War Films

Today I am looking at the genre of what I loosely termed “War Films”, and listed below are some of the war films I have. (Some of these I have already dealt with under the “Classic Films” genre, so I don’t propose to go into any detail on those, however the three and four star war films I have not dealt with I wlll look at in a bit more detail.)

It must be remembered that the genre War Films covers a wide range of films – satires, comedies, fictional and actuality films, as well as historical films.

Some of the classic black & white war films include:-


Above Us the Waves – is the true story of the midget submarine mine laying exercise to blow up the Tirpitz.
Carve her Name with Pride – is the true story of the heroism of Special Operations Executive agent Violette Szabo.
The Colditz Story - is based on the book written by P.R. Reid, a British army officer who was imprisoned in Oflag IV-C, Colditz Castle.
The Cruel Sea - is based on the bestselling novel The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat. It is a strikingly accurate portrayal of the war between the Royal Navy and Germany's U-Boats from the viewpoint of the British naval officers and seamen, who served in escort vessels during World War II.
The Dam Busters - is a 1955 British war film, set during the Second World War, and based on the true story of the RAF's 617 Squadron, the development of the "bouncing bomb", and the attack on the Ruhr dams in Germany.
Ice Cold in Alex - is based on the novel of the same name by British author Christopher Landon.
Reach for the Sky - is a biographical film of aviator Douglas Bader, based on the 1954 biography of the same name by Paul Brickhill.
The Wooden Horse - is a World War II film based on a true story, from the book of the same name.

The African Queen 3*
All Quiet on the Western Front 4* See Classic Film Blog
Battle of Britain
The Battleship Potemkin 4* See Classic Film Blog
The Boat
Braveheart 3*
The Bridge on the River Kwai 4* See Classic Film Blog
A Bridge Too Far
Dr Strangelove 4*
Full Metal Jacket
The Great Escape
The Heroes of Telemark
Ill Met By Moonlight
In Which We Serve 4*
The Killing Fields 3*
Lawrence of Arabia 4* See Classic Film Blog
A Matter of Life & Death 4*
Oh What a Lovely War
On the Beach
Pearl Harbour
Platoon
Saving Private Ryan 3*
Went the Day Well?

So let’s take a more detailed look at

The African Queen is an American 1951 drama film adapted from the 1935 novel by C. S. Forester. The film was directed by John Huston and produced by Sam Spiegel[1] and John Woolf. The screenplay was adapted by James Agee, John Huston, John Collier and Peter Viertel. It was photographed in Technicolor by Jack Cardiff and had a music score by Allan Gray. The film stars Humphrey Bogart (who won the Academy Award for Best Actor - his only Oscar), and Katharine Hepburn with Robert Morley, Peter Bull, Walter Gotell, Richard Marner and Theodore Bikel.

The African Queen has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry

Robert Morley and Katharine Hepburn play Samuel and Rose Sayer, brother and sister British Methodist missionaries in a village in German East Africa in 1914 during World War I. Their mail and supplies are delivered by the rough-and-ready Canadian boat captain Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart) of the African Queen, whose coarse behavior they tolerate in a rather stiff manner.

When Charlie warns them that war has broken out between Germany and Britain, the Sayers choose to stay on, only to witness the Germans burning down the mission village and herd the villagers away. When Samuel protests, he is beaten by a German soldier. After the Germans leave, Samuel becomes delirious with fever and soon dies.

Soon afterward, Charlie returns. He helps Rose bury her brother, and they set off in the African Queen. Charlie tells Rose that the Germans have a gunboat, the Empress Louisa, which patrols a large lake downriver, effectively blocking any British counter-attacks. Rose comes up with a plan to convert the Queen into a torpedo boat and sink the Louisa.

Charlie points out that navigating the river would be suicidal: to reach the lake they would have to pass a German fort and negotiate several dangerous rapids. But Rose is insistent and eventually persuades him to go along with the plan. Charlie is furious when the teetotaler Rose throws away all of his gin, but she insists that he needs to be sober for the task at hand.
Charlie hoped after passing the first obstacle that Rose would be discouraged, but she is confident they can handle what is yet to come, and argues that Charlie promised to go all the way.

