV occasionally, as is a very gritty look at the war at the front line level... compares well with Band of Brothers (which is better, but then Hell is for Heros was very low budget)

Being a huge war movie fan myself, I think I have seen damned near everything....

For fun, watch 633 Squadron
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057811/

and Dam Busters
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046889/

and then watch Star Wars Episode IV, the New Hope and the battle sequence at the Death Star.... and you will clearly see where Lucas got it from.... even the cutting and the dialogue match closely at times.

Saving Private Ryan has the best 30 minutes, right at the beginning. After that, I'd nominate about half a dozen of the other suggestions here.

I have not seen most of them, but Saving Private Ryan was overrated!

I really liked Enemy at the Gates.

The Longest Day
Das Boot
A Bridge Too Far
Kelly's Heroes

I like Saving Private Ryan a lot, though The Longest Day is probably the best overall.
took the words out of my keyboard

Schindler's list definitely

Shouldn't that belong in a subgenre of WWII films dealing with the Holocaust? What other Holocause films are there?

Judging from the Kelly's Heroes poster, it looks like some really cheesy film.

Judging from the Kelly's Heroes poster, it looks like some really cheesy film.
It's actually a comedy. It's not too bad. Worth a look.

Maybe it's just easier for people to be anti-Vietnam than anti-WW2...

Considering that Vietnam was the result of utter stupidity and WW2 was a campaign against tyranny in response to a brutal attack, yeah your right. Anyway, Saving Private Ryan all the way. When Tom Hanks’ character is telling Ryan to “earn it” at the end, I feel that is a message for all of us to earn the sacrifice of those brave men who died so that we might be free.

The Dirty Dozen was very good, though a few of the characters could've been more developed.

...I feel that is a message for all of us to earn the sacrifice of those brave men who died so that we might be free.

Whatever it was, you could be certain that every word of it was pure orthodoxy, pure Ingsoc. As he watched the eyeless face with the jaw moving rapidly up and down, Winston had the curious feeling that this was not a real human being but some kind of dummy. It was not the man's brain that was speaking, it was his larynx. The stuff that was coming out of him consisted of words, but it was not speech in the true sense: it was a noise, uttered in unconsciousness, like the quacking of a duck.
Syme had fallen silent for a moment, and with the handle of his spoon was tracing patterns in the puddle of stew. The voice from the other table quacked rapidly on, easily audible in spite of the surrounding din.
"There is a word in Newspeak," said Syme, "I don't know whether you know it: duckspeak, to quack like a duck..."

;)

The Dirty Dozen was very good, though a few of the characters could've been more developed.

I thought that's the name of some PC war game?

It's actually a comedy. It's not too bad. Worth a look.

A war comedy? Was that the same case with Catch 22, since the novel was considered black comedy.

I thought that's the name of some PC war game?
Could be. It's also a very good movie with Lee Marvin.

I thought that's the name of some PC war game?

Nope. The Dirty Dozen was a film about military convicts who had one last shot at freedom... And, that last shot was completing a difficult mission, of which very few made it out alive.

Nope. The Dirty Dozen was a film about military convicts who had one last shot at freedom... And, that last shot was completing a difficult mission, of which very few made it out alive.

Was that based on a true story? I think I've heard about this many years ago.

Was that based on a true story? I think I've heard about this many years ago.

I don't think it was based on a true story.

A war comedy? Was that the same case with Catch 22, since the novel was considered black comedy.

It's a very "odd ball" comedy.

bumpage

Where is (scuse spelling) Bridge over the river Kwai?

Shaving Ryan's Privates sucked so much balls.
Sorry but it is true.

Big Red One
Stalingrad
The Winter War
Midway
Das Boot
Bridge Too Far

And nobody has said: "Sands of Iwo Jima"! That was John Wayne's first Oscar nomination (and the only other waqs for True Grit).

I am sure as hell looking forwards to "Flags of Our Fathers".

The Battle of Britain - Excellent film. Historically accurate (or at least more accurate than most!) and showed both the RAF and the Luftwaffe pilots as people and showed the human cost of the campaign.

Dam Busters - Good film, and a nice easy watch.

Enemy at the Gates - Nice to see something from the Eastern front for a change as a widely released and publicised film.

Tora! Tora! Tora! - Great film, well worth a second view.

The Eagle has Landed - Great British film from a German perspective. Shows that not all Germans were inherently evil.

The Eagle has landed - Just a good film...

