Subgenre Sampler

Show: All FilmsRental Rental DVD Rental Blu-Ray Rental VHSSales Sales DVD Sales Blu-Ray Sales VHS

Operation Mincemeat (2021): Dir. John Madden
Feat. Colin Firth, Matthew MacFadyen, Kelly MacDonald…; Two intelligence officers use a corpse and false papers to outwit German troops in this well–appointed, old–school WWII drama based upon…
De Gaulle (2020): Dir. Gabriel Le Bomin
Feat. Lambert Wilson, Tim Hudson, Isabelle Carré…; Spectacularly mounted biographical drama depicting a crucial period in the life of French army officer Charles de Gaulle, a famous figure in modern…
Six Minutes to Midnight (2020): Dir. Andy Goddard
Feat. Eddie Izzard, Carla Juri, James D'Arcy…; A tense British period thriller loosely based on the true story of the disappearance of a school teacher at an elite girls' boarding school shortly…
1917 (2019): Dir. Sam Mendes
Feat. Dean-Charles Chapman, George MacKay, Daniel Mays; Immersive epic war film from director Sam Mendes (JARHEAD) which evokes the impression of a continuous take to follow two British soldiers on a…
A Hidden Life (2019): Dir. Terrence Malick
Feat. August Diehl, Matthias Schoenaerts, Valerie Pachner…; Historical drama of distinction from writer director Terrence Malick (THE THIN RED LINE), depicting the life of Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian…
Aftermath, The (2019): Dir. James Kent
Feat. Keira Knightley, Jason Clarke, Alexander Skarsgard; Period melodrama of some distinction due to its strong cast, set in postwar Germany in 1945, where a British colonel and his wife move into a…
Kill Team, The (2019): Dir. Dan Krauss
Feat. Nat Wolff, Adam Long, Osy Ikhile…; War drama which fictionalises events from the documentary of the same name from 2013, following a morally conflicted US Specialist whose platoon are…
World On Fire (TV Series) (2019): Feat. Jonah Hauer-King, Julia Brown, Helen Hunt…; Ensemble drama set during the declaration and first year of WWII and following the intertwining stories of ordinary families who are affected. Season…
A Private War (2018): Dir. Matthew Heineman
Feat. Rosamund Pike, Greg Wise, Alexandra Moen; Rosamund Pike is a stand out in this powerful thriller based on the true story of the fearless and celebrated war correspondent Marie Colvin. Having…
Ashes in the Snow (2018): Dir. Marius A. Markevicius
Feat. Bel Powley, Jonah Hauer-King, Martin Wallström; Coming–of–age story set during WWII, when Stalin's Red Army has invaded Lithuania and a promising young artist is deported with her…
Donbass (2018): Dir. Sergey Loznitsa
Feat. Tamara Yatsenko, Irina Zayarmiuk, Grigory Masliuk; A 13–part exploration of the conflict between Ukraine and the Russian–supported Donetsk People's Republic throughout the…
Where Hands Touch (2018): Dir. Amma Asante
Feat. Amandla Stenberg, George MacKay, Abbie Cornish…; Weighty wartime melodrama from accomplished writer–director Amma Asante (A UNITED KINGDOM), following the fate of a young African American girl…
Another Mother's Son (2017): Dir. Christopher Menaul
Feat. Jenny Seagrove, John Hannah, Julian Kostov…; Based on a true story from the German occupation of the Channel Islands, about a Jersey woman named Louisa Gould, who takes in an escaped young…
Churchill (2017): Dir. Jonathan Teplitzky
Feat. Brian Cox, Miranda Richardson, John Slattery; Brian Cox delivers an impressive performance as iconic Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the days before the D–Day landings in June 1944.
Foxtrot (2017): Dir. Samuel Maoz
Feat. Lior Ashkenazi, Sarah Adler; The impressive sophomore effort of director Samuel Maoz (LEBANON) is a perceptive and bold exploration of war and grief. An affluent couple living in…
Last Post, The (TV Mini-series) (2017): Dir. Jonny Campbell
Feat. Jessie Buckley, Stephen Campbell Moore, Ben Miles; Set in the mid–Sixties in the shimmering heat of Aden (Yemen), this BBC drama from the writer of THE VILLAGE centres on a unit of Royal…
See You Up There (Au revoir là-haut) (2017): Dir. Albert Dupontel
Feat. Albert Dupontel, Nahuel Pérez Biscayar, Laurent Lafitte…; French film adaptation of the ambitious novel set a few days before the 1918 Armistice, where, among the ruins of WWI, a genius draftsman and a…
Yellow Birds, The (2017): Dir. Alexandre Moors
Feat. Tye Sheridan, Alden Ehrenreich, Toni Collette…; Iraq War movie featuring Alden Ehrenreich and Tye Sheridan as friends who are deployed to Iraq under a hot–headed sergeant. But after a tragedy…
Allied (2016): Dir. Robert Zemeckis
Feat. Brad Pitt, Marion Cotillard, Lizzy Caplan…; Old–fashioned wartime romance between an intelligence officer and a French resistance fighter in 1942, which develops into a satisfying…
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2016): Dir. Ang Lee
Feat. Joe Alwyn, Vin Diesel, Kristen Stewart…; After a near escape from a violent encounter during the Iraq war, a group of eight soldiers return home to find themselves glorified as heroes on…
Exception, The (2016): Dir. David Leveaux
Feat. Lily James, Jai Courtney, Janet McTeer…; Romantic war drama fictionalizing the last few days in the life of exiled Kaiser Wilhelm II, played by Christopher Plummer. A German soldier tries to…
Hacksaw Ridge (2016): Dir. Mel Gibson
Feat. Andrew Garfield, Teresa Palmer, Vince Vaughn…; The true World War II story of a conscientious objector who, at the Battle of Okinawa, won the Medal of Honor for his bravery and regard for his…
King's Choice, The (2016): Dir. Erik Poppe
Feat. Jesper Christensen, Anders Baasmo; Vibrant war–time drama set during the three days in 1940 when German forces occupied Oslo and King Haakon VII and his family went into hiding.…
My Mother and Other Strangers (TV Mini-series) (2016): Dir. Adrian Shergold
Feat. Hattie Morahan, Owen McDonnell; Five–episode mini–series set during WWII in which a family and their neighbours in a Northern Irish village come to terms with the influx…
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016): Dir. Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
Feat. Tina Fey, Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman…; Spiky war comedy with Tina Fey as a journalist assigned to Afghanistan at the height of the second Gulf War. Based on the acclaimed memoir "The…
A Perfect Day (2015): Dir. Fernando León de Aranoa
Feat. Benicio Del Toro, Tim Robbins, Olga Kurylenko…; Trenchant, satisfying black comedy about a group of aid workers struggling with the task of removing a corpse from a well at the end of the Yugoslav…
Eye in the Sky (2015): Dir. Gavin Hood
Feat. Aaron Paul, Alan Rickman, Barkhad Abdi…; Provocative drama that examines the perils of drone warfare with Helen Mirren as a military officer in command of a mission to capture terrorists in…
Heavy Water War, The (The Saboteurs) (2015): Dir. Per-Olav Sørensen
Feat. Espen Klouman-Høiner, Soren Pilmark, Anna Friel…; Thrilling Norwegian mini–series tells the story behind Hitler's plan for obtaining the atomic bomb during WW2, and the heavy water sabotages in…
Land of Mine (Under sandet) (2015): Dir. Martin Zandvliet
Feat. Roland Møller, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard; Multi award–winning historical drama following a unit of captured German soldiers who are put to work disabling Hitler's munitions by an…
Son of Saul (2015): Dir. László Nemes
Feat. Géza Röhrig, Levente Molnár, Urs Rechn; Masterful, but deeply disturbing glimpse into the horror of Auschwitz seen through the perspective of a prisoner forced to burn the corpses of his…
Testament of Youth (2015): Dir. James Kent
Feat. Alicia Vikander, Kit Harrington, Taron Egerton…; Vera Brittain's acclaimed coming–of–age memoir is given the cinematic treatment in this fine adaptation, with Alicia Vikander (EX…
When We Go To War (TV Mini-series) (2015): Feat. Ido Drent, Sophia Huybens; Historical saga that tells the story of six young men and women whose plans for the future are thwarted as New Zealand enters World War I. Events…
American Sniper (2014): Dir. Clint Eastwood
Feat. Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Kyle Gallner…; Clint Eastwood helms this controversial biopic of the most decorated sniper in U.S. military history and his struggle to adjust to civilian life.
Diplomacy (2014): Dir. Volker Schlondorff
Feat. Andre Dussollier, Niels Arestrup, Burghart Klaussner…; A thematically rich and expertly staged historical drama that depicts the relationship between Dietrich von Choltitz, the German military governor of…
Fort Bliss (2014): Dir. Claudia Myers
Feat. Michelle Monaghan, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Pablo Schreiber…; After returning home from an extended tour in Afghanistan, a decorated U.S. Army medic and single mother struggles to rebuild her relationship with…
Good Kill (2014): Dir. Andrew Niccol
Feat. Ethan Hawke, January Jones, Zoe Kravitz…; Andrew Niccol (GATTACA) writes and directs this thought–provoking drama with Ethan Hawke as a drone pilot beginning to question the ethics of…
Monuments Men, The (2014): Dir. George Clooney
Feat. George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray…; George Clooney directs and stars in this stirring WWII adventure based on the deeds of a team of Allied art historians who go behind enemy lines to…
Nancy Wake: Gestapo's Most Wanted (2014): The heroics of Wellington–born Nancy Wake, aka 'The White Mouse', are given a pulpy treatment in this doco–drama celebrating the famed…
Our Girl (TV Series) (2014): Feat. Lacey Turner; Lacey Turner stars in this acclaimed drama as a young woman on her first deployment as a serving army medic against the backdrop of the British…
Unbroken (2014): Dir. Angelina Jolie
Feat. Jack O'Connell, Takamasa Ishihara, Domhnall Gleeson…; Angelina Jolie directs this biopic of Olympian Louis Zamperini who survived a harrowing 47 days in a raft with two fellow crewmen before being by the…
War Story (2014): Dir. Mark Jackson
Feat. Catherine Keener, Hafsia Herzi, Ben Kingsley…; A war photographer who recently endured a brutal detainment in Libya holes up in Sicily to come to terms with her ordeal.
Water Diviner, The (2014): Dir. Russell Crowe
Feat. Jai Courtney, Olga Kurylenko, Russell Crowe…; An Australian man travels to Turkey after the Battle of Gallipoli to try and locate his three missing sons.
A Hero's Choice (A Farewell to Fools) (2013): Dir. Bogdan Dreyer
Feat. Gerard Depardieu, Harvey Keitel, Laura Morante; A heaving production of Titus Popovici's famous novella 'The Death of Ipu' out of Romania, this WWII morality tale stars Gerard Depardieu as a madman…
A Thousand Times Goodnight (2013): Dir. Erik Poppe
Feat. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Juliette Binoche, Maria Doyle Kennedy…; Juliette Binoche stars as a war–zone photojournalist whose dedication to her dangerous job places her at odds with her family.
Bluestone 42 (TV Series) (2013): Feat. Oliver Chris, Kelly Adams, Matthew Lewis; Excellent British dramedy combines realism with levity in its chronicle of a British bomb disposal detachment in Afghanistan. Series One: 9…
Book Thief, The (2013): Dir. Brian Percival
Feat. Sophie Nelisse, Heike Makatsch, Geoffrey Rush…; Earnest wartime drama about a foster child who begins stealing books and sharing them with a Jewish refugee hiding in her basement in Nazi Germany.
Canopy (2013): Dir. Aaron Wilson
Feat. Khan Chittenden; An Australian pilot shot down over wartime Singapore forms an uneasy alliance with a Chinese resistance fighter in this immersive survival story.
