10 Desert Island War Films

[levied troop]

Waterloo has to be the No 1.

No 2 for me, Waterloo is excellent and I now fancy seeing it again, but there’s only one No.1 and I think we all know what it is.

[FreddBloggs]

Waterloo has to be the No 1.

Funny, I hate the film with a passion.

[Ilkley Old School]

Day 2 Gettysburg - a bit long winded at times but some great battle scenes.

[Ilkley Old School]

I am sure this will be on Purps list

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=ht ... h%2Fx%2Fim

Have you seen it? It’s a uniquely odd experience!

I only came across it recently and have only watched bits of it. It was made in 1942 so that my explain a lot.

[grizzlymc]

My No 2 would probably be the Battle of Britain. Some absolutely magic vignettes.

[Purple]

I only came across it recently and have only watched bits of it. It was made in 1942 so that my explain a lot.

Yes it’s an Nazi propaganda film and its quite an uneasy feeling throughout. The costumes are fab and the guy that plays Friedrich is quite fantastic, so it’s quite a shame.

[FreddBloggs]

hmmmm swooooo some of these are barely war films but here are my 10:

A Matter of Life and Death
Ice Cold in Alex
Alexander Nevsky
The Eagle has Landed
Austerlitz
Longest Day
In Which we Serve
the Way Ahead
5 Graves to Cairo
Apocalypse Now

[BaronVonWreckedoften]

I have to say that I'm entirely with FreddB on this -

1) the "Plummer and Steiger yell Beaky's and Boney's most famous one-liners" show has never floated my boat, and many of them are not even related to Waterloo anyway. Yes, the battle scenes are massive, but ruined by the OTT pyrotechnics that make it look like the prelims to a Six Nations rugby international (and I hate their use in those, too);

2) the best WW2 films were all made during the war, or shortly thereafter, were almost all in black-and-white, and usually had at least one out of John Mills, Jack Hawkins, or David Niven in them. My dashing (baker's) dozen would be

- Dunkirk,
- Tunes of Glory,
- Ice Cold in Alex,
- The Way Ahead,
- A Matter Of Life And Death,
- Went The Day Well,
- Ill Met By Moonlight,
- The Cruel Sea,
- Battle of the River Plate.
- Above Us The Waves,
- The Dambusters,
- Angels One Five, and
- In Which We Sink*/Serve.

To which I would add the WW1 film, The Lost Patrol, with Victor McLaglen and Boris Karloff and All Quiet On The Western Front (NOT the John-Boy Walton version).

(* The name given to the film by survivors of HMS Kelly, on which the ship is based. When Coward was making the film, Mountbatten told him that when Kelly sank, he found himself covered in oil and swimming amongst other crew members, none of whom recognised him - in response to his comment that a surprising number of men had survived, one replied: "Why not, the scum always rises to the top, mate!" )

[FreddBloggs]

Honourable mentions also to:

Paths of Glory
Long and the Short and the Tall
A Very Long engagement
The Gift Horse
Theirs is the glory

I have deliberately avoided 2 films which anyone who enjoys ww2 should watch, Schindlers List and Shoah.

[MarshalNey]

Waterloo has to be the No 1.

Same here.