The Longest Day - Excellent film, just sheer excellence.

Not World War II but still worth a mention...

Oh What a Lovely War - To all those who think that Saving Private Ryan shows the futility of war should watch this. A war musical, using mostly songs from the soldiers, and showing the idiocy of the leaders whilst also portraying the pointlessness of the actions, the Greatest War film ever made!

"Bombed last night, and bombed the night before
Going to get bombed tonight
If we never get bombed any more
When we're bombed, we're scared as we can be
Can't stop the bombing sent from higher Germany.

They're over us, they're over us,
One shell hole for just the four of us,
Thank your lucky stars there are no more of us,
'Cause one of us can fill it all alone.

Gassed last night, and gassed the night before
Going to get gassed tonight;
If we never get gassed anymore.
When we're gassed, were sick as we can be
For Phosgene and Mustard Gas is much too much for me.

They're warning us, they're warning us,
One respirator for the four of us
Thank your lucky stars that three of us can run,
So one of us can use it all alone."

Poignant?


All Quiet on the Western Front - Again shows the futility of war supremely well, especially the 1930's black and white version.

"Das Boot"
"Come and See" And do so. As soon as possible. The best WWII movie ever.

What's that Chaplin movie? The great dictator (or something, I forgot the title.)

What's that Chaplin movie? The great dictator (or something, I forgot the title.)

I heard that movie's great! Chaplin does a full-on mockery of Hitler, while also playing a Jew suffering under that regime. It's brilliant 1930s political satire!

"The Great Dictator" is a pretty good movie... I saw it, along with "Triumph of the Will" in a media studies class back in my college days (2 decades ago..sigh).. both can sometimes be found on VHS

although good, "The Great Dictator" still doesn't manage to show just what an evil bastard Hitler was... although since it was made at the time, it really couldn't (nobody really understood what was coming with the Holocaust)

Other than the infamous Schindler's List, what other movies dealt with the Holocaust?

Other than the infamous Schindler's List, what other movies dealt with the Holocaust?

Sophie's Choice.

Other than the infamous Schindler's List, what other movies dealt with the Holocaust?

A whole lot. This site (http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/holocaust/resource/films.htm) has a pretty darn long list of holocaust movies...
Of course, of the famous ones, there's The 1959 classic The Diary of Anne Frank (http://imdb.com/title/tt0052738/) and the 1978 US TV mini-series Holocaust (http://imdb.com/title/tt0077025/).

I recently saw this Italian film called Life is Beautiful which dealt with life in a concentration camp system in a humorous way. It was set after German occupied Italy and one family found themselves deported to a concentration camp (not that they are Jews), the father (who also happens to be the film's director) wanted to protect his son's innocence by pretending that it was all a game, until when they saw the knotted lumps of bodies outside the crematoria.

The Great Dictator to me is definatly one of the best especailly because of the fact the it was made prior to the war. But as far as serious war movies, i would say that Tora! Tora! Tora! is about the best.

P.S. I must admit i am happy to see that there aren't any American idiots comng on here with movies like Pearl Harbor. Thank you.

Tora! Tora! Tora! was way better than Pearl Harbor.


Then, I am somewhat biased as my grandpa was an extra in that movie.

P.S. I must admit i am happy to see that there aren't any American idiots comng on here with movies like Pearl Harbor. Thank you.

although the flying scene over the English Channel in Pearl Harbor was excellently done... you actually got a better sense of the speed of World War II fighter combat than any other movie I have seen... including Battle of Britain. The air combat scenes overall were good for that. Although the poetic license of having the Japs fly between ships (that were historically tied together) did annoy me greatly.

Overall Pearl Harbor wasn't nearly as good as I had hoped it would be (except when the Oklahoma rolled over.. that was very well handled)


The Doolittle Raid in the movie annoyed the hell out of me though......

for that, catch the old 30 Seconds over Tokyo... the entire raid sequence from take off to the crash of the Ruptured Duck is just amazingly well done, especially for when it was filmed (and during wartime too)

P.S. I must admit i am happy to see that there aren't any American idiots comng on here with movies like Pearl Harbor. Thank you.

Pearl Harbor was some 1990s romance story fitted into a WWII film set! That movie was a disgrace to all those veterans that fought in the Pacific.

...Pearl Harbor...
I lost all interest in the movie about 30 seconds into it, then I spent the rest of the time laughing, then pissing myself when the guy shot down a Zero with a shotgun.