# British Empire War Movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 4, 2011, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-empire-war-movies/601833 "2011-11-04T10:10:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-empire-war-movies/601833/21 "2011-11-04T15:11:44Z")
_King of the Khyber Rifles_, with Tyrone Power, previously a silent version (which I haven’t seen) with Victor McLaglen. _The Lives of a Bengal Lancer_ with Gary Cooper and Franchot Tone, not the same movie as **Das Glasperlenspiel** cites, with which I am not familiar. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-empire-war-movies/601833/22 "2011-11-04T15:12:32Z")
Wee Willie Winkie (1937) – Kipling, the Raj. On the other hand, it stars Shirley Temple. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-empire-war-movies/601833/23 "2011-11-04T15:21:17Z")
And Cesar Romero! ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-empire-war-movies/601833/24 "2011-11-04T15:36:59Z")
I actually liked The Ghost and The Darkness, with Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer which had British imperialism in East Africa as part of the backdrop. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-empire-war-movies/601833/25 "2011-11-04T15:39:34Z")
Sanders of the River, starring Leslie Banks and Paul Robeson, who spent his life apologizing for the mass murderer Josef Stalin > **[Sanders of the River](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanders_of_the_river)** > > Sanders of the River is a 1935 British film directed by the Hungarian-British director, Zoltán Korda, based on the stories of Edgar Wallace. It is set in Colonial Nigeria. The lead Nigerian characters were played by African Americans Paul Robeson and Nina Mae McKinney. The film proved a significant commercial and critical success, giving Korda the first of his four nominations for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival. > Sanders (Leslie Banks) is a colonial District Commissioner in the Colonial ... ---
**Author:** ![Das\_Glasperlenspiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/das_glasperlenspiel/32/2944_2.png) [@Das\_Glasperlenspiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Das_Glasperlenspiel)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-empire-war-movies/601833/26 "2011-11-04T15:59:44Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > _The Lives of a Bengal Lancer_ with Gary Cooper and Franchot Tone, not the same movie as **Das Glasperlenspiel** cites, with which I am not familiar. You are right and I was wrong :smack: - I got “The Lives of a Bengal Lancer” (not “The Bengal Lancers”) and “Gunga Din” conflated. Shoulda checked IMDB instead of relying on a vague childhood memory. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-empire-war-movies/601833/27 "2011-11-04T16:45:09Z")
Too bad! I was looking forward to seeing a new Cary Grant movie! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-empire-war-movies/601833/28 "2011-11-04T17:09:15Z")
The Sanders of the River link led to another interesting article: apparently Zoltan Korda made a career out of making British Empire movies. > **[BFI Screenonline: Korda and Empire](http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/445836/index.html)** > > Four 1930s Alexander Korda films that championed the British Empire ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-empire-war-movies/601833/29 "2011-11-04T17:32:47Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Wee Willie Winkie (1937) – Kipling, the Raj. On the other hand, it stars Shirley Temple. [QUOTE=Sigmagirl] And Cesar Romero! [/QUOTE] And was directed by John Ford! Another British Empire War movie directed by Ford, [The Lost Patrol,](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025423/) is also worth a look. It’s set in WWI Iraq (then called Mesopotamia) and concerns a British patrol that’s stranded in a desert oasis that turns out to be surrounded by hundreds of hostile -and seemingly-invisible-Arabs. [QUOTE=Bridget Burke] For The End of Empire, look up the miniseries Jewel In The Crown. Or read the books [/QUOTE] . Although it’s not a war movie, David Lean’s **A Passage to India** is good companion piece to Jewel in the Crown. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-empire-war-movies/601833/30 "2011-11-04T18:54:34Z")
_Breaker Morant_ is excellent. One of my five favorite movies of all time. Run, do not walk, to get it and see it! Adventure, battles, wenching, poetry, intrigue, courtroom drama - man, it’s good. Haven’t seen it, and I guess there’s not much military stuff in it, but I’ve heard _White Mischief_, about dissolute British colonials in Kenya in the early days of WWII, is pretty good: [White Mischief - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Mischief) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-empire-war-movies/601833/31 "2011-11-04T19:07:47Z")
Bernard Cornwell wrote a series of historic novels about a rifleman named Richard Sharpe. They were adapted into a long series of TV movies. Most of them were set during the Napoleonic Wars, but a couple of the books and movies were set in British India. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-empire-war-movies/601833/32 "2011-11-04T20:12:35Z")
Sabu in “The Drum” One of my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-empire-war-movies/601833/33 "2011-11-04T20:53:40Z")
The OP mentions the “newer” version of _The Four Feathers_. I assume that’s the 2002 movie. I’d recommend checking out the 1977 version. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-empire-war-movies/601833/34 "2011-11-04T21:16:56Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > I share your interest in the genre (or sub-genre, or whatever)…maybe I just have a thing for pith helmets. Spaceballs? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-empire-war-movies/601833/35 "2011-11-04T21:18:22Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The OP mentions the “newer” version of _The Four Feathers_. I assume that’s the 2002 movie. I’d recommend checking out the 1977 version. Or the 1921, 1929 or 1939 versions. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-empire-war-movies/601833/36 "2011-11-04T22:06:28Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Wee Willie Winkie (1937) – Kipling, the Raj. On the other hand, it stars Shirley Temple. That’s negated due to the fact it was directed by film great John Ford. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-empire-war-movies/601833/37 "2011-11-04T22:40:24Z")
[The Sleeping Dictionary](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0242888/) is surprising watchable. No war, but it has Jessica Alba and name all the other movies featuring British colonial Sarawak. [The Ghost and the Darkness](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ghost_and_the_Darkness), I guess. \*now I gotta go watch The Man Who Would Be King again. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-empire-war-movies/601833/38 "2011-11-04T22:40:52Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > For The End of Empire, look up the miniseries [Jewel In The Crown](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jewel_in_the_Crown_(TV_series)). Or read the books. I was going to say this too. The miniseries does the books justice, but the books are incredible! ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-empire-war-movies/601833/39 "2011-11-04T22:54:02Z")
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-empire-war-movies/601833/40 "2011-11-04T23:04:46Z")
Wikipedia has a list of [“British Empire war films”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:British_Empire_war_films) but it’s hardly all-inclusive. _The Wind That Shakes the Barley_ gets a mention, which might be interesting as it has a different setting (Ireland) from what I usually think of when I think “British Empire” (Africa, India). Good film, too. The previously-mentioned _Lives of a Bengal Lancer_ is something I’ve been meaning to watch if it shows up on TV or if I stumble across it at the library. It was made while the Empire was still powerful (1935), possibly even at its peak, at least on paper. I heard somewhere that it was one of Hitler’s favourites-- he saw the British in India as a model of imperialism-- and Wikipedia has a quote to that effect. > [@](#): > > German dictator Adolf Hitler told British Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax in 1937 that “one of his favourite films Lives of a Bengal Lancer, which he saw three times. He liked this film because it depicted a handful of Britons holding a continent in thrall. That was how a superior race must behave and the film was a compulsory viewing for the S.S.” If a guy was to try to watch even the better half of the war movies that are pertinent to the British Empire, he’d be busy for a long time. The Empire was still around for World War II, for one thing, and that has to be one of the most popular settings for movies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-empire-war-movies/601833.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-empire-war-movies/601833.md?page=3)