During their journey down the river, Charlie, Rose and the African Queen encounter many obstacles, including a German fortress perched on a hilltop near the river (with native Askari shooting at them) and three sets of rapids. The first set of rapids is rather easy; they get through with minimal flooding in the boat. But Rose and Charlie have to duck down when they pass the fortress and the soldiers begin shooting at them, blowing two bullet holes in the top of the boiler and causing one of the steam pressure hoses to disconnect from the boiler, which in turn, causes the boat's engine to stop running. Luckily, Charlie manages to reattach the hose to the boiler just as they are about to enter the second set of rapids. The boat rolls and pitches crazily as it goes down the rapids, leading to more severe flooding in the boat and also collapsing the stern canopy.
While celebrating their success, the two find themselves in an embrace. Embarrassed, they break off, but soon afterwards they appear to have a sexual encounter, after which Rose asks "What is your first name, dear?" He tells her and she calls him "Charlie", rather than "Mr. Allnut" afterwards. He begins calling her "Rosie" rather than "Miss."

Later on, the couple decide to take a pit stop to gather more fuel and drain the boat. Back on the river, Charlie and Rose watch crocodiles frolick on the nearby river bank when the third set of rapids comes up. This time, there is a loud metallic clattering noise as the boat goes over the falls. Once again, the couple dock on the river bank to check for damage. When Charlie dives under the boat, he finds the propeller shaft bent sideways and a blade missing from the propeller. Luckily, with some expert skill using suggestions from Rose, Charlie manages to straighten the shaft and weld a new blade on to the propeller, and they are off again.

All appears lost when Charlie and Rose "lose the channel" and the boat becomes mired in the mud amid dense reeds near the mouth of the river. First, they try to tow the boat through the muck, only to have Charlie come out of the water covered with leeches. All their efforts to free the African Queen fail and in the end, Rose and Charlie go to sleep convinced they will die. Before going to sleep Rose prays that she and Charlie be admitted into Heaven. As they sleep, exhausted and beaten, heavy rains raise the river's level and float the Queen off of the mud and into the lake which, it turns out, is just a short distance from their location. Once on the lake, they narrowly avoid being spotted by the Louisa.

That night, they set about converting some oxygen cylinders into torpedoes using gelatin explosives and improvised detonators that use nails as the firing pins for rifle cartridges. They then attach the torpedoes through the bow of the Queen.
At the height of a storm they push the Queen out onto the lake, intending to set it on a collision course with the Louisa. Unfortunately, the holes in the bow in which the torpedoes were pushed through are not sealed, allowing water to pour into the boat, causing it to sink lower and eventually the Queen tips over.

Charlie is captured and taken aboard the Louisa, and after being questioned, Rose is captured and Charlie hollers her name, then pretends not to know her. The captain questions her, and Rose says they planned to sink the German boat and encourages Charlie to describe his torpedoes. The captain sentences them to be executed as spies. Charlie asks the German captain to marry them before executing them. After a brief marriage ceremony, the Germans prepare to hang them, when there is a sudden explosion and the Louisa starts to sink. The Louisa has struck the overturned hull of the African Queen and detonated the torpedoes. Rose's plan has worked, if a little belatedly, and the newly-married couple swim to safety in Kenya.

Academy Awards

Best Actor in a Leading Role
Humphrey Bogart
Nominated:
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Katharine Hepburn

Best Adapted Screenplay
James AgeeJohn Huston

Best Director
John Huston

[edit] Others
American Film Institute recognition
1998 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies - #17
2002 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions - #14
2006 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers - #48
2007 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) - #65





Braveheart is a 1995 Academy-award winning historical action-drama film produced and directed by Mel Gibson, who also starred in the title role. The film was written for screen and then novelized by Randall Wallace. Gibson portrays a legendary Scot, William Wallace, who gained recognition when he came to the forefront of the First War of Scottish Independence by opposing Edward I of England (portrayed by Patrick McGoohan) and subsequently abetted by Edward's daughter-in-law Princess Isabelle (played by Sophie Marceau) and a claimant to the Scottish throne, Robert the Bruce (played by Angus Macfadyen).
The film won five Academy Awards at the 68th Academy Awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director, and had been nominated for an additional five.


