War

  • Lewis Milestone – The North Star (1943)

    Drama1941-1950Lewis MilestoneUSAWar

    In a peaceful Ukrainian village, the school year is just ending in June 1941. Five young friends set out for a walking trip to Kiev, but their travels are brutally interrupted when they are suddenly attacked by German planes, in the first wave of the Nazi assault on the Soviet Union. When the village itself is attacked and occupied, most of the men flee to the hills to form a guerrilla unit. The others resist the Nazis as well as possible, but soon the village is placed under the command of a Nazi doctor who begins using the town’s children as a source of constant blood transfusions for wounded German soldiers. Meanwhile, the small group of young persons tries desperately to take a supply of firearms to the guerrillas.Read More »

  • Anatole Litvak – The Night of the Generals (1967)

    1961-1970Anatole LitvakMysteryUnited KingdomWar

    Synopsis:
    In 1942 Warsaw, a Polish prostitute is murdered in a sadistic way. Major Grau, an agent from German Intelligence who believes in justice, is in charge of the investigation. An eyewitness saw a German general leaving the building after a scream of the victim. A further investigation shows that three generals do not have any alibi for that night: General Tanz, Maj. Gen. Klus Kahlenberge and General von Seidlitz-Gabler. The three avoid direct contact with Major Grau and become potential suspects. As Major Grau gets close to them, he is promoted and sent to Paris. In 1944 Paris, this quartet is reunited and Major Grau continues his investigation. Meanwhile, a plan for killing Hitler is plotted by his high command; a romance between Ulrike von Seydlitz-Gabler and Lance Cpl. Kurt Hartmann is happening and Insp. Morand is helping Major Grau in his investigation. The story ends in 1965, in Hamburg, with another, similar crime.Read More »

  • John Schlesinger – Yanks (1979)

    1971-1980DramaJohn SchlesingerUnited KingdomWar

    Synopsis:
    John Schlesinger directs the war romance Yanks, based on the story by Colin Welland. Set in England at the end of WWII, the story concerns three American GIs and their affairs with British women of varying social status. The central romance concerns Sgt. Matt Dyson (Richard Gere) and Jean Moreton (Lisa Eichhorn making her film debut), who is the daughter of shopkeepers (Rachel Roberts and Tony Melody). He falls in love with her but she is still infatuated with her boyfriend Ken (Derek Thompson). Higher up on the class scale, the officer John (William Devane) has a brief extramarital affair with socialite Helen (Vanessa Redgrave). The third pairing involves Sgt. Danny Ruffelo (Chick Vennera) in a fling with Mollie (Wendy Morgan).Read More »

  • Zivorad ‘Zika’ Mitrovic – Do pobedata i po nea AKA Before and After the Victory AKA Do pobede i dalje (1966)

    Drama1961-1970WarYugoslaviaYugoslavian Cinema under TitoZivorad 'Zika' Mitrovic

    A newly established communist authorities in Yugoslavia face the moral challenge of how to deal with warriors of defeated side and other enemies of the regime.Read More »

  • Zivorad ‘Zika’ Mitrovic – Solunskite Atentatori AKA The Assassins from Salonika (1961)

    1961-1970DramaMacedoniaWarZivorad 'Zika' Mitrovic

    Content:
    Wishing to draw the attention of world public opinion to the situation in Macedonia under Ottoman rule, a group of Macedonian-socialists, sons of wealthy merchants from Veles, who live and study in Salonica, and who are strongly influenced by Russian nihilist literature and the Geneva anarchists, decide in April 1903 to make a series of attacks on various business concerns in which foreign capital has been invested. The targets of the attacks are the French vessel “Guadalquivir”, the Ottoman Bank, the Electricity plant and the G. P. O. in Salonica. The achievement of their aims means death for the activists themselves. But they give up their lives willingly for a holy cause – the freedom of Macedonia.Read More »

  • René Clément – La bataille du rail AKA The Battle of the Rails (1946)

    1941-1950DramaFranceRené ClémentWar

    La Bataille du Rail (Battle of the Rails) is regarded by many cineastes as the one truly great French “resistance” film. Based on fact, the episodic plotline details the courageous efforts by French railray workers to sabotage Nazi reinforcement-troop trains. The film’s thesis is that this underground activity was largely responsible for the allied victory on D-Day. Writer-director Rene Clement enhanced the reality of the story by filming on actual locations and using genuine railway employees and resistance fighters in the cast. Admittedly slow going at times, La Bataille du Rail is more successful as a morale-booster than as pure entertainment.Read More »

  • Dick Powell – The Enemy Below (1957)

    1951-1960Dick PowellThrillerUSAWar

    Synopsis:
    During World War II, the USS Haynes, an American destroyer escort discovers a German U-boat in the South Atlantic. A deadly duel between the two ships ensues, and Captain Murrell must draw upon all his experience to defeat the equally experienced German commander.
    Set during the Battle of Atlantic during the Second World War, “The Enemy Below” tells the story of the cat and mouse Destroyer escort/U-Boat hunt. For the Americans, a former Merchant Mariner who saw his wife killed when his freighter was torpedoed by the Germans. For the Germans, a veteran U-Boat commander who sees no honor in the German aims of the war. Both of these highly experienced men must now battle each other, knowing that only one will survive.Read More »

  • Hajrudin Krvavac – Diverzanti AKA The Demolition Squad (1967)

    1961-1970ActionHajrudin KrvavacWarYugoslavia

    Yugoslavian resistance fighters send out eight men on a suicide mission to bomb the airport in this World War II action drama. The locals have successfully kept the Nazis at bay on the ground, but the German Luftwaffe looms as a bigger and more dangerous threat. The film was popular at the box office in Yugoslavia and was well received by the audience at the 1967 Pula Film Festival.Read More »

  • Enzo G. Castellari – Quel maledetto treno blindato AKA The Inglorious Bastards AKA Counterfeit Commandos (1978)

    1971-1980ActionEnzo G. CastellariItalyWar

    Synopsis:
    In 1944, in France, the rogue American soldiers Lieutenant Robert Yeager, Private Fred Canfield, the murderer Tony, the thief Nick and the coward Berle are transported to a military prison. However, the convoy is attacked by the Germans and they survive and flee with the intention of cross the border of Switzerland. Along their journey, they fight against a German platoon and capture the German prisoner Adolf Sachs that offers to guide them to the Swiss border. When they meet a German troop, they kill them but sooner they discover that they actually were and American commando in a mission headed by Colonel Buckner to steal a German V2 warhead. Lt. Yeager, Fred, Tony and Nick offer to risk their lives to accomplish the mission.Read More »

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