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Old 20th January 2014, 10:08   #16
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re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

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Originally Posted by shankar.balan View Post
There was a wonderful serial called 'Wings' made by the BBC, which was telecast in the UK in the 1970's. This deals with the lives and stories of pilots on the First World War
The Red Baron by Nikolai Müllerschön is a biopic on Manfred von Richthofen - one of the WWI German flying aces. Amazing movie with a really good acting and cinematography

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Ten years ago, I visited the Ardennes area in Belgium, where the tanks broke through in the 'Battle of the Bulge'. Going there in this century, one cannot imagine the carnage that may have been there during WW2.
The carnage in Ardennes has been depicted very well in the HBO mini series Band of Brothers. Ep 6 - Bastogne and Ep 7 - Breaking Point. The chilling part is the small interview snippets at the beginning or end of the episode where the soldiers who were part of the company talk about Bastogne & the campaign in the Ardennes. The agony and pain is visible on their face and in their voice
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Old 20th January 2014, 10:41   #17
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re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

Thanks for the thread!!!

I am huge WW2 buff, but of the european theatre only.

I know this would have been read by most, but do try "the rise and fall of the third reich" if you can.
Everyone will have seen most of the movies pertaining to the war, so give a try to these two documentaries:
Auschwitz : A bit graphic and depressing, relating to the final solution
Nazis- A warning from history : All about how the nazis came into being, into power, and the general progression.

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There was one about Hitler that portrayed his last days (including Goebbels and his wife's alleged suicide) That one was also well made, its name however eludes me completely.


Cheers !
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Could also be referring to The bunker, with anthony hopkins. This has to be seen to see how well Mr. hopkins captures the body language of hitler while speaking in english.
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Old 20th January 2014, 10:52   #18
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re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

All my WW2 knowledge is mainly from playing Call of Duty games!

And now, Wikipedia & Youtube videos. I wonder why we never found History very interesting when we were in school!
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Old 20th January 2014, 11:12   #19
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re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

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Okay, here are some of the movies about WW-II that I've seen and enjoyed immensely ....
  1. Operation Daybreak
  2. 633 Squadron
  3. Battle of Midway
  4. Operation Tora Tora Tora
  5. The Longest Day (read the book / RD's condensed book first !)
  6. A Bridge Too Far (Read the book if you can - gripping and well written)
  7. The Bridge on the River Kwai.
  8. Empire of the Sun
  9. The Great Escape
  10. Where Eagles Dare
  11. Letters From Iwo Jima
  12. Thin Red Line
  13. Saving Private Ryan
  14. Band of Brothers ( not a movie per se, but very real and believable action, closest to reality and most credible depiction of war I've seen portrayed on celluloid)
  15. Schindler's List
  16. Battle of Britain
  17. The Dirty Dozen
  18. Escape from Sobibor (A history Channel Documentary about a real incident)
  19. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
  20. The English Patient

There are some more whose names elude me. But all of them were well made and enjoyable.

Hope you enjoy them as much as I did !

Cheers !
Add to that list

21. Force 10 from Navarone
22. Guns of Navarone
23. Sink the Bismarck
24. Memphis Belle
25. The Great Escape
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Old 20th January 2014, 11:22   #20
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re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

In no specific order and other than ones mentioned in earlier posts...

Movies
1. My Way (Korean) - One of my favs
2. Das Boot -
3. U571 (good drama)


Mini Series

1. HBO's Pacific
2. Apocalypse - The Second WW

Books
WEB Griffin - Brotherhood of War, The Corps
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Old 20th January 2014, 11:36   #21
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re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

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And now, Wikipedia & Youtube videos. I wonder why we never found History very interesting when we were in school!
Well for starters, I don't remember having any WW1/2 material in history classes - mostly on Indian freedom fighters & the various dynasties before that.


One good (but extremely slow) source of WW info I read was Winston Churchill's biography. Unfortunately I could only read one of the two books, but I remember the book(s) being an excellent source for WW trivia.
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Old 20th January 2014, 12:01   #22
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re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

Defiance is a nice movie too . It was about german rebels mostly Jews who tried and evaded Hitlers army for a long time. Daniel Craig was one of the main characters.
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Old 20th January 2014, 13:49   #23
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Defiance is a nice movie too . It was about german rebels mostly Jews who tried and evaded Hitlers army for a long time. Daniel Craig was one of the main characters.
Brilliant flick that was.
They were poles, though, I think, and loosely a true story.
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Old 20th January 2014, 17:59   #24
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Re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

Quite a lot of movies accumulated through the posts and to make this thread not skewed towards movies here is a list of books on WW2 that I enjoyed and would highly recommended;

1. Munich: The appeasement treaty (one of those best on how Hitler fooled England and the entire world on his peace process)
2. Inferno by Max Hasting (an account of the human suffering on each side during WW2)
3. Rise and Fall of the 3rd Reich by William Shirer (a compendium on the 3rd Reich)
4. Storm of war by Andrew (a complete account of WW2)

And there are quite a lot of books on what led to WW2 starting from the how the Vistors of WW1 messed up the peace process and viewed the world a victors spoils...all of which can be read in 'Paris 1919'.

