connoisseur

Why has no one mentioned "I Was Monty's Double"?
Perhaps a little lower key than some re action but terrifically gripping and TRUE.
Intelligent screenplay by a young Brian Forbes who also takes a minor part.

Buffalo_Chuck

We've just received a collection of R-1 DVDs including THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY (1957), CARVE HER NAME and MORNING DEPARTURE (not actually a war-time film but a strong film about the survivors on a sub sunk during peacetime maneauvers, on their typical morning departure).

CARVE HER NAME is well known and THE ONE THAT AWAY is now a favorite POW-Escapes film. THE ONE shares some of the feel of 49TH PARALLEL but without the villainy or the big name cast.

But MORNING DEPARTURE is the one that snuck up and took me by surprise. I knew Mills and Attenborough, and director Roy Ward Baker, could turn in efforts like this, but I wasn't expecting the whole film to be stacked this high with performances. I suppose this shows that Baker's follow-up film A NIGHT TO REMEMBER wasn't just luck. Nor were his later Gideon efforts.

tykepilot

Dunkirk
Ice Cold In Alex
Went The Day Well
The Way Ahead
Angels One Five
We Dive At Dawn
Sea Of Sand
The Way To The Stars
Colditz Story
The Wooden Horse
The Battle Of The River Plate
The Cruel Sea (Snorkers Good Oh!)
The Day Will Dawn

Harleybloke

Wot? No Dambusters? No Bridge too far? No Great Escape?..............

.....You couldn't hear it, if they were shooting at me with howitzers!

tykepilot

erm, forgot to mention:

Battle Of Britain
Longest Day
Great Escape
A Bridge Too Far
Dambusters
The Malta Story

Not too keen on 633 Squadron or Mosquito Squadron, the music (633 Squadron) is awesome, and the aircraft even more so, but the storylines are pitiful! (ok, I 'll get my hat and coat)

hankoler

Guns of Navarone

hankoler

Millions Like Us.

Captain Casper

Can't believe no-one has mentioned Albert RN! Great Sunday film.

For me, A Bridge Too Far, Operation Crossbow, The Wooden Horse and Where Eagles Dare.

dpgmel

IMHO "Danger Within " is one of the best of the POW genre.

Reeldigger

The title which leapt to mind the instant I came across this thread is "Bridge On The River Kwai," an established David Lean classic and my personal favorite of all his films. Unless I missed it, there has been no mention of it here. Very odd. Has it somehow fallen out of favor in the community of film buffs or could it be that it has a higher reputation here in the US than in the UK?

Steve Crook

It's an interesting film, but bears very little relation to any real events. Which is a shame as there was a real Bridge On The River Kwai and real prisoners worked and died on that railway

Steve

ringsider

Question - Does it matter one jot if a war film is not based on fact. Surely a great piece of total fiction (whether or not written around a true event) should only be judged on its merits.

Regards - Bernie


P.S. No disrespect intended to the prisoners who suffered and died in Asia. One of my Uncles suffered under the Japanese and he was never ever a fit man afterwards.

Steve Crook

Many people feel it does. Especially when it claims to be a true story and even more so when they have family who were involved in the real events. Or, like in Bridge Over the River Kwai the film totally misrepresents a real person

Steve

ringsider

Steve - One further response if I may.

I can obviously see the dislike for films that misrepresent events where you have a close personal interest in what actually happened, but I am genuinely surprised that you see there is a cinematic distinction to be drawn between a factual(?) film and a work of pure fiction.

My particular favourite theme is wartime spy films/TV. I can honestly say that I get no more pleasure watching say "Odette", than watching the "Wish Me Luck" and "Manhunt" TV series. As long as the fiction is reasonably credible (i.e. no hero/heroine beating up dozens of armed soldiers or James Bond type gadgets) I can enjoy them for what they are - great story, well told and well acted.

Regards - Bernie

P.S. One final, final point. Don't they say that all military history is written by the victors and so, going back to the original thread, when I watch and enjoy one of my all-time favourite films "The Dambusters", I always try to remember that the significance of the raid is written from a British perspective. But that doesn't alter my total respect for the skill and sacrifice of the airmen involved.

Steve Crook

But is The Bridge Over the River Kwai pure fiction? Is changing the name of the officer in charge enough to make it be treated as fiction?

There was a real bridge and there was only one British officer in charge of the prisoners that built the bridge

Steve