Railway Man, The (2013): Dir. Jonathan Teplitzky
Feat. Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Hiroyuki Sanada…; Tormented by his experience as a prisoner of war, a former British Army officer confronts one of his torturers in civilian times this haunting…
Wind Rises, The (2013): Dir. Hayao Miyazaki
Feat. Hideaki Anno; Hayao Miyazaki's glorious swansong is the poignant story of aviation engineer Jiro Horikoshi and his dreams of designing the perfect flying machine…
Wipers Times, The (2013): Dir. Andy De Emmony
Feat. Ben Chaplin, Michael Palin; The horrors of trench warfare are matched with alleviating gallows humour in this strangely moving tale of a satirical newspaper published on the…
Birdsong (TV Mini-Series) (2012): Dir. Philip Martin
Feat. Eddie Redmayne, Clemence Poesy, Matthew Goode; The horrific experiences of an English soldier fighting in northern France are juxtaposed against his fond, but haunted memories of a forbidden love…
Bomb Girls (TV Series) (2012): Feat. Meg Tilly, Jodi Balfour, Ali Liebert…; A first–rate Canadian drama centred on the lives of women on the home–front who were recruited to work in dangerous munitions factories…
Emperor (2012): Dir. Peter Webber
Feat. Matthew Fox, Tommy Lee Jones, Eriko Hatsune; Matthew Fox and Tommy Lee Jones play Generals Bonner Fellers and Douglas MacArthur respectively in this solid dramatisation of the aftermath of the…
In the Fog (2012): Dir. Sergey Loznitsa
Feat. Vladislav Svirskiy, Vladislav Abashin; Intense, slow burning Russian drama exploring the moralities of war through the story of a man wrongly accused of collaboration with the German…
Lincoln (2012): Dir. Steven Spielberg
Feat. Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn…; Daniel Day–Lewis portrays the famed U.S. President between 1861 and 1865 as he dealt with personal demons and politics during the Civil War in…
Private Peaceful (2012): Dir. Pat O'Connor
Feat. Jack O'Connell, George MacKay, Alexandra Roach…; This sensitive, small scale contrast to Spielberg's WAR HORSE (also from a Michael Morgpurgo novel) centres on two brothers who are compelled to put…
Restless (TV Mini-Series) (2012): Dir. Edward Hall
Feat. Hayley Atwell, Rufus Sewell, Michelle Dockery…; A fine small screen adaptation of William Boyd's espionage novel, about a young woman who learns that her mother was recruited as a spy during World…
Suskind (2012): Dir. Rudolf van den Berg
Feat. Karl Markovics, Jeroen Spitzenberger; A serious, respectful historical dramatisation of the deeds of Walter Sueskind, a Jewish industrialist in Amsterdam who used his leverage as an…
Third Half, The (2012): Dir. Darko Mitrevski
Feat. Katarina Ivanovska, Sasko Kocev; A Macedonian football club hires a German coach to galvanize the team as Nazis prepare to enter the country in this wartime occupation drama.
Twice Born (2012): Dir. Sergio Castellitto
Feat. Penelope Cruz, Emile Hirsch; The memory of a passionate love affair with an American photographer and its harrowing aftermath is rekindled when a woman returns to Sarajevo with…
War Witch (Rebelle) (2012): Dir. Kim Nguyen
Feat. Rachel Mwanza; A remarkable magical realist portrayal of the tragedy of child soldiering in one of Africa’s many civil wars, with the phenomenal Rachel Mwanza as…
Blood and Country (There Be Dragons) (2011): Dir. Roland Joffe
Feat. Charlie Cox, Wes Bentley, Dougray Scott…; Roland Joffe (THE KILLING FIELDS) directs this epic, if overambitious Spanish Civil War drama spread across three different storylines: two…
Flowers of War, The (2011): Dir. Zhang Yimou
Feat. Christian Bale, Ni Ni, Paul Schneider; Dir. Zhang Yimou tackles the Nanking massacre with equal parts grim realism and stylish melodrama – befitting of a lavish wartime epic, less so…
In Darkness (2011): Dir. Agnieszka Holland
Feat. Robert Wieckiewicz, Agnieszka Grochowska, Kinga Preis; A stirring, endlessly suspenseful wartime resistance drama from dir. Agnieszka Holland (EUROPA, EUROPA), about the ordinary men and women surviving…
My Best Enemy (2011): Dir. Wolfgang Murnberger
Feat. Moritz Bleibtreu, Georg Friedrich, Ursula Strauss; A Jewish man switches places with his Nazi best friend in order to survive, in this dark WWII drama.
Personal War, A (The Kiwi Who Saved Britain) (2011): Three short dramatic accounts of war stories as a memorial to all those who have fought and lost their lives for New Zealand as soldiers. THE KIWI…
Remembrance (Die Verlorene Zeit) (2011): Dir. Anna Justice; A powerful, decades long Holocaust tale of two lovers who endure the horrors of concentration camps, only to be separated by the chaos of the war.
Resistance (2011): Dir. Amit Gupta
Feat. Andrea Riseborough, Tom Wlaschiha; A restrained, understated war drama shot through the lens of an alternate history, where the Germans have gained the upper hand and begun to invade…
War Horse (2011): Dir. Steven Spielberg
Feat. Jeremy Irvine, Peter Mullan, Emily Watson…; Steven Spielberg revives the magic of Old Hollywood with this rousing saga of a plucky farm stallion who goes on to inspire soldiers and citizens…
Wunderkinder (2011): Dir. Markus Rosenmüller
Feat. Gedeon Burkhard, Natalia Avelon; A history of Germany in broad strokes, this heartrending coming–of–age tale charts the upheaval of WWII through the eyes of three child…
20 Cigarettes (2010): Dir. Aureliano Amadei
Feat. Vinicio Marchioni, Carolina Crescentini, Giorgio Colangeli; Wry autobiographical story about an assistant director who receives an offer to fly to Iraq in order to shoot a film, surprisingly sincere.
A Marine Story (2010): Dir. Ned Farr
Feat. Dreya Weber, Paris Pickard, Christine Mourad; Set against the "don't ask, don't tell" policy of the US Military, a Marine officer, who has unexpectedly returned home from Iraq, is recruited to…
Bang Bang Club, The (2010): Dir. Steven Silver
Feat. Ryan Phillippe, Malin Akerman, Taylor Kitsch…; Lacerating portrait of the notorious group of war photographers who made their name during South Africa's turbulent transition out of Apartheid.…
Home By Christmas (2010): Dir. Gaylene Preston
Feat. Tony Barry, Martin Henderson, Chelsie Preston-Crayford; The director of WAR STORIES returns to the subject for this deeply personal yet affecting docu–drama focusing this time on a single story…
Rise and Fall (Jew Suss) (2010): Dir. Oskar Roehler
Feat. Tobias Moretti, Martina Gedeck, Moritz Bleibtreu; Wrenching true story about German actor Ferdinand Marian who, despite being married to a Jewish woman chose to play lead in the antisemitic…
Round Up, The (La Rafle) (2010): Dir. Rose Bosch
Feat. Jean Reno, Mélanie Laurent, Gad Elmaleh…; A sensitive recreation of the tragic events and personal stories surrounding the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup of 1942, where some 13,000 French Jews were…
Way Back, The (2010): Dir. Peter Weir
Feat. Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Colin Farrell…; A small group of multi–national prisoners escape a Siberian Gulag and make their way across five countries on foot in this survivalist epic…
A Courageous Heart (The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler) (2009): Dir. John Kent Harrison
Feat. Anna Paquin, Marcia Gay Harden, Goran Visnjic…; Moving account of the young Polish social worker who smuggled over 2,000 children out of Warsaw during the Nazi occupation of Poland.
Army of Crime, The (2009): Dir. Robert Guediguian
Feat. Simon Abkarian, Virginie Ledoyen; Part of a recent wave of prestigious WWII resistence dramas, this one reconstructs events around a group of Paris–based resistance fighters,…
Brothers (2009): Dir. Jim Sheridan
Feat. Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, Tobey Maguire…; Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire star in this remake of Susanne Bier's wrenching Danish drama, about two sibling's lives torn apart by war.
City of Life and Death (2009): Dir. Chuan Lu
Feat. Ye Liu, Yuanyuan Gao, Hideo Nakaizumi; This first serious depiction of the atrocities wrought on Chinese refugees and soldiers during the occupation of Nanking is a harrowing, expertly…
City of War (John Rabe) (2009): Dir. Florian Gallenberger
Feat. Ulrich Tukur, Daniel Bruhl, Steve Buscemi…; Riveting dramatisation of an unlikely true story in which a Nazi industrialist conspires to save the lives of 200,000 Chinese during the infamous…
Into the Storm (2009): Dir. Thaddeus O'Sullivan
Feat. Brendan Gleeson, Janet McTeer, James D'Arcy…; Enthralling sequel to HBO's acclaimed THE GATHERING STORM focuses on Winston Churchill's challenging term as Prime Minister during the war, followed…
Land Girls (TV Series) (2009): Feat. Summer Strallen, Christine Bottomley, Jo Woodcock…; Four Women's Land Army recruits experience the highs and lows of wartime service in this stirring BBC drama which pays tribute to the lives of…
Man Who Will Come, The (L'uomo che verrà) (2009): Dir. Giorgio Diritti
Feat. Maya Sansa, Alba Rohrwacher, Greta Zuccheri Montanari; Moving Italian war drama told through the eyes of an eight–year–old mute, who witnesses the brutal struggle between Italian partisans and…
Memories of Anne Frank (2009): Dir. Alberto Negrin; Moving Italian–made biopic on the relationship between Anne Frank and (the surviving) Hanneli Goslar, whose close childhood friendship and…
Messenger, The (2009): Dir. Oren Moverman
Feat. Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Jena Malone…; Ben Foster plays a troubled Iraq War veteran reassigned to the military's Casualty Notification Office in this affecting study of war on the home…
Occupation (TV Mini-series) (2009): Dir. Nick Murphy
Feat. James Nesbitt, Stephen Graham, Warren Brown…; Insightful, character–driven alternative to HBO's GENERATION KILL, this follows the lives of three British soliders during and after the 2003…
Paris 1919 (Un traité pour la paix) (2009): Dir. Paul Cowan
Feat. David Lowe, Paul Bandey, Yan Brian; History–drenched docudrama merging archival footage with live action, examining the tricky negotiations that led to the signing of the Treaty…
Simon Schama's Rough Crossings (2009): Docu–drama presented by revered historian Simon Schama (A HISTORY OF BRITAIN) which charts the astonishing story of thousands of…
Triage (2009): Dir. Danis Tanovic
Feat. Colin Farrell, Paz Vega, Christopher Lee…; An absorbing Colin Farrell performance carries this pensive, unexpectedly subdued drama from the director of NO MAN'S LAND. Farrell plays a battered…
Within the Whirlwind (2009): Dir. Marleen Gorris
Feat. Emily Watson, Ulrich Tukur, Ian Hart…; The memoirs of Eugenia Ginzburg, a Russian academic sentenced to ten years labor in a Siberian Gulag, are brought to life in this harrowing account…
Adam Resurrected (2008): Dir. Paul Schrader
Feat. Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe, Derek Jacobi…; Troubling tale of a former Jewish circus entertainer who was spared from the gas chamber by serving as the camp commandant's pet dog. Based on…
Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, The (2008): Dir. Mark Herman
Feat. Asa Butterfield, Zac Mattoon O'Brien, Vera Farmiga…; Emotive wartime parable set in Nazi Germany where the young son of a concentration camp commander befriends a Jewish boy on the other side of the…
Children Of The Silk Road (The Children of Huang Shi) (2008): Dir. Roger Spottiswoode
Feat. Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Radha Mitchell, Chow Yun-Fat…; Inspired by real events, this solid WWII epic reveals the story of a young British journalist and Australian nurse who led sixty orphans to safety…
Edge of Love, The (2008): Dir. John Maybury
Feat. Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Cillian Murphy…; Atmospheric wartime romance based on the life of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (Rhys) and his love for two free–spirited women who become firm…
Generation Kill (TV Mini-series) (2008): Feat. Alexander Skarsgard, James Ransone, Lee Tergesen…; Superlative HBO series from the makers of THE WIRE following the U.S. Marine reconnaissance battalion in the first year of the Iraq invasion.…
Giovanna's Father (2008): Dir. Pupi Avati
Feat. Silvio Orlando, Francesca Neri, Alba Rohrwacher…; Set during the second world ward this is a sad character study of a naive father who covers for his daughter's terrible crime.
In Tranzit (2008): Dir. Tom Roberts
Feat. John Malkovich, Vera Farmiga, Thomas Kretschmann…; Bleak POW drama set in Soviet Russia during the aftermath of World War 2. With the prisons overflowing makeshift accommodation is found for German…
Lucky Ones, The (2008): Dir. Neil Burger
Feat. Tim Robbins, Rachel McAdams, Michael Pena; Low–key drama sees Robbins, McAdams and Pena play three soldiers who go on an unexpected road–trip together through the USA after…
Miracle at St. Anna (2008): Dir. Spike Lee
Feat. Derek Luke, John Turturro, Joseph Gordon-Levitt…; A messily formed, though nonetheless vital piece of corrective history, with Spike Lee directing this recreation of the feats of the…
Passchendaele (2008): Dir. Paul Gross
Feat. Paul Gross, Caroline Dhavernas; Paul Gross (DUE SOUTH) directs and stars in this impressive wartime drama based on the exploits of the 1st Canadian Division during WWI.