Awards
The film won numerous awards including the 1995 Academy Award for:
Best Picture
Best Director - Mel Gibson
Best Cinematography - John Toll
Best Makeup - Peter Frampton, Paul Pattison & Lois Burwell
Best Sound Editing - Lon Bender, Per Hallberg

Nominated:
Film Editing
Costume Design
Best Original Screenplay
Sound
Best Original Dramatic Score

Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (commonly known as Dr. Strangelove) is a 1964 American/British black comedy film directed by Stanley Kubrick, starring Peter Sellers and George C. Scott, and featuring Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn and Slim Pickens. Loosely based on Peter George's Cold War thriller novel Red Alert (aka Two Hours to Doom), Dr. Strangelove satirized the nuclear scare.

This is the film in which Peter Sellers plays three roles: Dr. Strangelove, President Merkin Muffley and Group Captain Lionel Mandrake.

The story concerns an unhinged US Air Force general who orders a first strike nuclear attack on the Soviet Union, and follows the President of the United States, his advisors, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a Royal Air Force (RAF) officer as they try to recall the bombers to prevent a nuclear apocalypse, as well as the crew of one B-52 as they attempt to deliver their payload.

In 1989, the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

It was listed as number three on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs.

Awards and honors

The film was nominated for four Academy Awards and also seven BAFTA Awards, of which it won four.

Academy Awards nominations:
Best Actor in a Leading Role: Peter Sellers
Best Adapted Screenplay: Stanley Kubrick, Peter George, Terry Southern
Best Director: Stanley Kubrick
Best Picture

BAFTA Awards nominations:
Best British Actor: Peter Sellers
Best British Screenplay: Stanley Kubrick, Peter George, Terry Southern
Best Foreign Actor: Sterling Hayden

BAFTA Awards won:
Best British Art Direction (Black and White): Ken Adam
Best British Film
Best Film From Any Source
UN award.

In addition, the film won the best written American comedy award from the Writers Guild of America and a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.
Kubrick himself won two awards for best director, from the New York Film Critics Circle and the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists, and was nominated for one by the Directors Guild of America.

American Film Institute recognition
1998 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies - #26
2000 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs - #3
2005 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes:
"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is the war room." #64
2007 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) - #39

In Which We Serve is a 1942 British war film directed by David Lean and Noël Coward. The patriotic screenplay by Coward was inspired by the exploits of Captain Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was in command of the destroyer HMS Kelly when it was sunk during the Battle of Crete. Coward also composed the film's music and starred in the film. Other stars of the film included John Mills, Bernard Miles and Celia Johnson.

PLOT:
In the summer of 1939, the Torrin is rushed into commission as the possibility of war becomes a near-certainty. The ship's company spends a relatively quiet Christmas, but in 1940, the Torrin takes part in a naval battle off the coast of Norway, during which the ship is damaged. In this action, one of the sailors runs away from his gun, while another sailor mans a gun alone after his crew is killed. When the ship reaches shore, Captain Kinross notes that of the 244 men in the crew, 243 performed well. When the derelict sailor is brought up on charges, Kinross lets him off with a caution, because he feels as Captain he failed to make the young man understand his duty. The sailor continues to be haunted by his cowardice, especially when a pianola plays the Flanagan and Allen song "Run Rabbit, Run."

The Torrin participates in the Dunkirk evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force, rescuing members of the Coldstream Guards. When it is sunk off the coast of Crete in 1941, about 90 crew members survive, and they are sent off to join other ships, leaving the Captain alone with his officers.


Awards and nominations
The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. Coward was presented with an Academy Honorary Award for "his outstanding production achievement." The National Board of Review honored it as the Best English Language Film of the year and cited Bernard Miles and John Mills for their performances. It also won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film and the Argentine Film Critics Association Award for Best Foreign Film.

The Killing Fields 1985

Sydney Schanberg is a New York Times journalist covering the civil war in Cambodia. Together with local representative Dith Pran, they cover some of the tragedy and madness of the war. When the American forces leave, Dith Pran sends his family with them, but stays behind himself to help Schanberg cover the event. As an American, Schanberg won't have any trouble leaving the country, but the situation is different for Pran; he's a local, and the Khmer Rouge are moving in.

