"I'll go back to playing football after the war......" - guaranteed to have at least one leg blown off.
Ha ha!:D. Yes, a refinement. I think Punt & Dennis did a great sketch on this very subject. I think they included a bloke talking about going back to being a concert pianist 'after this madness is over' - hands blown off by a grenade, of course.:D
all quiet on the western front
Battle of Britain
The McKenzie Break
Tora! Tora! Tora!
just to name a few
Tora is not a British film. It is American and Japanese and produced by an American studio. Many of the other movies mentioned in this thread are not British films either or are coproductions with America.
Good point but while there were maybe no Americans in the great escape, if there had been no Americans in The Great Escape, the film would not have been a success and probably wouldn't have ever got made in the first place.
Most assured since the movie was an American studio production. It is not even considered a UK and US production, like the Battle of Britain.
I think they did a great job in incorporating the American actors even if it was not accurate. It's one of my favorite films. Unfortunately I recently bought it in Blu-Ray and that was very disappointing. A movie like that deserves a better transfer and restoration than that.
I've always thought the war film was a genre that the uk excelled at. I find ours much more interesting than the general stock heroics of hollywood films
It could just be a case of identification. I rewatched the great escape a couple of year back and it comes across as very american with the allied characters left as also rans in their own story!
among my wartime favourites:
the colditz story - a great representation of the pow story right down to the concert party
danger within - a very enjoyable pow escape yarn with richard todd, richard attenborough and bernard lee
the dambusters - a true classic, terrific performances from richard todd & michael redgrave. the inspiration for the trench run sequence in star wars
the man who never was - fascinating true story about dumping a body with false invasion plans in the sea to throw off the enemy
carve her name with pride - virginia mckenna goes behind enemy lines in a gritty true story
ice cold in alex - bonafide classic, unwavering john mills, duplicitous anthony quayle, gorgeous sylvia sims
Good post - mostly agree with you but wasn't 633 Squadron the inspiration behind the space fighter scenes in Star Wars?
I think old aerial combat films in general were the inspiration, but 633 is a fine example.
trivia/btw - a cheap rate knock-off called Mosquito Squadron with David McCallum was made a few years later. I clearly remember watching it one Sunday afternoon when the news came through that Kubrick had died. An odd coincidence, as he apparently loved aerial combat stuff and had wanted to make one himself.
trivia/btw - a cheap rate knock-off called Mosquito Squadron with David McCallum was made a few years later. I clearly remember watching it one Sunday afternoon when the news came through that Kubrick had died. An odd coincidence, as he apparently loved aerial combat stuff and had wanted to make one himself
To be fair - at least Mosquito Squadron bore SOME minor degree of ressemblance to real history - the Amiens prison break, HIGHBALL etc.!
No no! Johnny's character made the fatal mistake of talking about what he was going to do after the war. As every war film fan knows, this will guarantee that you get killed.:D
Showing the chaps a photo of a girl had the same result,,..:(
"We" dont....but the Americans sure do! Take a wander into an HMV if you can find one, or into a Tescos....there are plenty, both low and big budget productions.
"We" dont....but the Americans sure do! Take a wander into an HMV if you can find one, or into a Tescos....there are plenty, both low and big budget productions.
Not strictly speaking a war film but nonetheless it's a jolly good one
I've always found it very depressing Then again, one of the first non-fiction papaerbacks I ever remember being given as a kid was a kids' "history of the submarine" thingy...and it contained the story of the loss of the Thetis - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Thetis_(N25) It "impressed" the young and impressionable...
I've always found it very depressing Then again, one of the first non-fiction papaerbacks I ever remember being given as a kid was a kids' "history of the submarine" thingy...and it contained the story of the loss of the Thetis - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Thetis_(N25) It "impressed" the young and impressionable...
Blimey - "one of the few military vessels that have been lost twice with her crew in their service history." I bet the reunions were a barrel of laughs...
Good post - mostly agree with you but wasn't 633 Squadron the inspiration behind the space fighter scenes in Star Wars?
It was a combination of 633 and Dambusters. If you watch the trench run in Star Wars there is dialogue along the lines of:
"How many guns would you say?"
