OT: Best WW1 Movies

Old No7 · Post by **Old No7** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 4:59 pm

Watching (yet again) the recent movie "The Lost Battalion" got me to thinking...

Are there any other decent movies about W.W.1?

I saw "Fly Boys" which was OK (some of the computer effects were overdone, me-thinks...) and I remember seeing the movie "Blue Max" or something like that when I was a kid... But are there any others about the ground warfare that are worth seeing?

That's probably the least-viewed war for me, and I think it'd be neat to see some more, history or fiction.

Thanks!

Old No7

Post by **Ysabel Kid** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 5:07 pm

"Sergeant York"!

Kilroy6644 · Post by **Kilroy6644** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 5:09 pm

There's the classic All Quiet On The Western Front, but I can't think of anything more recent except The Lost Battalion, and you already covered that..

Kilroy6644 · Post by **Kilroy6644** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 5:09 pm

Ysabel Kid wrote:"Sergeant York"!

Good one! I forgot that.

2ndovc · Post by **2ndovc** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 5:10 pm

"What Price Glory" w/ James Cagney and several others I can't think of right now.

"The Lighthorseman" and "Gallipoli" are good ones too! I'll probably think of some more.

tman · Post by **tman** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 5:36 pm

dawn patrol; erroll flynn, david niven.

Ben_Rumson · Post by **Ben_Rumson** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 5:45 pm

Hells Angels and the name escapes of the other one that used genuine WWI planes in it too..IIRC it was Gary Cooper's first film..He was a bit player in it..

GANJIRO · Post by **GANJIRO** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 6:04 pm

The very first Oscar winning movie 1927's "WINGS" with Clara Bow & Charles Rodgers.
A more recent (2006) flick "Flyboys" was entertaining with great CGI WWI plane scenes with the only major complaint being the cylinders of the WWI era radial engines NOT spinning with the propellors like they're supposed too.

airedaleman · Post by **airedaleman** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 6:10 pm

"Paths of Glory" with Kirk Douglas
"The Light Horsemen" - an Australian film - and I may not have the title exactly right...
"The Fighting 69th" with James Cagney and Pat O'Brien as Father Duffy.
If my old- guy head dredges up any more, I'll try to remember to post them.

Of course, "Lawrence of Arabia!"

Old No7 · Post by **Old No7** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 6:17 pm

...the cylinders of the WWI era radial engines NOT spinning with the propellors like they're supposed too...

Hmm... Didn't catch that! Guess I'll have to rent it again!

Thanks all!

Old No7

Post by **Hobie** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 6:21 pm

airedaleman wrote:"Paths of Glory" with Kirk Douglas
"The Light Horsemen" - an Australian film - and I may not have the title exactly right...
"The Fighting 69th" with James Cagney and Pat O'Brien as Father Duffy.
If my old- guy head dredges up any more, I'll try to remember to post them.

Of course, "Lawrence of Arabia!"

Dittos, those are what I'd have listed as the best along with "Sergeant York".

While WWI was traumatic for most of the world, it wasn't so much for the US as we were only in it for a bit. E.g. the 116th Regt (and 29 ID) were only there for one year and only at the front from late June 1918 to November 1918.

Killer Kanuck · Post by **Killer Kanuck** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 6:31 pm

This summer there's a move titled Passchendaele coming out. Although the first trailer I saw made it seem like a love story that just happens to involve a First World War soldier

Kansas Ed · Post by **Kansas Ed** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 7:13 pm

A Very Long Engagement starring Audrey Tautou is a love story based upon finding her missing fiancee after WWI. It is in French but subtitled, and well worth a watch. I think it captures the mud and terrible trench conditions of the war quite well. Blockbuster around here carries it in their foreign section.

BTW I am a huge Audrey Tautou fan...

Ed[/i]

Kilroy6644 · Post by **Kilroy6644** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 7:24 pm

airedaleman wrote:"Paths of Glory" with Kirk Douglas
Of course, "Lawrence of Arabia!"

Of course! How could I miss that? I've got the soundtrack on order right now.

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 7:25 pm

I bought my son the collector's edition of Sgt. York last year for Christmas. It came with an extra DVD with bio's on it.

There's also also Joyeux Noel. Which is about the soldiers that made up their own truce for Christmas.

Rusty <><

Ben_Rumson · Post by **Ben_Rumson** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 8:00 pm

Right! "Wings" that was the one I was thinking of in my first post..
"FlyBoys"... Aside from the rotory engine problem Ji mentioned..It seems the only plane in the Hun inventory was, what else, but the DR-1 Lol.. The Zeppelin attack rocked! Also had a problem with English/Euro Steam Trains (lousy whisltles!) up there in Montana or whatever state the US FlyBoys came from..