Red Baron, The (Der rote Baron) (2008): Dir. Nikolai Müllerschön
Feat. Maxim Mehmet, Til Schweiger, Joseph Fiennes…; Biographical melodrama focused around Baron Manfred von Richthofen, the celebrated showboating WW1 pilot. Thrilling airborne set–pieces make up…
Stop-Loss (2008): Dir. Kimberly Peirce
Feat. Ryan Phillippe, Abbie Cornish, Channing Tatum…; Sincerely handled melodrama from the director of BOYS DON'T CRY, dealing with a disillusioned Texan soldier (Phillippe) who goes AWOL after returning…
Three Blind Mice (2008): Dir. Matthew Newton
Feat. Ewen Leslie, Toby Schmitz, Matthew Newton; Playful Australian drama focused around three young Navy officers who hit the town in Sydney for one last night before they're shipped off to fight…
Un Secret (2008): Dir. Claude Miller
Feat. Cecile De France, Ludivine Sagnier, Julie Depardieu…; Graceful, poignant French wartime drama centred on the son of a Jewish family who uncovers a piece of unsettling family history at the time of the…
Waltz With Bashir (Vals Im Bashir) (2008): Dir. Ari Folman; This striking hybrid animation is an audacious attempt to recall, through anecdote, dream, and documentary, the 1982 Israeli–Lebanon war.…
Winter in Wartime (2008): Dir. Martin Koolhoven
Feat. Martijn Lakemeier, Yorick van Wageningen, Jamie Campbell Bower…; Sensitively handled account of a thirteen year old boy who joins the Dutch resistance at the tail end of World War II.
Army Wives (TV Series) (2007): Feat. Brian McNamara; Ensemble drama series focused on a group of women, and one guy, who reside with their families on an Army Base and attempt to lead fulfilling lives…
Atonement (2007): Dir. Joe Wright
Feat. James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, Romola Garai…; Keira Knightley and James McAvoy play out a twisted, unrequited wartime love in this Bafta–adorned tragic–romance from the dir. of PRIDE…
Battle For Haditha (2007): Dir. Nick Broomfield
Feat. Elliot Ruiz, Yasmine Hanani, Matthew Knoll; No ordinary Iraq war flick, this powerful dramatic feature from the inscrutable Nick Broomfield proves no less fearless and 'realistic' than his…
Charlie Wilson's War (2007): Dir. Mike Nichols
Feat. Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman…; Tom Hanks spearheads this crisp, ever–timely political sideswipe, about a real–life Texas congressman who, together with the financial…
Closing the Ring (2007): Dir. Richard Attenborough
Feat. Shirley Maclaine, Christopher Plummer, Mischa Barton…; Richard Attenborough–directed romance set both in the '40s and present–day, following the wartime history of a ring and an unbreakable…
Eichmann (2007): Dir. Robert Young
Feat. Thomas Kretschmann, Troy Garity, Franke Potente…; Middling account of Adolf Eichmann's confessions as the architect of Hitler's plan for the final solution. German Kretschmann is strong in the title…
In the Valley of Elah (2007): Dir. Paul Haggis
Feat. Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, Susan Sarandon…; Calculated military mystery from the director of CRASH, concerning an out–of–touch dad (Jones) searching for his missing son who has gone…
Joy Division (2007): Dir. Reg Traviss
Feat. Ed Stoppard, Tom Schilling, Bernadette Heerwagen…; Ed Stoppard, son of Sir Tom, stars as a young German boy who becomes a KGB agent in this ambitious wartime saga that sweeps from WWII to swinging,…
Katyn (2007): Dir. Andrzej Wajda
Feat. Maja Ostaszewska, Artur Żmijewski, Pawel Malaszynski; Andrzej Wajda cements himself as Poland’s greatest director with this late–career triumph, a war story addressing the eradication of some…
Kite Runner, The (2007): Dir. Marc Forster
Feat. Khalid Abdalla, Homayon Ershadi, Shaun Toub…; The ravages of Afghanistan and its effect on an American 'refugee' forms the basis of Khaled Hosseini's best–selling book, here given due…
Lions for Lambs (2007): Dir. Robert Redford
Feat. Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise; A contemporary 'hot potato' issue is tackled from political, academic, militaristic and journalistic viewpoints, drawing an ultimately powerful…
Little Traitor, The (2007): Dir. Lynn Roth
Feat. Alfred Molina, Ido Port; Coming–of–age drama about a spirited young Israeli boy and his unlikely friendship with a British sergeant in Palestine in…
Lust, Caution (Se, Jie) (2007): Dir. Ang Lee
Feat. Tony Leung (Chiu-wai), Joan Chen, Wei Tang…; Dir. Ang Lee (BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN) returns to the mainland to present a slow–burn, psychologically dense and provocative spy thriller, based on…
Music Within (2007): Dir. Steven Sawalich
Feat. Ron Livingston, Melissa George, Michael Sheen…; Inspirational biopic based on the true story of a Vietnam War soldier sent home after losing his hearing who embarks on a mission to help fellow…
My Boy Jack (2007): Dir. Brian Kirk
Feat. David Haig, Daniel Radcliffe, Kim Cattrall…; Haunting WW1 drama based on Rudjard Kipling's poem of the same name based on Kipling's own experience of guilt and consequences after insisting his…
Redacted (2007): Dir. Brian De Palma
Feat. Patrick Carroll; In typically melodramatic, unorthodox and ironic fashion, Brian De Palma returns with this wartime drama based on the true story of a group of…
Bombshell (TV Series) (2006): Dir. Jim Loach
Feat. Zoe Lucker; Gritty television series set amidst the conflicts of a modern army troop starring Zoe Lucker from FOOTBALLER'S WIVES as an army sergeant in charge of…
Days of Glory (Indigènes) (2006): Dir. Rachid Bouchareb
Feat. Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri, Bernard Blancan…; Epic Algerian WW2 drama focused on a determined group of Algerian soldiers fighting to defend France with little acknowledgement of their sacrifices…
Etoile Du Soldat, L' (Star of the Soldier) (2006): Dir. Christophe de Ponfilly
Feat. Sacha Bourdo, Philippe Caubere, Hanns Zischler; Maladroit war drama based on the true story of a Russian soldier captured by the Mujahedin in Afghanistan who becomes enthralled by his freedom…
Flags of our Fathers (2006): Dir. Clint Eastwood
Feat. Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach…; Part one of Clint Eastwood’s Pacific double–bill trades unrelenting battle scenes for an insightful and crucially honest back–story…
Housewife, 49 (2006): Dir. Gavin Millar
Feat. Victoria Wood, David Threlfall, Christopher Harper…; Emmy–nominated British TV movie set in WW2 England that follows a housewife finding new purpose in her life through volunteer work for the war…
Journey From the Fall (2006): Dir. Ham Tran
Feat. Kieu Chinh; Emotionally charged, stylishly filmed historical drama follows the twin fortunes of an incarcerated Vietnamese man and his refugee family forced to…
Kiss Me Baby (Baciami Piccina) (2006): Dir. Roberto Cimapnelli
Feat. Neri Marcore, Vincenzo Salemme, Elena Russo; Elegant blend of love–story, witty road movie and historical drama tells the story of a couple on their honeymoon at the most unlikely of times…
Letters From Iwo Jima (2006): Dir. Clint Eastwood
Feat. Ken Watanabe; Reading from the letters of fallen comrades, Clint Eastwood crosses enemy lines in the second part of his Pacific War twofer, encapsulating the…
Pan's Labyrinth (El Laberinto del fauno) (2006): Dir. Guillermo Del Toro
Feat. Ariadna Gil, Ivana Baquero, Sergi Lopez…; A stunning, sinister netherworld fantasy that parallels an equally compelling story of uprising against a fascist military unit in WWII Spain, this…
Rescue Dawn (2006): Dir. Werner Herzog
Feat. Christian Bale, Steve Zahn, Jeremy Davies; In dramatizing the unforgettable true story of Dieter Dengler – heroic subject matter of doco LITTLE DIETER NEEDS TO FLY – Werner Herzog…
Situation, The (2006): Dir. Philip Haas
Feat. Damian Lewis, Connie Nielsen, Mido Hadama; A noted fictional dramatisation of the Iraq conflict and its many complex participants and victims, this film interweaves a love triangle with…
Wind That Shakes the Barley, The (2006): Dir. Ken Loach
Feat. Cillian Murphy, Liam Cunningham, Gerard Kearney; Thoroughly gripping Cannes winner from "kitchen sink" exponent Ken Loach, retelling with parochial force Ireland's tumultuous twenties, where the…
Airlift, The (2005): Dir. Dror Zahavi
Feat. Heino Ferch, Ulrich Tukur, Bettina Zimmerman; Sweeping historical drama set in post–WWII Berlin with the love affair between a German single mother and an American General complicated by…
Colditz (TV Mini-series) (2005): Dir. Stuart Orme
Feat. Damian Lewis, Sophia Myles, Laurence Fox…; Respectable mini–series focusing on the WW2 'Colditz' story of three British officers escaping a notoriously impenetrable POW camp to begin a…
Fateless (Sorstalanság) (2005): Dir. Lajos Koltai
Feat. Marcell Nagy, Aron Dimeny, Daniel Craig; Harrowing and distilled vision of the Holocaust adapted from a novel by concentration–camp survivor and Nobel prize–winning author Imre…
Jarhead (2005): Dir. Sam Mendes
Feat. Jake Gyllenhaal, Jamie Foxx, Peter Sarsgaard; An arresting and grimly ironic vision of the 1991 Gulf War, based on the memoir of ex–marine Anthony Swofford, and depicting the experiences of…
Joyeux Noel (Merry Christmas) (2005): Dir. Christian Carion
Feat. Ian Richardson, Diane Kruger, Daniel Bruhl; Fact–based WWI drama centred around how, on Christmas Eve, 1914, opposing French, German and British soldiers called a temporary ceasefire amid…
La Maison de Nina (2005): Dir. Richard Dembo
Feat. Agnes Jaoui, Sarah Adler, Katia Lewkowicz; Quietly accomplished French drama focused on the relationships within the fragile structures of the 'houses of hope': houses run by surrogate mothers…
Nomad - The Warrior (2005): Dir. Sergei Bodrov, Ivan Passer
Feat. Kuno Becker, Mark Dacascos, Jason Scott Lee; Historical war epic set in Kazakhstan centred around the life of the prophesied warrior destined to unite the Kazakh peoples. With its awkwardly…
Over There (TV Series) (2005): Feat. Josh Henderson, Luke MacFarlane, Erik Palladino; Demanding Iraqi War excursion from Steven Bochco (NYPD BLUE) focuses on a US army unit’s dispatch to Iraq. Light on politics, this nevertheless…
Sometimes in April (2005): Dir. Raoul Peck
Feat. Debra Winger, Idris Elba, Oris Erhuero; A worthy HBO dramatisation of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which around one million ethnic 'Tutsis' were slaughtered by ethnic 'Hutu' military and…
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005): Dir. March Rothemund
Feat. Julia Jentsch; An interesting and worthy companion piece to the excellent DOWNFALL, this necessarily grim drama looks at the trial of 21–year–old…
Speer And Hitler: The Devil's Architect (2005): Dir. Heinrich Breloer
Feat. Sebastian Koch, Tobias Moretti; Painstaking docu–drama attempts to reevaluate the war crimes of one Albert Speer, Third Reich celebrity and Hilter’s personal architect…
Ten Days To Victory (2005): Dir. Tim Conrad; Two–part TV documentary depicting the final days of WWII, from the perspective of ten individual storylines. Combines occasionally violent…
Downfall (Der Untergang) (2004): Dir. Oliver Hirschbiegel
Feat. Bruno Ganz, Thomas Kretschmann, Juliane Kohler…; Widely acclaimed for its claustrophobic intensity, intelligence and detail, this vivid re–enactment of the last ten days in the life of Adolf…
Head in the Clouds (2004): Dir. John Duigan
Feat. Charlize Theron, Penelope Cruz, Stuart Townsend; Set in the turmoil of 1930s Europe, this cloudy melodrama involves an irresponsible French–American socialite (Theron) who becomes a…
