War Films

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Nordicdusk

Cheers i have only seen a few off that list.

Which haven't you seen?

[Nordicdusk]

The One that got Away
Battle of the Bulge
The Night of the Generals
Massacre in Rome
Enemy at the Gates
The Desert Fox

[Rob4]

not from WW2 but the daddy of all war films from the other sides perspective is All Quiet on the Western Front

Out of the modern ones I think Stalingrad (avoid the dubbed version) is highly regarded.

On a more exploitative level The McKenzie Break doesn't get mentioned very much when talking about war films which emphasize German characters as much as the Allies

[Rob4]

Going on to Japan John Boorman's Hell in the Pacific gives equal weight to Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune as they battle out the war in a microcosm.

then there is the Japanese made The Human Condition which is a 3 part movie amounting to 9 hours but i think that concentrates on the war in China

i haven't seen it but i believe Clint Eastwoods Letters from Iwo Jima is completely from the Japanese perspective

[Nordicdusk]

Thanks Rob ill make a note of these

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Nordicdusk

The One that got Away
Battle of the Bulge
The Night of the Generals
Massacre in Rome
Enemy at the Gates
The Desert Fox

All must sees, Nordy.

The Desert Fox is about Rommel, you could follow that up with The Desert Rats in which James Mason reprises his role as Field Marshall Rommel.

Battle of the Bulge is Tiger Tank-tastic!

[Nordicdusk]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

All must sees, Nordy.

The Desert Fox is about Rommel, you could follow that up with The Desert Rats in which James Mason reprises his role as Field Marshall Rommel.

Battle of the Bulge is Tiger Tank-tastic!

Desert Fox and Desert Rats are in a two film set for a fiver on amazon ill pick those up.

[Rob4]

mention of James Mason stirred a vague memory which i had to check on imdb. he was also in The Blue Max, a war film about German pilots during WW1.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Rob4

mention of James Mason stirred a vague memory which i had to check on imdb. he was also in The Blue Max, a war film about German pilots during WW1.

Good call, Rob.

The Counterfeiters is a pretty good film of the Nazi's bid to flood Britain with counterfeit currency.

Bridge at Remagen also deals a lot with the German side of things as does the daddy of all war movies The Longest Day.

The Battle of the River Plate definitely shows a lot from the German perspective.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Desert Fox (1951)

Subtitled The Story of Rommel this is slightly misleading for whilst it is about Field Marshal Erwin Rommel it's not about his famed desert campaigns in North Africa and how he became the 'Desert Fox', it's basically about operation Valkyrie and the plot to remove Hitler from power.

James Mason is however excellent as Rommel in a beautifully acted movie and he comes across as a dedicated, dignified man and a highly respected soldier even though that was probably by the Allied forces rather than the bureaucrats who held power in Germany alongside his Fuhrer.

The Desert Fox is a short film, clocking in at under 85 minutes. It would have made for far superior viewing had it been at least double that length and taken into account in detail his time with the Africa Korps. As it is we are left with a sympathetic study of his final months.