C. Cash · Post by **C. Cash** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 8:12 pm

A great WWI RELATED movie is The Great Waldo Pepper which takes place shortly after the War to end all Wars. Great Fokker Triplane and Sopwith dogfight at the end.

Ben_Rumson · Post by **Ben_Rumson** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 8:21 pm

+ 1 for Waldo Pepper! Love it when Waldo pulls the cotter keys that held the wheels on the Jenny & the consequent ditching in the pond.. NO Comp Graphics THERE!

C. Cash · Post by **C. Cash** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 8:23 pm

Thanks Ben...yeah forgot to mention INCREDIBlE stunt flying with vintage machines.

cutter · Post by **cutter** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 8:27 pm

A post WW1 war movie I really enjoy is ' High Road to China ', with Tom Sellack as a washed up, drunkared, former fighter pilot hired to ferry a ritch b....h to find her missing father in the far east. Great movie with fine arial scenes, and NO computer graphics. A plus is Tom Selleck firing a Lewis Gun from the hip at charging Chinese(?) soldiers.

If you have seen the movie, my favorite line is; " Speeeeaaak ".

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 8:47 pm

Right after the "Flyboys" movie came out there was a local news story about a man that lives here in the Tampa Bay area. he was employed to do a lot of the flying. I seem to recall him saying that they were flying in the same area where the war was fought, but I don't remember what he said about the planes they flew.

Rusty <><

awp101 · Post by **awp101** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 8:53 pm

The original (1930?) All Quiet on the Western Front is hard to beat IMO. In fact, go ahead and read the book first. I read it 2-3 times before ever catching the movie on TCM or somesuch.

GANJIRO wrote:the only major complaint being the cylinders of the WWI era radial engines NOT spinning with the propellors like they're supposed too.

Depends on the engine. Not all radials are rotary. It's been a while since I spent any quality time with my WWI aero books and since I haven't seen Flyboys yet I can't say which birds they're using that may or may not have rotaries other than the DrI and Sopwith Camel.

Ben_Rumson · Post by **Ben_Rumson** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 9:18 pm

Depends on the engine. Not all radials are rotary.

I thought in a Radial engine, the crankshaft moves, but the cylinders/engine is stationary, and in the Rotary, the crankshaft is stationary & the clylinders/crankcase/engine rotate..

awp101 · Post by **awp101** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 9:42 pm

Ben_Rumson wrote:I thought in a Radial engine, the crankshaft moves, but the cylinders/engine is stationary, and in the Rotary, the crankshaft is stationary & the clylinders/crankcase/engine rotate..

Correct. What designates an engine as radial is that the cylinders are arranged "radially" around the crank.

The engine in a P47 for example is a radial Pratt&Whitney. The crank turns, moving the pistons. A DrI is technically a radial since the cylinders are arranged radially around the crank but the cylinders/pistons move around the crank making it a rotary.

Then you have horizontally opposed engines (aka boxers) where the crank runs between the cylinders (think Cessna, VW or Porsche engines).

Inline engines (think straight 8 or straight 6 car engines) tend to be water-cooled but not always.

Aviation and firearms have always run 1A and 1B in my interests...

jd45 · Post by **jd45** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 9:48 pm

I'd have to say, I relate to War movies that start at WWII. But I've seen Gary Cooper in "York" & was impressed. jd45

Ben_Rumson · Post by **Ben_Rumson** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 9:50 pm

awp101 OK, I'll go that..

mad mucus · Post by **mad mucus** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 12:31 am

GALLIPOLI... another Aussie movie, one of Mel Gibson's first(1981?).

Mucus

Ridgerunner · Post by **Ridgerunner** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 7:24 am

THE LIGHT HORSEMEN was a great movie, being a rider myself, I especially liked the British and Aussie brass watching and calling the action via binoculars, especially when the Aussie commander states: "They're under their guns" meaning the artillary could no longer be brought to bear on the charging mounted infantrymen. Most compelling, as they were supposed to ride to a fight, dismount, and fight on foot....

CaptainFinn · Post by **CaptainFinn** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 9:40 am

The Lighthorsemen was a fantastic movie, great firearms featured in the plot, and an amazing battle sequence at the end. The star of the film, Jon Blake, was driving home from the set on the last day of shooting in 1986 and was struck head-on by a drunk driver. Mr Blake was seriously brain-damaged as a result and has been in a 'trapped' vegatative coma for the past 20+ years. Mr. Blake was said to be on the verge of becoming a bigger star then Mel Gibson ! Poor guy !

A year or so earlier he was in another fine Aussie film called 'Anzacs', about WWI in Europe, co-starring Paul Hogan. A wonderful film if you can find it ! SMLE's, Lewis Guns, and of course Webleys in abundance !