Hotel Rwanda (2004): Dir. Terry George
Feat. Don Cheadle, Nick Nolte, Sophie Okonedo…; A deeply affecting expose of the Rwandan conflict of the early 1990s that matches its political conscience with vivid staging and terrific…
Ike: Countdown to D-Day (2004): Dir. Robert Harmon
Feat. Tom Selleck, James Remar, Timothy Bottoms…; Historical war dramatization of the three months leading up to Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy, and how General Dwight Eisenhower…
Innocent Voices (Voces inocentes) (2004): Dir. Luis Mandoki
Feat. Carlos Padilla, Leonor Varela; The tumultuous upheaval of civil war is witnessed through the eyes of a terrified 12–year–old boy, whose approaching teenage years spell…
Island at War (TV Mini-Series) (2004): Dir. Peter Lydon
Feat. James Wilby, Saskia Reeves, Philip Glenister…; Above par made–for–television drama, set during the German occupation of the Channel Islands in World War II, with the struggle of three…
Life is a Miracle (Zivot je cudo) (2004): Dir. Emir Kusturica
Feat. Slavko Stimac, Natasa Solak; Another feverish, frenetic and heartfelt vision from Balkan dir. Emir Kusturica (UNDERGOUND), attempting here to fathom and unknot the bloody Bosnian…
Sun, The (2004): Dir. Alexandr Sokurov
Feat. Robert Dawson, Issey Ogata; A lucid, painstaking portrait of Emperor Hirohito, whose authority over Japanese troops during WWII is contrasted against intimate scenes of…
Trilogy 1: The Weeping Meadow (To Livadi pou dakryzei) (2004): Dir. Theo Angelopoulos; The first part of an intended trilogy of films dealing with 20th century Greece, this monumental epic depicts the travails of a Greek refugee family…
Turtles Can Fly (Lakposhtha hâm parvaz mikonand) (2004): Dir. Bahman Ghobadi
Feat. Soran Ebrahim, Avaz Latif; The first widely–released film to emerge from post–Hussein Iraq, this wrenching tale concerns a raucous gang of children who scratch out…
Very Long Engagement, A (Long dimanche de fiançailles, Un) (2004): Dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Feat. Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, Clovis Cornillac…; Another crowd–pleasing favourite from the dir. of AMELIE, which uses the Great War as setting for the fairytale search by Audrey Tatou for her…
As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me (2003): Dir. Hardy Martins; Based on the novel by Josef Martin Bauer, this film recounts the harrowing true story of Clemens Forell, the German POW who escaped a Siberian labour…
Augustus (TV Mini-Series) (2003): Dir. Roger Young
Feat. Peter O'Toole, Charlotte Rampling; Peter O'Toole takes on the role of Augustus Caesar in this refreshing series focusing on the time when Augustus stepped into his adopted father's…
Cold Mountain (2003): Dir. Anthony Minghella
Feat. Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Renee Zellweger…; Prestige historical epic set in the closing days of the American Civil War, with a wounded confederate soldier (Law) deserting the ranks to rejoin…
Helen of Troy (Mini Series) (2003): Dir. John Harrison
Feat. Rufus Sewell, Stellan Skarsgard, John Rhys-Davies…; Combining various Greek legends into a grand composite tale, the stories of Helen, Agamemnon, Paris and Troy are reasonably well–served in this…
Hitler - The Rise of Evil (2003): Dir. Christian Duguay
Feat. Robert Carlyle, Stockard Channing, Peter O'Toole…; Somewhat controversial account of Adolf Hitler's rise to power, attempting to fathom his potential for evil–doing. An only…
Killing Hitler (TV Mini-series) (2003): Dir. Jeremy Lovering
Feat. Peter McDonald, Kate Ashfield, Kenneth Cranham…; Accurate docu–drama merging archival footage with recreations and educated interview to portray and dissect 'Operation Foxley' – a secret…
Napoleon (TV Mini-series) (2003): Dir. Yves Simoneau
Feat. Christian Clavier, Gerard Depardieu, John Malkovich…; A handsomely staged French (though English language) production of the life of Napoleon Bonaparte (Clavier) from his youthful antics, military…
Zelary (2003): Dir. Ondrej Trojan
Feat. Anna Geislerova, Gyorgy Cserhalmi; A layered tale of war and romance set around the 1943 purge of the Czech resistance by the occupying Nazis, and a young nurse's flight to…
Amen. (2002): Dir. Costa-Gavras
Feat. Ulrich Tukur, Mathieu Kassovitz, Ulrich Muhe; An unusual WW2 drama concerning the true story of SS officer Kurt Gerstein (Tukur), who invented the chemical Zyklon–B not knowing it was to be…
Antwone Fisher (2002): Dir. Denzel Washington
Feat. Denzel Washington, Derek Luke; From a uniquely autobiographical screenplay by the real Antwone Fisher, Denzel Washington takes the helm and stars as a US Navy psychiatrist who…
Ararat (2002): Dir. Atom Egoyan
Feat. Arsinee Khanjian, Charles Aznavour, Christopher Plummer…; A challenging dramatic meditation on the 'forgotten' genocide of 1.5 million Armenians by Turkey during WWI, moulded into an epic of history and…
Charlotte Gray (2002): Dir. Gillian Armstrong
Feat. Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup, Michael Gambon; WWII France is the backdrop for a love–triangle in this well–made, though sappy war–romance, Cate Blanchett providing a compelling…
Cuckoo, The (Kukushka) (2002): Dir. Aleksandr Rogozhkin
Feat. Anni-Kristiina Juuso, Ville Haapasalo, Viktor Bychkov; An earthy drama of non–communication set amid the frozen WW2 battleground of Lapland, where a pacifist Finnish soldier, a survivalist Russian…
Foyle's War (TV Series) (2002-2015): Feat. Michael Kitchen, Honeysuckle Weeks, Anthony Howell; A distinguished drama series of mysteries set at the dawn of World War II, from the makers of Midsomer Murders. Michael Kitchen stars as charismatic…
Gathering Storm, The (2002): Dir. Richard Loncraine
Feat. Albert Finney, Vanessa Redgrave, Jim Broadbent…; Critically acclaimed telemovie depicts the life of Winston Churchill during his 'wilderness years', the turbulent 1930s, centred by a mighty…
House of Fools (Dom Durakov) (2002): Dir. Andrei Konchalovsky; Based around the true story of a Chechen mental hospital which was abandoned by staff during the recent civil war, with patients left to fend for…
Live From Baghdad (2002): Dir. Mick Jackson
Feat. Michael Keaton, Helena Bonham Carter, Joshua Leonard…; Media drama set in war–time Iraq tracking a gutsy group of CNN journalists who are among the few to choose to remain in Baghdad to capture the…
Pianist, The (2002): Dir. Roman Polanski
Feat. Adrien Brody, Frank Finlay; Boldly visualised, fact–based drama concerning the Jewish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman, who evaded Poland’s Nazi authorities during WW2, living…
Quiet American, The (2002): Dir. Phillip Noyce
Feat. Michael Caine, Brendan Fraser, Rade Serbedzija; True to the spirit of Graham Greene’s novel, this cautionary tale of American interference in 50s French Vietnam is an involving,…
We Were Soldiers (2002): Dir. Randall Wallace
Feat. Mel Gibson, Greg Kinnear, Chris Klein…; Big–budget, lavish re–enactment of America’s curtain–raiser in the Vietnam War, the fierce battle of la Drang, with an…
Yossi and Jagger (2002): Dir. Eytan Fox
Feat. Ohad Knoller; Subversive, sweetly–natured gay drama set amid the close–quarters comraderie of the IDF (Israeli Defence Force) where a commanding…
Aimee and Jaguar (2001): Dir. Max Farberbock
Feat. Maria Schrader, Juliane Kohler; A forbidden love story that crosses both ethnic and sexual lines, inspired by a true love affair between a role–model Nazi mother and a…
Anne Frank (2001): Dir. Robert Dornhelm
Feat. Ben Kingsley, Brenda Blethyn, Lili Taylor; Comprehensive and authentic retelling of the Anne Frank diaries, this paints a grittier, less–than–sentimental picture of the family’s…
Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001): Dir. John Madden
Feat. Penelope Cruz, Christian Bale, Nicolas Cage…; A melodiously played costume–drama, that unfolds on the Greek island of Cephalonia during WWII. Occupation by Italian and later German…
Conspiracy (2001): Dir. Frank Pierson
Feat. Kenneth Branagh, Stanley Tucci, Colin Firth; Presenting the planning of the Nazi’s ‘Final Solution’ of the jews as the matter of a simple business luncheon in 1942 of fifteen men, presided…
Dark Blue World (Tmavomodry Svet) (2001): Dir. Jan Sverak
Feat. Krystof Hadek, Ondrej Vetchy, Charles Dance…; From the dir. of KOLYA and based on the story of Czech pilots who fled the Nazis in WW2 to fly alongside the RAF, this is an unsentimental, yet…
Divided We Fall (2001): Dir. Jan Hrebejk
Feat. Boleslav Polivka, Anna Siskova, Jaroslav Dusek; In WW2 Czechoslovakia, couple Bolek Polívka and Anna Sisková shelter their Jewish neighbour during the Nazi Occupation, with much absurd comedy…
Hart's War (2001): Dir. Gregory Hoblit
Feat. Colin Farrell, Terrence Howard, Bruce Willis; Deserving invigoration of the POW–film, set amongst a troop of American soldiers incarcerated behind Nazi barbed–wire in WWII. When a…
No Man's Land (2001): Dir. Danis Tanovic
Feat. Branko Djuric, Rene Bitorajac, Katrin Cartlidge…; Snaring the 2002 Best Foreign Film Oscar, this black comedy set in the wartime trenches of mid–1990s Bosnia plays like a satirical diagram of…
Sword of Honour (2001): Dir. Bill Anderson
Feat. Daniel Craig, Megan Dodds, Katrin Cartlidge; Ambitious attempt to depict the entire "Sword of Honour" trilogy of novels by Evelyn Waugh in one large television film. A Catholic man joins the…
Taking Sides (2001): Dir. Istvan Szabo
Feat. Harvey Keitel, Stellan Skarsgard, Moritz Bleibtreu; The ambiguities of Germany during the Nazi era are interrogated with skill in this taut examination of the case of famed classical conductor Dr…
To End All Wars (2001): Dir. David L Cunningham
Feat. Robert Carlyle, Kiefer Sutherland, Ciaran McMenamin; Underrated drama based around the infamous building of the bridge over the River Kwai by allied POWs during WW2, 'encouraged' by their Japanese…
Uprising (2001): Dir. Jon Avnet
Feat. Leelee Sobieski, Hank Azaria, David Schwimmer…; An above–par telemovie that depicts the clearing of the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII by the Nazis. Treading similiar territory to SCHINDLER'S…
Zookeeper, The (2001): Dir. Ralph Ziman
Feat. Sam Neill, Gina McKee, Ulrich Thomsen…; A quiet, little–seen drama set in a wartorn Communist country in Eastern Europe, with a zookeeper (Neill) struggling to care for the animals…
Bonhoeffer - Agent of Grace (2000): Dir. Eric Till
Feat. Ulrich Tukur, Johanna Klante; The historical enigma of Dietrich Bonhoeffer – a religious adviser to the Nazi Party – is examined into this informative, though thoroughly minor…
Grey Zone, The (2000): Dir. Tim Blake Nelson
Feat. David Arquette, Steve Buscemi, Harvey Keitel…; Earnest examination of one of the 'greyest' moral zones of the Holocaust – the role of the Jewish Sonderkommandos in concentration camps, who…
Harrison's Flowers (2000): Dir. Elie Chouraqui
Feat. Andie MacDowell, David Strathairn, Adrien Brody…; Andie MacDowell searches for her photojournalist husband (David Strathairn), presumed dead in the 1991 Serbian siege of Vukovar, with the aid of…
Monsignor Renard (TV Mini-series) (2000): Dir. Malcolm Mowbray
Feat. John Thaw, Cheryl Campbell, Dominic Monaghan; ITV drama starring John Thaw as a humble parish priest who returns home to his French village to join the resistance during WWII after a twenty year…
Nuremberg (2000): Feat. Alec Baldwin, Jill Hennessy, Brian Cox…; This two part miniseries follows the Chief Prosecutor through the Nuremberg Trials of 1945–46.
