Subgenre Sampler
War: 952 Films to Buy & Rent
One of Our Aircraft is Missing (1942)
- Dir. Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Feat. Eric Portman, Bernard Miles, Hugh Williams
- Brisk war–thriller about how a six man British aircrew must find their way back to England across the Occupied Netherlands. Raised above the…
Secret Mission (1942)
- Dir. Harold French
Feat. Michael Wilding, James Mason, Hugh Williams
- Wartime propaganda piece focused around four Brit intelligence officers on a mission in France to gauge the force of the German defences while being…
Thunder Birds (Soldiers of the Air) (1942)
- Dir. William A. Wellman
Feat. Gene Tierney, Preston Foster, John Sutton…
- Routine wartime love triangle with two fighter pilots falling for a radiant Gene Tierney, gorgeous Technicolor and ace aerial photography liven it up…
To Be or Not to Be (1942)
- Dir. Ernst Lubitsch
Feat. Jack Benny, Carole Lombard
- Wonderful black comedy about a Polish theatre group who in the face of a German invasion, become involved in a covert operation that masquerades them…
Went the Day Well? (1942)
- Dir. Alberto Cavalcanti
Feat. Leslie Banks, Valerie Taylor, Marie Lohr
- British pluck and courage is put to the test in this Graham Greene story, where a cosy English village is infiltrated during WWII by a truckload of…
49th Parallel (1941)
- Dir. Michael Powell
Feat. Laurence Olivier
- A taut, effective actioner in which five German U–boat men become stranded off the Canadian coast and try to make it overland to the neutral…
Cottage to Let (1941)
- Dir. Anthony Asquith
Feat. Leslie Banks, Alastair Sim, John Mills…
- Brit thriller focusing on an inventor in the business of bomb testing for the Air Ministry, whose supposedly innocent domestic staff is riddled with…
Dive Bomber (1941)
- Dir. Michael Curtiz
Feat. Errol Flynn
- The life and duties of a navy doctor turned flight surgeon entering WW2 with a dashing Errol Flynn. Notable for top–flight aerial sequences.
Jean Grémillon: During the Occupation (Remorques, Lumière d'été, Le Ciel Est à Vous) (1941-1944)
- Dir. Jean Gremillon
Feat. Jean Gabin, Madeleine Renaud
- Three character–driven dramas from the heralded French film director who has been little represented outside of his home country:
Remorques…
Sergeant York (1941)
- Dir. Howard Hawks
Feat. Gary Cooper
- A wartime classic about a real–life pacifist turned WW1 hero. Gary Cooper won an Oscar for his vivid portrayal.