WW II Moveis

Laughing must have hurt. I love it because it looks like the world I grew up in. I think it may be set before my time but it wasn't that different. Nowadays everything changes every 6 months and I have a heck of a time explaining stuff I don't understand to my mother who thinks in terms of Model Ts and farm living. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

Incidentally, a few years back I ran into a movie which was a continuation of the same characters but set in the summer. I don't remember the rest of the cast but Charles Grodin played the father. I also found one of Shepherd's short stories with those characters in an old Playboy ca. 1970. I'd say it was a hoot but I can hear the puns coming...

Bill Banaszak, MFE

you all missed " angles 15 " good battle of britain movie Ken

oops " angels 15 " Ken

Yes, but didn't find the film THAT funny. Perhaps I would have if I was American. Anyway, it did hurt getting up out of the chair to make a cup of tea or some lunch (Wifey was out at work).

And going upstairs for 'natural relief' was certainly not something I looked forward to!

Thankfully Wifey was around to help me put my socks on...

That's one of the things I like about it. Even though I'm not American it was still very evocative of a time/place. Like a good film should be.

And nobody's mentioned "The Hill" with Sean Connery, and "The Caine Mutiny".

John Hairell

I first saw that film at the then USAF Brize Norton (Cold War and all that) so having a B-47 revving up outside the overly large tin shed we sat in kind of added to the whole atmosphere of all things "plane."

Loved the B-17 skimming the grass!

Richard.

That's one of the films I'm keeping on video to burn to DVD later. I totally agree, it's brutal!

At the other end of the scale is a little-known fun film "On The Fiddle" with a lesser known Sean Connery playing a secondary role, more about the kind of scams going on in the RAF.

Richard.

I was surprised that they didn't pass John Mills and crew, cranking an old ambulance up a sand dune.

Richard.

Sorry to come into the middle of this but I like "Go tell the Spartans." Someone else mentioned "Whate Price Glory" and, while they took a some liberties with actual facts, I liked "The Lost Battalion" as well. Finally, it's been a long time since I've seen it but I think it was called "When Johnnie came marching home" about a badly wounded and disabled WW-I veteran's return to "the world."

"The world would be a much simpler place if every one could pick and choose their obligations, but we can't and we shouldn't." Major Charles W. Whittlesey

In article , Bill Woodier says... Finally,

Bill,

Could that have been "Johnny Got His Gun" ?? The book was an excruciating read - and I was really surprised that it was brought to the screen. I believe that I watched it on a PBS channel?

For those of you who haven't seen it, the entire book/movie is about an unknown casualty left over after WWI. He is totally incapable of movement other than to flick his eyelids......everything else is paralyzed.

If I remember the book correctly, almost the entire story is told in first person, that is the thoughts of the patient lying there, unable to communicate with anyone. The story has a nasty little twist at the end.

From what I can recall, the book notes mentioned that it was barred from publication here in the US until sometime in the late 40s or early 50s because of it's horrific content.

Both the book and the movie were embraced by the Anti-War movement during the VietNam era.

Powerful stuff!!!

Rick Fluke snipped-for-privacy@blackfoot.net

How could I have forgotten "The Bridge"? It also is a bitter testimony to the cost and futility of war.

I got a VHS copy of the flick from Amazon.com and showed it to my fiancee who was born in Germany and did not emmigrate to the states until the mid 50s.

Although the film starts off slowly, even she was captivated and disgusted by the ending - which led to a late night discussion about the waste of the last few weeks of the war in Germany.

Again - a very strong recommendation - Thanks for reminding me, John!

Rick Fluke snipped-for-privacy@blackfoot.net

Ah Ha! Just remembered a few more films from my childhood, not necessarily from WWII :

"Away All Boats!" With Jeff Chandler (Very believable if you ever served in the military)

"Men Of The Fighting Lady" (More strange crosscutting of stock footage!)

"One Minute To Zero" (?) A Korean War Film.......

"The DI" starring Jack Webb ("Joe Friday)

"Saberjet" which featured the same nasty oriental commy pilot whipping off his oxygen mask and barfing blood all over - two or three different times!

"Inn Of The Sixth Happiness" (?) Might have got the title wrong - it was about Dean Hess, a pilot assigned to train ROK pilots right at the outbreak of the Korean War.

Man! This thread is unearthing some really OLD memories!

Rick Fluke snipped-for-privacy@blackfoot.net

IIRC "Inn of The Sixth Happiness" starred Ingrid Bergman and Curt Jurgens, was about the war in China I believe.

"Battle Hymm" starring Rock Hudson and Don Defore was the one about Dean Hess.

Bill Shuey

"Inn Of The Sixth Happiness" (?) Might have got the title wrong - it was

Not unless he was played by Ingrid Bergman. "Inn of the Sixth Happiness was about missionary Gladys Aylwood. Although Curt Jurgens turns up again as a Chinese army officer. I can just imagine them trying to sell it to the Head of the studio. "So you've got this English woman played by a Swede and a Chinese guy played by a German? You guys will never work in this town again!"

Maybe the saddest war movie I recall seeing was "The Sullivans" with Thomas Mitchell. Especially at end when Ward Bond comes to tell him his sons died.

It didn't stop Wayne from working again after playing Genghis Khan or Susan Hayward after playing his woman. It 'may' have stopped them both from achieving old age, though.

Bill Banaszak, MFE

You're Right! Darned diminishing brain cells!

;-)

Rick Fluke snipped-for-privacy@blackfoot.net

Saw that one at a Labor Day movie fest at the local drive-in. We didn't get out of there until 3 AM. Having just read the book on the Cologne Raid by RAF Bomber Command I was put out by seeing the title misused.

Bill Banaszak, MFE