Academy Awards, USA

1985
Won Oscars for

Best Actor in a Supporting RoleHaing S. Ngor
Best CinematographyChris Menges
Best Film EditingJim Clark

Nominated for Oscars for

Best Actor in a Leading Role Sam Waterston
Best Director Roland Joffé
Best Picture David Puttnam
Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium Bruce Robinson

American Cinema Editors, USA

1985
Nominated
Best Edited Feature Film Jim Clark

Awards of the Japanese Academy

1986
Nominated
Award of the Japanese Academy
Best Foreign Language Film

BAFTA Awards

1985
Won
BAFTA Film Award
Best Actor Haing S. Ngor
Best Cinematography Chris Menges
Best Editing Jim Clark
Best Film David Puttnam
Best Production Design/Art Direction Roy Walker
Best Screenplay - Adapted Bruce Robinson
Best Sound Ian Fuller Clive Winter Bill Rowe
Most Outstanding Newcomer to Film Haing S. Ngor

Nominated
BAFTA Film Award
Best Actor Sam Waterston
Best Direction Roland Joffé
Best Make Up Artist Tommie Manderson
Best Score Mike Oldfield
Best Special Visual Effects Fred Cramer

Boston Society of Film Critics Awards

1985
Won
BSFC Award
Best Actor Haing S. Ngor
Best Cinematography Chris Menges
Best Film
Best Supporting ActorJ ohn Malkovich

British Society of Cinematographers

1984
Won
Best Cinematography Award Chris Menges

César Awards, France

1986
Nominated César
Best Foreign Film (Meilleur film étranger)Roland Joffé

David di Donatello Awards

1985
Won
Best Producer - Foreign Film (Migliore Produttore Straniero) David Puttnam

Directors Guild of America, USA
1985
Nominated

DGA Award
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures Roland Joffé

Golden Globes, USA

1985
Won Golden Globe
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture Haing S. Ngor

Nominated Golden Globe
Best Director - Motion Picture Roland Joffé
Best Motion Picture - Drama
Best Original Score - Motion Picture Mike Oldfield
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama Sam Waterston
Best Screenplay - Motion Picture Bruce Robinson

Guild of German Art House Cinemas

1986
Won
Guild Film Award - Silver
Foreign Film (Ausländischer Film) Roland Joffé

London Critics Circle Film Awards

1986
Won
ALFS Award
Director of the Year Roland Joffé

Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards
1984
Won
LAFCA Award
Best Cinematography Chris Menges

National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA
1984
Won
NSFC Award
Best Cinematography Chris Menges

Best Supporting Actor John Malkovich

New York Film Critics Circle Awards

1984
Won
NYFCC Award
Best Cinematographer Chris Menges

Political Film Society, USA

1988
Won
Special Award


Writers Guild of America, USA

1985
Won
WGA Award (Screen)
Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium Bruce Robinson

A Matter of Life and Death (1946) is a romantic fantasy film set in the Second World War by the British writer-director-producer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It was originally released in U.S. under the title Stairway to Heaven, which was derived from the film's most prominent special effect: a broad escalator linking the Other World and Earth. Reversing the convention of The Wizard of Oz, the supernatural scenes are in black-and-white, while the ones on Earth are in Technicolor.

In 2004, A Matter of Life and Death was named the second greatest British film ever made by the magazine Total Film in a poll of 25 film critics, behind only Get Carter.

Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 American war film set during the invasion of Normandy in World War II. It was directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat. The film is notable for the intensity of its opening 24 minutes, which depict the Omaha beachhead assault of June 6, 1944. Afterward, it follows Tom Hanks as Captain John H. Miller and several men (Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns, Barry Pepper, Vin Diesel, Giovanni Ribisi, Adam Goldberg and Jeremy Davies) as they search for a paratrooper (Matt Damon), who is the last surviving brother of three fallen servicemen.

Rodat first came up with the film's story in 1994 when he saw a monument dedicated to eight brothers who died during the American Civil War. Inspired by the story, Rodat decided to write a similar story set during World War II. The script was submitted to producer Mark Gordon, who then handed it to Hanks. It was finally given to Spielberg, who had previously demonstrated his interest in WWII themes with films such as Schindler's List, and decided to direct Saving Private Ryan after reading the film's script. The film's premise is very loosely based on the real-life case of the Niland brothers.

Saving Private Ryan was well received by audiences and garnered considerable critical acclaim, winning several awards for film, cast, and crew as well as earning significant returns at the box office. The film grossed US$480 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of the year. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominated the film for eleven Academy Awards; Spielberg's direction won him his second Academy Award for Best Director.