Sunshine (2000): Dir. Istvan Szabo
Feat. Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Deborah Kara Unger; Expansive and immaculately crafted epic of the last 100 years of Hungarian history, with Ralph Fiennes playing three roles – Grandfather,…
Beautiful People (1999): Dir. Jasmin Dizdar
Feat. Rosalind Ayres, Julian Firth, Bobby Williams…; Set in London 1993 when the Balkan Wars were in full flight, this lively, panoramic drama reaches its ambitions in witnessing turbulence of the…
Cabaret Balkan (The Powder Keg) (1999): Dir. Goran Paskaljevic
Feat. Nikola Ristanovski; Troubling split–portrait of the Serbian psyche, depicting a series of often violent incidents over the course of a single night in Belgrade,…
Crossing, The (1999): Dir. Robert Harmon
Feat. Jeff Daniels, Roger Rees, Sebastian Roche; Acclaimed telemovie recreation of George Washington's crossing of the Delaware during the American War of Independence. Jeff Daniels lives up to the…
Gloomy Sunday (Ein Lied Von Liebe Und Tod) (1999): Dir. Rolf Schubel
Feat. Joachim Krol, Erika Marozsan, Ben Becker…; Captivating drama which pivots around the apocryphal origins of the classic melancholy song 'Gloomy Sunday' in pre–WW2 Budapest. An amiably…
Jakob the Liar (1999): Dir. Peter Kassovitz
Feat. Alan Arkin, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Robin Williams; In this second version of Jurek Becker's novel, Robin Williams plays a café–owner in Nazi–occupied Poland who capitalises on an unearned…
15 Amore (1998): Dir. Maurice Murphy
Feat. Steve Bastoni, Lisa Hensley; Set in the Australian hinterland during the closing months of WWII, this outlines a domestic drama of forbidden attractions with a gratifyingly light…
Goodnight Mister Tom (Goodnight Mr. Tom) (1998): Dir. Jack Gold
Feat. John Thaw; Touching tele–adaptation of the beloved wartime novel about a young boy relocated during London’s air raids to live with an old hermit in the…
Hornblower (TV Series) (1998-2003): Feat. Ioan Gruffudd; Lavish, high–end production of C. S. Forester's legendary Horatio Hornblower, with Ioan Gruffudd staunchly portraying the British Naval…
Land Girls, The (1998): Dir. David Leland
Feat. Catherine McCormack, Rachel Weisz, Anna Friel; Gently romantic look at the lives of three young women serving old Blighty during World War II as members of the nearly forgotten Women's Land Army.…
Life Is Beautiful (La vita e bella) (1998): Dir. Roberto Benigni
Feat. Roberto Benigni; Winner of both Best Foreign Film and Best Actor Oscars (a first for an actor speaking a foreign tongue) as well as the top prize at Cannes, Roberto…
Men with Guns (1998): Dir. John Sayles
Feat. Frederico Luppi; Criminally denied a theatrical release, this masterful study of Third World realities is arguably prolific indie dir. John Sayles most accomplished…
Thief, The (1998): Dir. Pavel Chukhrai
Feat. Vladimir Mashkov, Yekaterina Rednikova, Misha Philipchuk; Serious–minded trek across the landscapes and mindsets of post–WWII Russia that's been compared to BURNT BY THE SUN for dramatic impact.…
Welcome to Sarajevo (1998): Dir. Michael Winterbottom
Feat. Stephen Dillane, Woody Harrelson, Marisa Tomei…; A moving, disturbing depiction of modern–day conflict, shot on location in Bosnia amid real–life shelling and loss of life. Based on a…
Woundings (1998): Dir. Roberta Hanley
Feat. Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Emily Lloyd…; In a near–future world, after a debilitating military campaign for Great Britain (reminiscent of the Falkland Islands conflict), a unit of…
Brylcreem Boys, The (1997): Dir. Terence Ryan
Feat. Gabriel Byrne; The ubiquitous face of Irish cinema, Gabriel Byrne, slicks his hair back in a neutral POW camp in WWII Ireland, bunking with a variety of allied and…
Lucie Aubrac (1997): Dir. Claude Berri
Feat. Carole Bouquet, Klaus Barbie; French Resistance true–story from the period–eye of dir. Claude Berri (JEAN DE FLORETTE), offering a romantic sub–plot between…
Paradise Road (1997): Dir. Bruce Beresford
Feat. Glenn Close, Frances McDormand, Cate Blanchett…; A group of European woman, incl. Glenn Close and Frances McDormand, are captured in Singapore during WWII by the Japanese. They alleviate the…
Regeneration (Behind the Lines) (1997): Dir. Gillies MacKinnon
Feat. Jonathan Pryce, James Wilby, Jonny Lee Miller…; An exploration of the mental trauma of trench–warfare in WWI, adapted from the novel by Pat Barker and set in a Scottish Hospital where…
Second Civil War, The (1997): Dir. Joe Dante
Feat. Denis Leary, James Earl Jones, James Coburn; Fairly realistic speculation of an American Civil War, occurring when present–day Idaho cedes from the Union, painted over with the lighter…
Truce, The (1997): Dir. Francesco Rosi
Feat. John Turturro, Rade Serbedzija; The aftermath of WWII locates Auschwitz survivor John Turturro on a difficult, redemptive journey back to his home town. Based on Primo Levi's…
Andersonville (TV Mini-series) (1996): Dir. John Frankenheimer
Feat. Frederic Forrest, Ted Marcoux, Jarrod Emick; TV western set during the American Civil War, about a group of Union soldiers who are sent to a Confederate prison camp near Andersonville, Georgia…
Courage Under Fire (1996): Dir. Edward Zwick
Feat. Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan; Conscience–troubled colonel Denzel Washington investigates the death of a fellow officer (Meg Ryan) during 'Desert Storm', but differing…
English Patient, The (1996): Dir. Anthony Minghella
Feat. Ralph Fiennes, Kristin Scott Thomas, Juliette Binoche; The unsurprising Oscar sweeper of '97 – a shoe–in considering they left out no ingredient – epic length, exotic locales, period…
Fiesta (1996): Dir. Pierre Boutron
Feat. Jean-Louis Trintignant, Gregoire Colin; Biting, rigorously intelligent parable of the Spanish Civil War, watches unblinking as a young soldier is intiated into the brutalities by his…
Garden of Redemption (1996): Dir. Thomas Donnelly
Feat. Anthony LaPaglia, Embeth Davidtz; A saga of challenged faith and endurance set in Nazi–occupied Italy, where the village priest assists with the local resistance while besotted…
In Love and War (1996): Dir. Richard Attenborough
Feat. Chris O'Donnell, Sandra Bullock, Margot Steinberg; Semi–biographical account of the young, manful Ernest Hemingway's WWI romance/Florence Nightingale complex, based on Agnes von Kurowsky's…
Land and Freedom (1996): Dir. Ken Loach
Feat. Ian Hart, Rosana Pastor, Iciar Bollain; British realist director Ken Loach changes tack with this period melodrama about a communist lad (Ian Hart) who joins a rebel army in the Spanish…
Libertarias (1996): Dir. Vincente Aranda
Feat. Victoria Abril, Ana Belen, Miguel Bose…; Examining the Spanish Civil War from a left–wing point–of–view, this passionate war drama focuses on a trio of women – a…
Mother Night (1996): Dir. Keith Gordon
Feat. Nick Nolte, Sheryl Lee, Alan Arkin…; Ambitious adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's meaty novel recounts the memoirs of an unheralded American spy – from German 'hero' to destitute…
Pretty Village, Pretty Flame (1996): Dir. Sadjan Dragojevic
Feat. Dragan Bjelorgrlic, Nikola Kojo; Seen in flashback from a ward in triage, the Bosnian war is portrayed in a riveting counter–play of nihilism and theatre, as a band of Serbian…
Prisoner of the Mountains (1996): Dir. Sergei Bodrov
Feat. Oleg Menshikov, Sergei Bodrov Jr, Susanna Mekhraliyeva…; A Tolstoy fable is here seamlessly transposed to the Chechean conflict, with two Russian soldiers apprehended by a Chechean village elder who hopes…
Richard III (1996): Dir. Richard Loncraine
Feat. Ian McKellen, Annette Bening, Robert Downey Jnr.…; Transposed to a fascist 1930s Britain, Shakespeare's classic tale of power politics easily renews its timeless appeal. Ian McKellen commands every…
Self Made Hero, A (1996): Dir. Jacques Audiard
Feat. Mathieu Kassovitz; Mattieu Kassovitz (director of LA HAINE) proves to be no slouch actor here as a WW2 idler who swats up and cheekily ascends the ranks of the…
Before the Rain (1995): Dir. Milcho Manchevski
Feat. Rade Serbedzija, Katrin Cartlidge, Gregoire Colin; The impotence of violence is the uniting theme of this masterful triptych that traverses the ravaged terrain of both Macedonia and modern London. An…
Promise, The (1995): Dir. Margarethe von Trotta
Feat. Corinna Harfouch, Meret Becker, August Zirner; Separated while trying to cross the Berlin Wall to the West in 1961, two lovers traverse thirty odd years of German history apart, yet faithful. This…
An Unforgettable Summer (Un été inoubliable) (1994): Dir. Lucian Pintilie
Feat. Kristin Scott Thomas, Claudiu Bleont; Spare, well–realized drama taking place in 1925 on the Romanian/Bulgarian border, where Capitaine Petre Dumitriu (Bleont) and his wife…
Heaven and Earth (1993): Dir. Oliver Stone
Feat. Tommy Lee Jones; Oliver Stone completes his Vietnam trilogy by shifting the focus from the US military to a story based on the autobiographies of a Vietnamese woman.…
Schindler's List (1993): Dir. Steven Spielberg
Feat. Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes; Spielberg deservedly swept the '94 Oscars with this compassionate, consummately–crafted tale of a prominent Nazi's precarious mission to save…
Swing Kids (1993): Dir. Thomas Carter
Feat. Robert Sean Leonard, Christian Bale, Frank Whaley; Affecting drama about the young sub–culture of pre–war Germany, who traded Nazi–ism for American jazz culture. A rare insight into…
Temptation of a Monk (1993): Dir. Clara Law
Feat. Joan Chen, Zhang Fenyi; Graphic chronicle of blood–letting by a fierce warrior general in 7th century China, that hews to the visual traditions of the classic Japanese…
Chunuk Bair (1992): Dir. Dale G. Bradley
Feat. Robert Powell, Kevin J. Wilson, Jed Brophy; Modest, reverent account of an exhausted and shell–shocked Wellington regiment of the ANZAC forces who endeavoured to gain control of the ridge…
Map of the Human Heart (1992): Dir. Vincent Ward
Feat. Jason Scott Lee, Patrick Bergin, Anne Parillaud…; Worldly romantic adventure spanning the life of an orphaned Eskimo. A majestic achievement for local boy Vincent Ward, as much for its unique slant…
Midnight Clear, A (1992): Dir. Keith Gordon
Feat. Peter Berg, Kevin Dillon, Arye Gross…; A provocative, suspenseful anti–war parable about a fresh–faced American platoon assigned to an abandoned chateau near the German border…
Absolute Hell (1991): Dir. Anthony Page
Feat. Judi Dench, Francesca Annis; Classic BBC television production based on Rodney Ackland's book of the same name: a black, bleak comedy about about a sex–addicted , boozy…
Europa, Europa (1991): Dir. Agnieszka Holland
Feat. Marco Hofschneider, Salomon Perel, Rene Hofschneider; A riveting account of the real–life ordeal experienced by German Jew Soloman Perel, who concealed his ethnicity for seven years when drafted…
Last Butterfly, The (1991): Dir. Karel Kachyna
Feat. Tom Courtenay, Brigitte Fossey, Freddie Jones; Another worthy drama based on facts surrounding Nazi death camps, stage mime Tom Courtenay is compelled by the Gestapo to put on a performance for…
Mediterraneo (1991): Dir. Gabriele Salvatores
Feat. Claudio Bigagli, Diego Abatanthono, Giuseppe Cederna; Oscar–winning tale of eight Italian soldiers who find themselves stranded on a remote Greek isle during WW2. An affecting and surprising…
Olivier Olivier (1991): Dir. Agnieszka Holland
Feat. Francois Cluzet, Brigitte Rouan, Gregoire Colin; After disappearing from his country home six years earlier, a boy's mysterious return brings with it a mix of salvation and suspicion to his…
One Against the Wind (1991): Dir. Larry Elikann
Feat. Judy Davis, Sam Neill, Anthony Higgins…; Judy Davis gives a typically gutsy performance in this drama set during the Nazi occupation of France and based on the true story of a British Red…
Come See the Paradise (1990): Dir. Alan Parker
Feat. Dennis Quaid; An epic romance about a hot–headed unionist whose love affair with a Japanese American is torn apart when the state interns 100,000 Japanese…
Incident, The / Incident In A Small Town (1990-1994): Dir. Delbert Mann, Joseph Sargent
Feat. Walter Matthau, Harry Morgan; Enjoyable made for television murder mystery set during the Second World War sees a characteristically gruff Matthau play Harmon Cobb, a small town…
Life and Nothing But (1990): Dir. Bertrand Tavernier
Feat. Philippe Noiret, Sabine Azema; Philippe Noiret plays a Missing–in–Action chief officer whose obsession to account for the anonymous casualties of WW1 draws him to a…
Five Days in June (1989): Dir. Michel Legrand
Feat. Sabine Azema, Annie Girardot, Matthieu Roze; Yet another addition to the canon of dramas based on childhood memoirs. A renowned composer takes the helm to recall five days in his life on the…
Jeweller's Shop, The (1989): Dir. Michael Anderson
Feat. Burt Lancaster, Olivia Hussey, Ben Cross; Charming, low–key adaptation of a play by Pope John Paul the Second. Burt Lancaster in his last film role plays a jeweller in 1930's Poland…
Sandwich Years (Les années sandwiches) (1989): Dir. Emile Ghigo
Feat. Michel Aumont, Clovis Cornillac; In post–war France, a young Jewish boy befriends an elderly op–shop owner after his parents are arrested.
