Great WWII Films

[caligula]

Stalingrad - I understand there is an English dubbed version, which, unfortunately, seems to be rather bad. The German original is great.
Downfall - great on so many levels.
Das Boot - still outstanding to this very day. Saw a docu on the filming and it was really surprising to see the primitive techniques they had to make do with back then.
The Red Thin Line - great, had to watch it twice to "grasp" it.
Saving Private Ryan - my old teacher always said "very American", but still great.
Schindler's List - masterpiece.

I also like the TV mini series Holocaust from the 70s (I think, thank God for the internet).

There's an interesting, and rather unknown, German movie called "Stalingrad. Dogs do you want to live forever" from 1958/59 I believe and it's really interesting to see how unpolitical and naive at times the movie is.

 

[fjadams]

Judgement at Nuremberg.

 

[Immigrant]

Hogan's Heroes

 

[Pilgrim]

I think the greatest WWII films I have seen are (in terms of their production dates)

The Great Escape
Fantastic basis in real events, incredible cast, beautifully filmed and directed. And, of course, Steve McQueen as the Cooler King, one of his most iconic roles.

The Longest Day
Simply epic. If there was a top star, he was in this film.

Run Silent, Run Deep/The Enemy Below
Two great submarine films. I find it hard to pick between Clark Gable in RSRD and Robert Mitchum and Kurt Jurgens in TEB.

Patton
Possibly the greatest portrayal of a military figure ever put on film. George C. Scott was totally believable and absolutely compelling.

Saving Private Ryan
Never in my life have I felt the reality of a combat scene like the beach landing in this film. Scared me! A very well made film with a superior feel of reality.

 

[Marial]

,,Das Boot''

This.

 

[Marial]

Come And See - This soviet era Russian produced film set in WW II with a biblical reference for a title is unusual in that it is more a cautionary tale about the ravages of war on the human psyche than a movie about the war itself. Not for everyone and unless you speak Russian you will have to contend with subtitles, but I found myself totally engrossed early on and after it was done I was glad I stuck with it.

That's the one I was going to add.

 

[tjontheroad]

Just to go beyond movies...

McHale's Navy

Hogan's Heroes

 

[Stee Flo]

My favorites are:

Schindler's List
Saving Private Ryan
Letters from Iwo Jima
Valkyrie
Defiance
Enemy at the Gates
The boy in the striped pajamas
The Monuments men

 

[slobake]

As I recall at the end he returns to with the residents to the aslym. They appeared saner than the people on the outside.

Yes that is correct, I love this film. Who is really insane?

 

[Stewie26]

Seems like you guys missed "PT 109" with JFK.

 

[Tom Bomb]

Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison

 

[BawanaRik]

I think the greatest WWII films I have seen are (in terms of their production dates)

The Great Escape
Fantastic basis in real events, incredible cast, beautifully filmed and directed. And, of course, Steve McQueen as the Cooler King, one of his most iconic roles.

The Longest Day
Simply epic. If there was a top star, he was in this film.

Run Silent, Run Deep/The Enemy Below
Two great submarine films. I find it hard to pick between Clark Gable in RSRD and Robert Mitchum and Kurt Jurgens in TEB.

Patton
Possibly the greatest portrayal of a military figure ever put on film. George C. Scott was totally believable and absolutely compelling.

Saving Private Ryan
Never in my life have I felt the reality of a combat scene like the beach landing in this film. Scared me! A very well made film with a superior feel of reality.

George C Scoot hated Patten and tried to go so over the top no one would watch the film.

Turns out he caught him perfectly

 

[BawanaRik]

Yes that is correct, I love this film. Who is really insane?

I he inmates aren't killing each other.

 

[Pilgrim]

Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison

That's a good one!

And who has seen Cary Grant's movie "Father Goose"? Really a fun flick!

George C Scott (fixed) hated Patton (fixed) and tried to go so over the top no one would watch the film.

Turns out he caught him perfectly

He darn sure did. It was an incredible portrayal...one of the greatest ever put on film.

 

[stratovani]

One excellent WW2 film that I think no one has mentioned is Mrs. Miniver, starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon. Sometimes war movies made while the war is raging can have a powerful immediacy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Miniver_(film)

 

[twoByFour]

Finally something I can comment on with authority! (i.e. my opinion on movies I like) I'll avoid the most popular ones:

"The Young Lions" - Not so well-known today, but an awesome movie. Quite a bit more nuanced than most WWII movies. Dean Martin, Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift fer crissakes!

"The Night of Generals" - Peter O'Toole was a little over the top, but still an excellent movie.

"The Eagle Has Landed" - Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland, Robert Duvall

"Cross of Iron" - James Coburn being more subtle and complex than usual.

"The Train" - Burt Lancaster, great actors, great plot, great scenery (a lot of it on location in France), great movie.

"Conspiracy" - One of the most blood-chilling movies ever, because it is all true. The movie is essentially a reenactment, based on documentation, of the conference that explicitly planned the holocaust. No action, just a bunch of top-level officers having a planning meeting at a fancy hotel.

"Decision Before Dawn" - Oskar Werner as a German POW recruited to be an Allied spy towards the end of the war. But you just don't know who is really who's side.

"Kelly's Heroes" - More lighthearted, amazing cast: Clint Eastwood, Tele Savalas, Donald Sutherland, Caroll O'Connor, etc.

"The House on 92nd Street" - Great spy movie.

"Run Silent, Run Deep" - Another stellar cast

"Destination Tokyo" - Arguably racist propaganda, but it was 1943. When watching movies of that time, you have to wonder what people were thinking, nobody knew for sure what was going to happen. Look for Alan Hale Sr ("The Skipper"'s father) in this movie.

Arguably WWII movies: "Cabaret", "Casablanca", "The Third Man", "Lifeboat", "The Boys from Brazil"

I like the war movies from the late 1930's (there are a few) through about 1960. I think it is better to see movies that were made by people living through (or who recently lived through) the events.

Finally, I am fascinated by the BBC/Time-Life documentary series "World at War". I have it on DVD and have watched it many many times.

 

[lundborg]

You are going back a bit, but it's a good one

The Cruel Sea
Ice Cold in Alex
Where Eagles Dare
Cross of Iron
The Thin Red Line
One I saw on TV recently (German) that I can't remember the name of
<snip>

That one might have been "Unsere Mutter, unsere Väter" (Engish title "Generation War"), a mini series from last year. Anyway that one is brilliant.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

That one might have been "Unsere Mutter, unsere Väter" (Engish title "Generation War"), a mini series from last year. Anyway that one is brilliant.

Yes, that was the one!

 

[BassyBill]

Not a film, but a great BBC TV series - Private Schulz, a comedy drama about a German soldier who gets caught up in a plot to wreck the British wartime economy by flooding the country with forged currency. Definitely worth checking out.

 

[bass_case]

Trumph of the Will, Leni Riefenstahl's Nazi propaganda epic. Not a war film, but it actually helped start the war by fueling a national superiority complex. Powerful imagery, and scary: don't think this can't happen again. Human nature has not evolved.