"I would say about ten guns, some on the surface, some on the towers"
this dialogue is an almost direct lift from the dambusters attack sequence. Lucas tipping his hat to the film that inspired him.
Ha ha!:D. Yes, a refinement. I think Punt & Dennis did a great sketch on this very subject. I think they included a bloke talking about going back to being a concert pianist 'after this madness is over' - hands blown off by a grenade, of course.:D
Comments
Ha ha!:D. Yes, a refinement. I think Punt & Dennis did a great sketch on this very subject. I think they included a bloke talking about going back to being a concert pianist 'after this madness is over' - hands blown off by a grenade, of course.:D
Tora is not a British film. It is American and Japanese and produced by an American studio. Many of the other movies mentioned in this thread are not British films either or are coproductions with America.
Good movie though.
Most assured since the movie was an American studio production. It is not even considered a UK and US production, like the Battle of Britain.
I think they did a great job in incorporating the American actors even if it was not accurate. It's one of my favorite films. Unfortunately I recently bought it in Blu-Ray and that was very disappointing. A movie like that deserves a better transfer and restoration than that.
It could just be a case of identification. I rewatched the great escape a couple of year back and it comes across as very american with the allied characters left as also rans in their own story!
among my wartime favourites:
the colditz story - a great representation of the pow story right down to the concert party
danger within - a very enjoyable pow escape yarn with richard todd, richard attenborough and bernard lee
the dambusters - a true classic, terrific performances from richard todd & michael redgrave. the inspiration for the trench run sequence in star wars
the man who never was - fascinating true story about dumping a body with false invasion plans in the sea to throw off the enemy
carve her name with pride - virginia mckenna goes behind enemy lines in a gritty true story
ice cold in alex - bonafide classic, unwavering john mills, duplicitous anthony quayle, gorgeous sylvia sims
Good post - mostly agree with you but wasn't 633 Squadron the inspiration behind the space fighter scenes in Star Wars?
trivia/btw - a cheap rate knock-off called Mosquito Squadron with David McCallum was made a few years later. I clearly remember watching it one Sunday afternoon when the news came through that Kubrick had died. An odd coincidence, as he apparently loved aerial combat stuff and had wanted to make one himself.
No to mention the finest-ever production placement in the world - "probably"...:D
To be fair - at least Mosquito Squadron bore SOME minor degree of ressemblance to real history - the Amiens prison break, HIGHBALL etc.!
Ha ha! Yes. A Yank squaddie makes this fatal error at the beginning of Platoon so it clearly happens in other countries' armed forces.
http://weekend-at-war.com/
Escape to Victory !
The Bridge Over The River Kwai
I know , but they're hardly British are they ?
How about Morning Depature??
Not strictly speaking a war film but nonetheless it's a jolly good one
I've always found it very depressing
Blimey - "one of the few military vessels that have been lost twice with her crew in their service history." I bet the reunions were a barrel of laughs...
It was a combination of 633 and Dambusters. If you watch the trench run in Star Wars there is dialogue along the lines of:
"How many guns would you say?"
"I would say about ten guns, some on the surface, some on the towers"
this dialogue is an almost direct lift from the dambusters attack sequence. Lucas tipping his hat to the film that inspired him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHGYdOQhu2g
They did a similar routine about guessing which character in Casualty would die
Smith and Jones did a very good sketch about clichéd portrayals of Nazi generals in war films
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_Z6tv7cQmM
I always think that a British film about WWII isn't really complete without Anton Diffring playing one of the Nazis
They're back to afternoon classic war films! They Who Dare yesterday, Went The Day Well today....
The Channel 4 family of channels show these war films fairly regularly
Very Important Person (comedy prisoner of war film starring James Robertson Justice, Leslie Phillips and Stanley Baxter)
Danger Within (prisoner of war/murder mystery starring Dickie Attenborough, Richard Todd and Bernard Lee)
Sea Of Sand (Dickie Attenborough, Michael Craig, John Gregson)
I suppose Guns At Batasi counts as a war film..
...yep, and if not Ch4 then Film4...
...but CH4 had had a four/five week layoff and I thought they weren't going to revisit them...in favour of umpteen "Come Dine With Me's" in a row
BROADSWORD CALLING DANNY BOY !! classic boys own adventure