Triumph of the Spirit (1989): Dir. Robert M. Young
Feat. Willem Dafoe; Harrowing tale of a Greek–Jewish boxer (Willem Dafoe) who is deported to Auschwitz during WW2.
Welcome Home (1989): Dir. Franklin J. Schaffner
Feat. Kris Kristofferson, JoBeth Williams, Sam Waterston…; Fairly tepid post–Vietnam War drama has Kris Kristofferson play a pilot shot down over Cambodia and was rescued by a Khmer Rouge woman, whom he…
Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank (1988): Dir. John Erman
Feat. Mary Steenburgen, Paul Scofield; Well–remembered telemovie depiction of the well–known story of Anne Frank, who with her Jewish family was hidden from the Nazis during…
Beast, The (the Beast Of War) (1988): Dir. Kevin Reynolds
Feat. George Dzundza, Jason Patric, Stephen Baldwin…; Laying aside the usual sympathies, this American war–drama pursues a tense running–battle between a Soviet tank–crew and Afghani…
China Beach (TV Series) (1988): Feat. Dana Delany, Michael Boatman, Nan Woods; TV series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War, following the unique perspectives of a range of characters including US Army doctors…
Hanussen (1988): Dir. Istvan Szabo
Feat. Klaus Maria Brandauer; Klaus Maria Brandauer adds to his list of distinctive roles in this allegedly true tale of an Austrian soldier who recovers from shotgun wounds and…
Last Stop Paradise (Terminus paradis) (1988): Dir. Lucian Pintilie
Feat. Costel Cascaval, Dorina Chiriac, Gheorghe Visu; French/Romanian drama set against the outskirts of Budapest, centered around the ill–fated love affair between a waitress and a young pig…
War and Remembrance (Mini-Series) (1988): Dir. Dan Curtis
Feat. Robert Mitchum, Jane Seymour, Hart Bochner…; Sequel to THE WINDS OF WAR follows trials and tribulations of the Henry and the Jastrow families amid the events after the USA's entry into World War…
Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987): Dir. Louis Malle
Feat. Gaspard Manesse, Raphael Fejto, Francine Racette…; Dir. Malle has transformed a childhood memoir into a powerful and vivid account of a catholic schoolboy who unknowingly witnesses anti–semitism…
Debajo Del Mundo (Underground) (1987): Dir. Beda Docampo Feijóo
Feat. Oscar Ferrigno Jr., Gabriel Rovito; Intense WW2 drama focused on a Polish family who make the drastic decision to bury themselves underground to hide from the Nazis. Based on a true…
Empire of the Sun (1987): Dir. Steven Spielberg
Feat. Christian Bale, John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson…; A much–admired Spielberg epic in which a young boy witnesses the Japanese invasion of China in WWII. Based on the memoirs of sci–fi…
Fortunes of War (TV Mini-series) (1987): Dir. James Cellan Jones
Feat. Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Alan Bennett…; An under–appreciated historical epic focused on the personal experience of war, starring then–English glamour couple Kenneth Branagh and…
Hope and Glory (1987): Dir. John Boorman
Feat. Sebastian Rice-Edwards, Geraldine Muir; Well–crafted account of Dir. Boorman's childhood in wartime London.
Kitchen Toto, The (1987): Dir. Harry Hook
Feat. Edwin Mahinda, Bob Peck, Phyllis Logan; Rewarding drama set in Kenya, during the Mau Mau insurrection.
Tour of Duty (TV Series) (1987-1988): Feat. Terence Knox, Stephen Caffrey; A much–admired chronicle of U.S. soldiers grappling with combat, friendship, and ethics in Vietnam. One of several popular Vietnam War…
Falklands Collection, The (The Falklands Play, Tumbledown) (1986): Dir. Michael Samuels
Feat. Patricia Hodge, Colin Firth; A collection of two BBC dramas focused around the controversial Falklands Campaign of 1982 during Margaret Thatcher's reign. The Falklands Play:…
Monocled Mutineer, The (TV Mini-series) (1986): Dir. Jim O'Brien
Feat. Paul McGann, Robert Fellows; A four–part BBC historical drama depicting the life of Private Percy Toplis, who supposedly led a British army mutiny against training officers…
ANZACS (TV Series) (1985): Dir. John Dixon, George Miller, Pino Amenta
Feat. Paul Hogan, Andrew Clarke, Jon Blake…; An exemplary depiction of a group of ANZAC soldiers in WWI as they progress through the horrors of the war in Europe. Told mainly from the Australian…
Colonel Redl (1985): Dir. Istvan Szabo
Feat. Klaus Maria Brandauer; Klaus Maria Brandauer offers another tour–de–force performance for the second in Szabo's WW2 trilogy (between MEPHISTO and HANUSSEN)…
Come and See (1985): Dir. Elim Klimov
Feat. Aleksei Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Lauciavicius; Shattering film that chronicles the devastating effect the Nazi occupation had on Russian peasantry, focusing on one impoverished youth. The brutal…
Dunera Boys, The (Mini-series) (1985): Dir. Ben Lewin
Feat. Bob Hoskins, Warren Mitchell, Julia Blake; WW2 set mini–series following a group of suspected Jewish spies sent from England to a POW camp in NSW, Australia. Nicely balanced historical…
Eleni (1985): Dir. Peter Yates
Feat. John Malkovich, Kate Nelligan, Linda Hunt; John Malkovich plays a U.S. reporter in Greece trying to find the long–lost truth about his mother's political execution.
Mussolini - The Untold Story (1985): Dir. William A. Graham
Feat. George C. Scott, Gabriel Byrne, Robert Downey Jnr.…; Based on the memoirs of his eldest son this memorable mini–series begins with Mussolini's rise to power in 1922 and follows his political and…
Mussolini and I (1985): Dir. Alberto Negrin
Feat. Bob Hoskins, Anthony Hopkins, Susan Sarandon…; The last days of Il Duce as embodied by Bob Hoskins in this strong Italian miniseries.
North and South (TV Series) (1985): Dir. Richard T. Heffron
Feat. Patrick Swayze, James Read, Kirstie Alley…; Heavyweight Civil War tome starring Patrick Swayze and James Read as young men caught up in the winds of American revolution, conflict and…
Ran (1985): Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Feat. Tatsuya Nakadai; The title translates to 'chaos'; it is Kurosawa's vast and bloody interpretation of Shakespeare's King Lear. Grandiose in every sense – a…
Revolution (1985): Dir. Hugh Hudson
Feat. Al Pacino, Donald Sutherland, Nastassja Kinski…; Disastrous epic with Pacino almost committing career suicide as a fur trapper caught in the upheaval of the American Revolution. Some handsome…
Sacred Hearts (1985): Dir. Barbara Rennie
Feat. Anna Massey; Earnest drama set in a repressive convent (run by Anna Massey) during the Blitz.
Wallenberg: A Hero's Story (1985): Dir. Lamont Johnson
Feat. Richard Chamberlain, Alice Krige, Kenneth Colley…; The true story of Hungarian diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who risked his own life manufacturing protective passports for thousands of Jews in exile…
A Soldier's Story (1984): Dir. Norman Jewison
Feat. Howard Jr. Rollins, Adolph Caesar, Art Evans…; In charge of an inquiry into the murder of a black sergeant on an army base in 1944, investigator Howard E Rollins Jnr uncovers a knot of racial…
Birdy (1984): Dir. Alan Parker
Feat. Matthew Modine, Nicolas Cage; Matthew Modine and Nicolas Cage star in this complex yet compelling tale of a disturbed war veteran's descent into believing he is a bird. A bold and…
Killing Fields, The (1984): Dir. Roland Joffe
Feat. Sam Waterston, Haing S. Ngor, John Malkovich…; Devastating and award–winning account of Pol Pot's regime in Cambodia.
Last Bastion, The (1984): Dir. Chris Thomson
Feat. Bill Hunter, Ray Barrett, Robert Vaughn…; Australia's involvement in World War II is explored from behind closed doors in this dramatisation of the decisions made by politicians and generals…
Purple Hearts (1984): Dir. Sidney J Furie
Feat. Ken Wahl, Cheryl Ladd, R. Lee Ermey…; Vietnam War set romance with Wahl and Ladd as love struck medics.
Razor's Edge, The (1984): Dir. John Byrum
Feat. Bill Murray, Theresa Russell, Denholm Elliott; Bill Murray is in early dramatic mode as a despondent WWI vet. embarking on a spiritual walkabout through India and the Himalayas. Written by…
Threads (1984): Dir. Mick Jackson
Feat. Karen Meagher, Reece Dinsdale; A disturbing vision of a nuclear attack on Sheffield, which comes across as an English THE DAY AFTER, with more focus on the grim details of such a…
By the Sword Divided (TV Series) (1983): Feat. Sharon Maughan, Andrew MacLachlan , Lucy Aston; Classic BBC period drama following the aristocratic Lacey family, whose lives are thrown into turmoil as their political allegiances split during the…
Hong Kong 1941 (Dang doi lai ming) (1983): Dir. Po-Chi Leong
Feat. Chow Yun-Fat, Alex Man, Kien Shih…; One of Chow Yun–Fat's early classics, this portrays the disturbing invasion of Hong Kong by the Japanese in 1941, which disrupts the dreams and…
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983): Dir. Nagisa Oshima
Feat. David Bowie, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Takeshi Kitano; David Bowie endures the hardships of a Japanese POW camp in WWII. Stylish melodrama, memorably scored by Ryuichi Sakamoto.
Ploughman's Lunch, The (1983): Dir. Richard Eyre
Feat. Jonathan Pryce, Tim Curry; Complex dissection of British motives during the Falklands War.
Streamers (1983): Dir. Robert Altman
Feat. Matthew Modine, David Alan Grier, George Dzundza…; Four young army recruits await in close quarters their call–up to Vietnam. Brilliantly acted by the novice cast (including Matthew Modine), it…
Winds of War, The (Mini-series) (1983): Dir. Dan Curtis
Feat. Robert Mitchum, Ali MacGraw, Jan-Michael Vincent…; Thorough and imposing wartime miniseries chronicling the width and breadth of events in the years leading up to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour in…
1915 (TV Mini-series) (1982): Feat. Scott Burgess, Scott McGregor, Lorraine Bayly…; A solid recreation of the Great War era, this TV mini–series charts the experiences of several young men leaving the home–front in…
Blue and the Gray, The (TV Mini-Series) (1982): Dir. Andrew V. McLaglen
Feat. Stacy Keach, Colleen Dewhurst, Lloyd Bridges…; Handsomely staged mini–series views the Civil War throught the eyes of a Southern war correspondent bearing witness to the war's key events.
How Many Miles to Babylon? (1982): Dir. Moira Armstrong
Feat. Daniel Day-Lewis, Sian Phillips; Daniel Day–Lewis plays a Protestant whose friendship with a fellow Catholic solider is severely tested during the harsh realities of WWI in…
Sophie's Choice (1982): Dir. Alan J. Pakula
Feat. Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline; Master of many accents Meryl Streep won an Oscar for her role as a European refugee of the Nazi death–camps whose uneasy relationship with…
Bunker, The (1981): Dir. George Schaefer
Feat. Anthony Hopkins, Richard Jordan, Cliff Gorman…; Absorbing account of Hitler's last days spent hiding under Berlin with Hopkins giving one of his finest performances. Somber adaptation of James P.…
Gallipoli (1981): Dir. Peter Weir
Feat. Mel Gibson, Mark Lee; Well–crafted, intoxicating depiction of the Gallipoli landings in WWI with a boyish Mel Gibson and Mark Lee as youthful idealists who enlist as…
Kessler (TV Mini-series) (1981): Feat. Clifford Rose, Alan Dobie; Six–part sequel to the terrific WW2 series SECRET ARMY sees former SS member Ludwig Kessler (Rose) living in 'present day' and on the run from…
Tenko (TV Series) (1981-1984): Feat. Stephanie Cole, Jean Anderson; Memorable British drama in which a group of English women, shipwrecked while fleeing the invasion of Singapore in 1941, are captured by the Japanese…
Lili Marleen (1980): Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Hanna Schygulla, Giancarlo Giannini, Mel Ferrer; Fassbinder's fact–based account of the recording of the Nazi anthem, sung by a jaded cabaret singer with a Jewish love interest.
Oppenheimer (TV Mini-series) (1980): Dir. Barry Davis
Feat. Sam Waterston, Shane Rimmer, David Suchet; Excellent mini–series starring Waterson as nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who helped build the atomic bomb for the 'Manhattan…
Spoils of War, The (TV Series) (1980): Feat. Alan Hunter, William Lucas, Emily Moore; British drama series examining the effects of World War II on two families.
To Serve Them All My Days (TV Series) (1980): Feat. John Duttine; A shell–shocked WWI vet retreats to a teaching post in Devon, England, where he inspires students through unconventional and empowering means.…
Breaker Morant (1979): Dir. Bruce Beresford
Feat. Edward Woodward, Jack Thompson, Bryan Brown; An unjust court–martial in the Boer War provides much tension in one of the great Oz dramas.