I personally feel that books provide the depth that movies fail to give...so happy reading.
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Old 20th January 2014, 22:09   #25
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Re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

In addition to the movies already listed:
  • Judgment at Nuremberg
  • The Pianist
  • Life is beautiful
  • Windtalkers
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Old 20th January 2014, 22:50   #26
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Re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

Quote:
Originally Posted by shivshanker View Post
Add to that list

21. Force 10 from Navarone
22. Guns of Navarone
23. Sink the Bismarck
24. Memphis Belle
25. The Great Escape
God Bless the man who started this thread. I am a huge fan of war movies, not just WW II, but since this thread is only about movies set in WW – II, I shall restrict myself accordingly. Being a son of army officer and having had the privilege of serving in the Indian Army myself, I can safely say that war movies run in my blood, I’ve grown up watching these movies, man! These movies ran in various moffussil cantonment theatres in 60s, 70s & 80s Even as a grown guy nearing 50, they still give me goosebumps, always and everytime.
Hey! somebody forgot Patton (George C Scott) remember the timeless classic line “My men can eat their belts, but my Tanks gotta have Gas)” and the equally famous “No one ever won a war by dying for his country, wars are won by making the other poor dumb bas***d die for his country”. Inglorious Basterds (directed by Quentin Tarantino and starring Brad Pitt) and Valkyrie (Plot to assassinate the Fuhrer starring Tom Cruise) are also wonderful WW II films.
Some lesser known but fantastic movies:
1. Tunes of Glory (starring Sir Alec Guiness) set just after WW-II (sussanah yorks first film) a practical film to see a CO coping with management of change)
2. The Malta Story (Sir Alec again)
3. Cross of Iron (James Coburn, Maximillian Schell)
4. Two men went to war (Two misfits in the Royal Dental Corps desert their Unit to find action in Germany and destroy a german radar location--- a true story they say!)
5. Stalag 17 (amazing performance by William Holden – a POW camp movie)
6. The Great Raid (based on true events- amazing)
7. 12 o Clock High ( our man Gregory Peck in action as an RAF pilot, recommended viewing in many military academies on leadership under pressure) see authority (srl 48)
8. Night of the Generals (Amazing star cast of Peter o’Toole, Christopher Plummer, Omar Sharif etc)
9. In which we serve (Noel Coward, Richard Attenborough—Directed by David Lean & Coward)
Well, I have all the movies that I have listed above. In case someone is interested, most welcome.

Last edited by windiesel : 20th January 2014 at 22:51.
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Old 20th January 2014, 23:32   #27
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Re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

Windiesel
Hi
You preempted me in posting about Stalag 17 and Night of the Generals
Amazing acting by O'Toole and Omar Sharif. Amazing dialogues by Sharif :
1)Inspector Morand: But, murder is the occupation of Generals.

Major Grau: Then let us say what is admirable on the large scale is monstrous on the small. Since we must give medals to mass murderers, why not give justice to the small... entrepreneur
2)Major Grau: I have a zealous nature, Sir, I can't help it
(My comment:I wish our police had this zealous nature)

Shankar.balan
Hi
A Bridge too far was about airborne offensive in Holland which failed.Am I right ? This was Montgomery's only battle failure.
Run Silent Run Deep starred Clark Gable,am I right ? Saw it during my college days.Very good.

Mayank/MikeRX
William Shirers " The rise and fall of the Third Reich (1040 pages in paper back) is amazing i.e if you are inclined towards such a subject.
Regards

Last edited by faustus77 : 20th January 2014 at 23:35.
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Old 21st January 2014, 07:48   #28
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Re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

Not sure how many are from my age group here, but in the good old days, we used to have a Series running called M*A*S*H. Which I think was also converted into a movie later.
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Old 21st January 2014, 08:05   #29
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Re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

M*A*S*H was not WW-II, it was Korean war.
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Old 21st January 2014, 13:43   #30
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Re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

Forget about the movies but I will urge everyone here to watch the three following things , a must watch .
1> Hitler's bodyguard - 13 parts of 45min each . Documentary .
2> The Nazi war machine . Documentary.
3> World war 2 (WW 2) in colour HD. - A Discovery channel documentary.
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