C. Cash · Post by **C. Cash** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 9:53 am

+1 for Gallipoli. You'll never get Barber's Adagio out of your head for the rest of you life though.

GANJIRO · Post by **GANJIRO** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 10:36 am

I almost forgot one of my favorite WWI movie and on top ten all time favorites "Lawrence of Arabia" with Peter O'Toole

GANJIRO · Post by **GANJIRO** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 10:45 am

awp101 wrote:
GANJIRO wrote:the only major complaint being the cylinders of the WWI era radial engines NOT spinning with the propellors like they're supposed too.
Depends on the engine. Not all radials are rotary. It's been a while since I spent any quality time with my WWI aero books and since I haven't seen Flyboys yet I can't say which birds they're using that may or may not have rotaries other than the DrI and Sopwith Camel.

Skipped my mind, wrong terminology, I meant more specifically rotary engine (not to be confused with the Wankel engine). Love of WWII aircraft second only to firearms, though not an expert on WWI aircraft and fighter aces like my Dad was, he even as a kid wrote and got autographes for many surviving WWI aces from both sides including Eddie Rickenbacker, and HERMAN GOERING. He never found out whatever happened to his autograph collection but figures his dad sold while he was away fighting the Japs in the South Pacific.

omgb · Post by **omgb** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 10:52 am

There where several WWI acft that had the cyl rotating with the prop. This caused tremendous problems with torq steer and reversed control input. IIRC, the Sopwith Camel was one of these but I may be wrong about that.

Another interesting tid bit centers around using Castor oil for lube. Several acft did. The fun part was that they sprayed a fine mist of that oil all over the pilot as he flew. The end result was that the pilot ingested a lot of this stuff and suffered from chronic diarrhea as a result.

For my money, Wings is the pest of the ariel pictures and The Lost Batallion is the best of the ground pictures.

I was thinking too, what about Breaker Morant? IIRC, that was a WWI movie as was The African Queen ...wow, another fine film.

chuckles · Post by **chuckles** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 11:18 am

omgb wrote:

I was thinking too, what about Breaker Morant? IIRC, that was a WWI movie

While a good movie, I think Breaker Morant was set in the Boer War.
Light Horsemen, Gallipoli, Sgt York, All quiet On the Western front, and I always liked "The Blue Max" Good George Peppard movie that also included that 60s tidbit, Ursula Andress.

cpt Dan Blodgett · Post by **cpt Dan Blodgett** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 5:56 pm

What about the fighting 69th?

engravertom · Post by **engravertom** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 9:59 pm

Breaker Morant = 2nd Boer War.

A good war to study in our day...

+1 for Lawrence of Arabia!

The scene of all the Arabs bickering at the end reminds me of our country today.

Take care,

Tom

FWiedner · Post by **FWiedner** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 10:48 pm

Not strictly WWI movies, but I liked parts of them that were connected to the war:

Legends of the Fall - Tristan followed his brother to war, swearing to bring him home. When he was unable to bring Sam's body home, Tristan brought his fallen brothers heart home packed in a can so that it could be buried beside loved ones in the family plot.

The Razor's Edge - Larry went to war driving an ambulance. when a soldier would pass, his comrades held a graveside ceremony to criticize the earthly faults of the fallen dead and then swore never to speak ill of them again.

Probably fictition, but poignant nevertheless.

FWiedner · Post by **FWiedner** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 10:51 pm

engravertom wrote:+1 for Lawrence of Arabia!

The scene of all the Arabs bickering at the end reminds me of our country today.

Terrific film!

If I'm thinking of the same scene, they were bickering over spoils.

I believe that we are bickering over justification.

Post by **Ysabel Kid** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 10:53 pm

This post got me to thinking about a letter I keep on my book shelf. It is from my paternal Grandfather to my Grandmother, when he was stationed "over there", in Europe, during WWI. It is dated 05/20/1918. Hope the scan comes out well enough to read!

C. Cash · Post by **C. Cash** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 10:55 pm

WOW Ysable!!!!!

That is really a treasure.

Post by **Ysabel Kid** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 10:57 pm

C. Cash wrote:WOW Ysable!!!!! That is really a treasure.

Thank you. You guys are inspiring me to share other family treasures. I scanned this picture this morning - another that sits on my book shelf. It was taken of my maternal grandfather - he's the jokster holding up the other guy's chin!

He was too young to serve in WWI, and served well before WWII.

Alzheimer's took him from us in 1998. Rest in peace Papa...

Marlin .35 · Post by **Marlin .35** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 11:33 pm

I vote for Lawrence of Arabia, and Seargent York as the best of the best!!!!Art

OT: Best WW1 Movies

OT: Best WW1 Movies

Flyboyz...

What no Irishmen here??