Great Santini, The (1979): Dir. Lewis John Carlino
Feat. Robert Duvall, Blythe Danner, Michael O'Keefe; Exploring the internal contradictions of ex–fighter pilot Robert Duvall, stranded in post WWll peacetime with his long–suffering family,…
Henry IV - Part 1 and 2 (1979): Dir. David Giles
Feat. Jon Finch, Anthony Quayle, Tim Pigott-Smith…; Part of the BBC's excellent series of Shakespeare productions, filmed in a 'theatrical' TV environment utilising the best of English acting talent.
Ike (TV Mini-series) (1979): Dir. Boris Sagal, Melville Shavelson
Feat. Robert Duvall, Lee Remick, Dana Andrews…; Robert Duvall is expectedly good in this three–part miniseries detailing the life of Dwight D. Eisenhower, who commanded American forces during…
Junoon (1979): Dir. Shyam Benegal
Feat. Shashi Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah…; Indian drama set during the 1857 War of Independence, where a feudal chieftain falls for an Anglo–Indian woman and encounters bitter opposition…
Testament of Youth (Mini-series) (1979): Dir. Moira Armstrong
Feat. Cheryl Campbell, Peter Woodward, Emrys James…; Sterling adaptation of Vera Brittain's memoir recounts her early years and lost loves admidst the turmoil of the first world war.
Coming Home (1978): Dir. Hal Ashby
Feat. Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, Bruce Dern; A provocative weepie about the effects of the Vietnam war on the relatives at home. Jane Fonda involves herself with paraplegic veteran Jon Voight.
Deer Hunter, The (1978): Dir. Michael Cimino
Feat. Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep; A grimly realistic portrait of how the atrocities of the Vietnam war have an effect on a group of friends. Robert De Niro heads a virtuoso cast in…
Four Feathers, The (1978): Dir. Don Sharp
Feat. Jane Seymour, Beau Bridges, Robert Powell; Fine costume drama, based on A E W Mason's classic tale of a British officer charged with cowardice, who regains his honour and his love, during an…
Holocaust (TV Mini-series) (1978): Dir. Marvin J. Chomsky
Feat. Meryl Streep, James Woods, Michael Moriaty…; Captivating saga of a Jewish family shattered by the rise of the Nazis. One of the top–rating and best quality mini–series of the 1970s.
Julia (1977): Dir. Fred Zinnemann
Feat. Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Jason Robards Jr.…; Dramatising the 1930s memories of playwright Lillian Hellman (THE LITTLE FOXES), this Oscar–winning classic centres on the relationship between…
Other Side of Midnight, The (1977): Dir. Charles Jarrott
Feat. Marie-France Pisier, John Beck, Susan Sarandon…; Soapy Sidney Sheldon drama follows the exploits of a young French woman who vows revenge on a ne'er do well Canadian pilot for leaving her pregnant,…
Secret Army (TV Series) (1977): Feat. Bernard Hepton; This gripping – and unlike its comedy spoof successor ALLO' ALLO!, deadly serious – BBC dramatic series focused on the exploits of a…
Aces High (1976): Dir. Jack Gold
Feat. Malcolm McDowell, Christopher Plummer, John Gielgud…; WW1 drama based on the play 'Journey's End' following a green young pilot sent off to fight the Germans in the air. Noted for its accurate portrayal…
Desert of the Tartars, The (1976): Dir. Valerio Zurlini
Feat. Vittorio Gassman, Jacques Perrin, Helmut Griem…; Italian drama set in a hostile East Asian desert, where a isolated Lieutenant defends an old, unmaintained border fortress while awaiting an attack…
Mr. Klein (1976): Dir. Joseph Losey
Feat. Alain Delon, Jeanne Moreau; A dark, dread–inducing moral tale, with Delon fleecing vulnerable Jews under German–occupied–France, only to be mistaken by…
When The Boat Comes In (TV Series) (1976): Feat. James Bolam, James Garbutt, Jean Heywood; 'Northern' drama series set in a post–WW1 Britain, where Ex–Sergeant Jack Ford (Bolam) and his family must deal with the aftermath…
Conduct Unbecoming (1975): Dir. Michael Anderson
Feat. Michael York, Richard Attenborough, Trevor Howard; Well–made, though somewhat old–fashioned version of Barry England's play about misbehaviour among the British Army in India. The stars…
Overlord (1975): Dir. Stuart Cooper
Feat. Brian Stirner; Remarkable one–off that seamlessly interweaves archival war footage and a fictional narrative, this accounts a twenty–year–old’s…
Seven Beauties (1975): Dir. Lina Wertmuller
Feat. Giancarlo Giannini, Shirley Stoler; Wimpish Casanova Giancarlo Giannini is cast wherever the winds of WWII fling him: eventually into a German concentration camp run by Shirley Stoler…
Lacombe Lucien (1974): Dir. Louis Malle
Feat. Pierre Blaise, Aurore Clement; A subtle, probing study of the psychology of collaboration set in WW2 rural France, sees young peasant lad Pierre Blaise drawn into the local…
QB VII (TV Mini-Series) (1974): Dir. Tom Gries
Feat. Ben Gazzara, Anthony Hopkins, Leslie Caron…; A multiple Emmy–winning adaptation of the novel by Leon Uris (best known for "Exodus") detailing the gripping court battle between a…
Blockhouse, The (1973): Dir. Clive Rees
Feat. Peter Sellers, Charles Aznavour, Jeremy Kemp; A crafted, though minor serious role for Sellers as one of a number of slave–labourers at work on the Nazi's Normandy defence bunkers. On…
MASH (TV Series) (M*A*S*H) (1972-1983): Feat. Alan Alda, Wayne Rogers, Loretta Swit; Long running and much loved TV Series loosely based on Robert Altman’s 1969 film set in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in the Korean…
Young Winston (1972): Dir. Richard Attenborough
Feat. Robert Shaw, Anne Bancroft, Simon Ward…; The early life of Britain's greatest political leader, through his time in India, Sudan and the Boer War to his ascendancy at the House of Commons.
Catch 22 (1970): Dir. Mike Nichols
Feat. Alan Arkin, Jon Voight, Orson Welles; An acerbic anti–war statement based on the much–hailed novel about a WW2 fighter pilot's reluctance to fight, in order to preserve his…
Five For Hell (5 Per L'inferno) (1969): Dir. Frank Kramer
Feat. Klaus Kinski, John Garko, Margaret Lee; A fun–loving leader of a bunch of odd–ball G.I's are sent on a suicide mission to steal the German secret attack plans from a villa…
Oh! What a Lovely War (1969): Dir. Richard Attenborough
Feat. John Rae, Corin Redgrave, Maurice Roeves…; Powerful anti–war musical adapted from the play by Charles Chilton, which depicts the mass blunder of WWI through the experiences of the poor…
Virgin Soldiers, The (1969): Dir. Norman Cohen
Feat. Lynn Redgrave, Hywel Bennett, Nigel Davenport…; Comdey–drama following a squad of naive young British soldiers in 1950's Singapore who fall for the daughter of the Regimental Sergeant Major.
Damned, The (1968): Dir. Luchino Visconti
Feat. Dirk Bogarde, Ingrid Thulin, Helmut Berger; Italian dir. Luchino Visconti casts a languorous eye over the decline of a German industrialist family during the Nazi era. Heavyweight cast includes…
Signs of Life (Lebenszeichen) (1968): Dir. Werner Herzog
Feat. Peter Brogle; An early descent into madness for dir. Werner Herzog, in which a soldier charged with guarding a remote island fortress must overcome the boredom of…
Skammen (Shame) (1968): Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Liv Ullmann, Max von Sydow, Gunnar Bjornstrand; Bleak parable set against the back drop of a fictional war finds an apolitical couple aloofly living out their days on an island indulging in various…
King of Hearts (1967): Dir. Phillipe De Broca
Feat. Alan Bates, Genevieve Bujold, Pierre Brasseur; Excellently quirky mid–60s comedy that became a cult–hit in the US, has soldier Alan Bates infiltrate a French village in WWI, which has…
Red and the White, The (Csillagosok, katonak) (1967): Dir. Miklos Jancso
Feat. Jozsef Madaras; Russia’s bloody civil war of 1918 is lamented in this visionary war movie from influential Hungarian auteur Miklos Jancso. A formally stunning…
Guerre Est Finie, La (1966): Dir. Alain Resnais
Feat. Yves Montand, Ingrid Thulin, Genevieve Bujold…; (The War is Over). Deeply romantic film in which Spanish Civil War refugee Yves Montand tries in vain to keep alive the memory of his struggle.
Patriotism (Yûkoku) (1966): Dir. Yukio Mishima
Feat. Yukio Mishima, Yoshiko Tsuruoka; Short film directed by Japanese writer and revolutionary Yukio Mishima, based on his short story of the same name published in 1961. Set in February…
Sand Pebbles, The (1966): Dir. Robert Wise
Feat. Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, Candice Bergen; An epic series of adventures on an American gunboat in the turbulent China of the 1920s, Steve McQueen giving a particularly underrated performance,…
War and Peace (1966): Dir. Sergei Bondarchuk
Feat. Lyudmila Savelyeva, Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Irina Gubanova; The definitive version of Leo Tolstoy's gargantuan novel, set during the Napoleonic invasion of Russia in the early 19th century. Nothing else quite…
Battle of Algiers, The (1965): Dir. Gillo Pontecorvo
Feat. Brahim Haggiag; Gripping account of the Muslim uprising which led to the withdrawal of France from Algeria was shot merely four years after the revolution, and as…
Hill, The (1965): Dir. Sidney Lumet
Feat. Sean Connery, Ian Bannen, Roy Kinnear; Intense military stockade drama, with Sean Connery doing gruelling punishment in the Sahara.
Morituri (1965): Dir. Bernhard Wicki
Feat. Marlon Brando, Yul Brynner, Trevor Howard…; Unusual WW2 adventure features Brando as an anti–Nazi German who tries to persuade a German freighter plying the Pacific to defect to the…
Americanization of Emily, The (1964): Dir. Arthur Hiller
Feat. James Garner, Julie Andrews, Melvyn Douglas…; Plucky black comedy with James Garner as the scapegoat for a wacky US admiral's grand plan to have a American naval officer be the first killed at…
Diamonds of the Night (1964): Dir. Jan Nemec
Feat. Ladislav Jansky, Antonin Kumbera, Irma Bischofova; Extraordinarily intense account, told with almost no dialogue, of two Jewish teenagers running for their lives after escaping from a train bound for…
My Way Home (Igy jottem) (1964): Dir. Miklos Jancso
Feat. Andras Kozak, Sergei Nikonyenko, Janos Gorbe; In the final days of World War II, a young Hungarian is making his way home, through countryside full of the debris of war, when he is captured and…
It Happened Here (1963): Dir. Kevin Brownlow, Andrew Mollo; A genuine filmic curiousity, this meticulous historical fantasy proposes that Nazi Germany invaded Britain in 1940 – leading to a lengthy…
Ivan's Childhood (1962): Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
Feat. Nikolai Burlyayev, Valentin Zubkov, Yevgeni Zharikov; A teenage spy works behind enemy lines in WW2 Germany. The Russian master's first feature is his least self–conscious and most efficient…
Judgement at Nuremberg (1961): Dir. Stanley Kramer
Feat. Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Maximilian Schell…; Dramatisation of the trial of the Nazi judges at Nuremberg, facing the patient integrity of Judge Spencer Tracy. Epic, gripping courtroom drama, with…
Tunes of Glory (1960): Dir. Ronald Neame
Feat. Alec Guinness, John Mills, Dennis Price…; Two colonels of a Scottish regiment – one convivial, one disciplinarian – face off in a battle of wills in this drama of peacetime…
Ballad of a Soldier (1959): Dir. Grigori Chukhrai
Feat. Vladimir Ivashov; Soviet poetic realism brings a contemplative tone to the theatre of war, following a soldier’s pilgrimage back home after being granted leave for…
Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959): Dir. Alain Resnais
Feat. Emmanuelle Riva, Eiji Okada; Romance between a French actress and a Japanese architect rekindles their traumatic wartime experiences. The twin threads of despair and sensual love…
Human Condition, The (No Greater Love, Road to Eternity, A Soldier's Prayer) (1959-1961): Dir. Masaki Kobayashi
Feat. Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratana; An epic Japanese film trilogy following the life of a well–intentioned yet naïve pacifist and socialist as he tries to survive in the…
Operation Amsterdam (1959): Dir. Michael McCarthy
Feat. Peter Finch, Eva Bartok, Tony Britton; Gripping wartime drama tracking two gem specialists attempting to remove a valuable horde of diamonds from Amsterdam in 14 hours before the nasty…
A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958): Dir. Douglas Sirk
Feat. John Gavin, Jock Mahoney, Don DeFore…; Bittersweet WWII melodrama finds Douglas Sirk at his gravest; John Gavin plays a returning German solider who falls in love under the shadow of war.…
Dunkirk (1958): Dir. Leslie Norman
Feat. Richard Attenborough, John Mills, Bernard Lee…; British war film set during the 1940 evacuation of French and British troops from the beaches of Dunkirk, following the contrasting perspectives of a…
Hunters, The (1958): Dir. Dick Powell
Feat. Robert Mitchum, Robert Wagner, Richard Egan; Robert Mitchum portrays an aging fighter pilot in the Korean War who falls for the wife of a fellow squadron member in this aviation–romance.
I Was Monty's Double (1958): Dir. John Guillermin
Feat. Clifton James, John Mills, Leslie Phillips…; Absorbing war drama based on the true story of a man hired to imitate General Montgomery in order to hoodwink the Germans before the North Africa…
Key, The (1958): Dir. Carol Reed
Feat. William Holden, Sophia Loren, Trevor Howard; Captivating WW2 drama set around a Londonite lady (played with restrained elegance by Sophia Loren) whose liaisons with war sea captains over the…
Quiet American, The (1958): Dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Feat. Michael Redgrave, Audie Murphy; This early screen adaptation of Graham Greene’s cautionary novel was the first major film to address to thorny issue of Vietnam, although loses…
Cranes are Flying, The (Letyat Zhuravli) (1957): Dir. Mikhail Kalatozov
Feat. Tatyana Samojlova, Aleksei Batalov, Vasili Merkuryev; A Russian classic which conveys homefront anxieties during WW2 for a young bride whose original fiance has gone to the front. Pursued by his…
Farewell to Arms, A (1957): Dir. Charles Vidor, John Huston
Feat. Rock Hudson, Jennifer Jones, Vittorio De Sica…; Expensive, though wooden adaptation of the Hemingway classic set around a love story on the Italian Front in WWI. Despite a Ben Hecht script, the…
Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957): Dir. John Huston
Feat. Robert Mitchum, Deborah Kerr; Kerr and Mitchum play a nun and Marine sergeant respectively, who are stranded on a desert island during WWII – the island happens to also be…
Paths of Glory (1957): Dir. Stanley Kubrick
Feat. Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou…; Kubrick's muscular drama deals frankly with the hypocrisy and inhumanity of military ethics, based on a true incident in WWI France. Following a…
Pride and the Passion, The (1957): Dir. Stanley Kramer
Feat. Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, Sophia Loren…; A solemn epic set around Napoleon's campaign in Spain in the early 19th century – the cast doing their sincere best with a fairly passionless…
Raintree County (1957): Dir. Edward Dmytryk
Feat. Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, Eva Marie Saint…; Civil War set romance has Montgomery Clift as a schoolteacher whojoins the Union Army as they march into Georgia in the hope of finding his estranged…
Sayonara (1957): Dir. Joshua Logan, Marlon Brando
Feat. Patricia Owens, Ricardo Montalban, Martha Scott…; An effective, well–acted version of James Michener's novel set during the Korean War, in which ace pilot Brando inconveniently falls in love…
Until They Sail (1957): Dir. Robert Wise
Feat. Jean Simmons, Joan Fontaine, Paul Newman…; 1950s Christchurch is the novelty star of this MGM prestige picture set entirely in Canterbury, New Zealand, with landmarks such as the Christchurch…
Burmese Harp, The (Biruma no tategoto) (1956): Dir. Kon Ichikawa
Feat. Rentaro Mikuni; Another muted anti–war elegy conceived during Japan’s post–WWII recovery, this tells the journey of a Japanese private, who upon…
Kanal (1956): Dir. Andrzej Wajda
Feat. Teresa Izewska, Tadeusz Janczar; The darkest chapter of dir. Wadja's WWII 'Trilogy', is an unremitting portrayal of the last gasps of the 1944 Warsaw uprising. With desperate…
Long Gray Line, The (1955): Dir. John Ford
Feat. Tyrone Power, Maureen O'Hara, Donald Crisp; Engrossing true life tale of military instructors Marty Maher and his rise to the top of his profession.
Carrington V.C. (Court Martial) (1954): Dir. Anthony Asquith
Feat. David Niven, Margaret Leighton, Allan Cuthbertson; Legal drama adapted from the stage play in which a court–martial attempts to find out why, and if, an officer embezzled his unit's funds.
Generation, A (Pokolenie) (1954): Dir. Andrzej Wajda
Feat. Roman Polanski; Fast–moving account of the Polish Resistance during WWII, as a scrappy young recruit falls in love with his unit leader. Depicts the spirited,…
Hell and High Water (1954): Dir. Samuel Fuller
Feat. Richard Widmark, Bella Darvi, Victor Francen…; Cold war thriller with Widmark helming a submarine in pursuit of a Red freighter. Unexceptional by Samuel Fuller's usual standards – he was…
Purple Plain, The (1954): Dir. Robert Parrish
Feat. Gregory Peck, Win Min Than, Bernard Lee…; Strong psychological drama, shot in lush Technicolor, with Peck as a shell–shocked pilot stuck with wounded comrades behind enemy lines in the…
Twenty-Four Eyes (24 Eyes/Nijushi no hitomi) (1954): Dir. Keisuke Kinoshita
Feat. Hideko Takamine, Chishu Ryu; An elegiac triumph of nostalgia for youth and wartime humanism, this cherished landmark of Japanese cinema gracefully chronicles the 20–years…
Forbidden Games (Jeux Interdits) (1952): Dir. Rene Clement
Feat. Georges Poujouly, Brigitte Fossey, Laurence Badie; After her parents are killed in an air raid during WWII, a small girl makes friends with a peasant boy, and the pair gradually come to terms with the…
Odette (1950): Dir. Herbert Wilcox
Feat. Dame Anna Neagle, Trevor Howard, Marius Goring…; Drama based on the true story of Odette Sansom, the British Special Operations Executive agent in WWII who miraculously evaded death after being sent…
Three Came Home (1950): Dir. Jean Negulesco
Feat. Claudette Colbert, Patric Knowles, Florence Desmond…; Harrowing true life tale of a woman's imprisonment in several Japanese prisoner–of–war camps from 1941 to the end of WWII.
Germany Year Zero (1947): Dir. Roberto Rossellini; A heart–breaking depiction of life in the post–WW2 ruins of Berlin, in which a boy struggles to help his family who are forced to live in…
Silence de la Mer, Le (The Silence of the Sea) (1947): Dir. Jean-Pierre Melville
Feat. Howard Vernon; A German officer is billeted with an elderly man and his niece during the occupation of France in this introspective and talky chamber piece, heavy…
Paisa (1946): Dir. Roberto Rossellini
Feat. Carmela Sazio, Robert Van Loon, Benjamin Emmanuel; Six short films focusing on the minor victories and losses of ordinary folk during WW2. Pioneering the now–familiar use of documentary footage,…
Years Between, The (1946): Dir. Compton Bennett
Feat. Michael Redgrave, Valerie Hobson, Dame Flora Robson; Michael Redgrave plays a British MI6 officer who returns home after working for the French Resistance to find that his wife, who had presumed him…
A Bell For Adano (1945): Dir. Henry King
Feat. Gene Tierney, John Hodiak, William Bendix…; Hodiak plays an army major assigned to restore order in a small Italian town in this gentle–natured drama. The luminous –and blonde…
Rome: Open City (1945): Dir. Roberto Rossellini
Feat. Anna Magnani, Aldo Fabrizi; Neo–realist war drama about resistance fighters in fascist Italy places the action right inside the everyday and humanises the heroic.…
Way to the Stars, The (1945): Dir. Anthony Asquith
Feat. John Mills, Michael Redgrave, Douglas Montgomery…; An RAF airfield in WWII is the setting of this unassuming war–drama, set around the lives of the ‘flyers’ and the ground–crew. Given…
Fighting Sullivans, The (1944): Dir. Lloyd Bacon
Feat. Anne Baxter, Edward Ryan; Early telling of the true story that inspired SAVING PRIVATE RYAN about five brothers who served in WWII (in reality, at Guadacanal).
Passage to Marseille (1944): Dir. Michael Curtiz
Feat. Humphrey Bogart, Claude Rains, Peter Lorre; Distinguished by the use of flashbacks within flashbacks, this WW2 propaganda piece re–unites the director with CASABLANCA alumnae.
Since You Went Away (1944): Dir. John Cromwell, Andre De Toth
Feat. Joseph Cotton, Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones…; While husband Joseph Cotton is away at WWII, Claudette Colbert must hold home and family together. A lengthy dose of home–front stoicism, that…
Way Ahead, The (1944): Dir. Carol Reed
Feat. David Niven, Stanley Holloway, Trevor Howard…; A depleted battalion must scrub up and train a ragtag bunch of conscripts to re–fill the positions left by deceased soldiers in this morale…
White Cliffs of Dover, The (1944): Dir. Clarence Brown
Feat. Elizabeth Taylor, Roddy McDowall, Irene Dunne…; Patriotic sentiment up full–bore, this extended saga of English–American fraternising over both World Wars, has Irene Dunne and family…
Action in the North Atlantic (1943): Dir. Lloyd Bacon
Feat. Humphrey Bogart, Raymond Massey, Alan Hale…; Dramatic battle scenes highlight this Oscar–nominated WW2 drama, in which Bogie portrays the first mate of a freighter travelling the…
Crash Dive (1943): Dir. Archie Mayo
Feat. Tyrone Power, Anne Baxter, Dana Andrews; A submarine lieutenant and his commander fall in love with the same girl in this thrilling propaganda piece that won the 1943 Oscar for best special…
Flemish Farm, The (1943): Dir. Jeffrey Dell
Feat. Clive Brook, Clifford Evans, Jane Baxter; Low budget WW2 aviation drama focused on a regiment of Belgian pilots who use a Flemish farm as an airstrip with one of the injured men becoming…
Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, The (1943): Dir. Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Feat. Roger Livesey, Deborah Kerr, Anton Walbrook; The numerous off–beat adventures of a British soldier are chronicled over a period of three wars, with Deborah Kerr playing all three of the…
Millions Like Us (1943): Dir. Sidney Gilliat
Feat. Patricia Roc, Gordon Jackson, Anne Crawford…; Honest dramatization of the British "home front" during the second World War focuses on a factory worker struggling to overcome her grief after the…
Silver Fleet, The (1943): Dir. Vernon Sewell
Feat. Ralph Richardson, Esmond Knight, Googie Withers…; A rousing WW2 maritime drama in which a Dutch shipping port owner decides to swindle the Nazis by agreeing to provide them with his submarines for…
First of the Few (Spitfire) (1942): Dir. Leslie Howard
Feat. Leslie Howard, David Niven, Rosamund John…; Rousing true life tale of aircraft designer R.J. Mitchell and his streamlined monoplane that led to the devolpment of the spitfire. Released with…
Mrs. Miniver (1942): Dir. William Wyler
Feat. Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon; An unabashed patriotic war drama, so effective in that capacity it garnered political commendation as well as six Oscars, including Best Picture and…
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…
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…
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…
Fighting 69th, The (1940): Dir. William Keighley
Feat. James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, George Brent; James Cagney plays a loudmouthed braggart who alienates his comrades and officers, but the regimental chaplain (Pat O'Brien) has faith that he'll…
Mortal Storm, The (1940): Dir. Frank Borzage
Feat. Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Robert Young…; Drama set in Germany in 1933, following a group of people as they contend with the rise of the Nazi Party and the effect it has on their lives. James…
Alexander Nevsky (1938): Dir. Sergei Eisenstein
Feat. Nikolai Cherkassov, Nikolai Okhlopkov; Eisenstein's first sound film is a patriotic epic about the 13th century hero who led his people against the Teutonic Knights. Monumental battle…
I Accuse (J'Accuse) (1938): Dir. Abel Gance
Feat. Victor Francen, Line Noro, Marie Lou; Dir. Gance’s own remake of his 1919 silent classic, in which a soldier traumatised by the slaughter of WWI attempts to prevent future…
Grand Illusion (La Grande Illusion) (1937): Dir. Jean Renoir
Feat. Jean Gabin, Pierre Fresnay, Erich von Stroheim…; The heroics and hypocrasies of war are illustrated through an imprisoned French squadron in WW1 and their cultured German commandant. A hailed…
O.H.M.S (You're in the Army Now) (1937): Dir. Raoul Walsh
Feat. John Mills, Wallace Ford, Anna Lee…; Broad comedy with Ford as an American gangster who evades capture by joining the British army posing as a comedian.

Main menu

Section navigation menu

Subgenre Sampler