# WWII in pictures; or, how much of the war can be told in movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 11, 2018, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-in-pictures-or-how-much-of-the-war-can-be-told-in-movies/824354 "2018-11-11T13:56:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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 13, 2018, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-in-pictures-or-how-much-of-the-war-can-be-told-in-movies/824354/41 "2018-11-13T17:49:14Z")
Although I hear the movie sucked, I always liked the title of _All This and World War II_. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-in-pictures-or-how-much-of-the-war-can-be-told-in-movies/824354/42 "2018-11-13T18:06:50Z")
[The Pianist.](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0253474/) ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-in-pictures-or-how-much-of-the-war-can-be-told-in-movies/824354/43 "2018-11-13T18:12:34Z")
_[Europa Europa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_Europa)_, based on Solomon Perel’s autobiography, would seem to have enough realism to shed some light on some lesser-explored aspects of WWII. (I had not realized that [Perel is still alive at 93 years old](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Perel)). Though fictional, it would seem that _[The Boy in the Striped Pajamas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boy_in_the_Striped_Pyjamas_(film))_ includes many views of life behind the scenes that would be of value in shaping an overall WWII story. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-in-pictures-or-how-much-of-the-war-can-be-told-in-movies/824354/44 "2018-11-13T18:17:19Z")
Since it hasn’t been mentioned, I highly recommend the documentary [_The Ritchie Boys_](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435725/?ref_=nv_sr_1). ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-in-pictures-or-how-much-of-the-war-can-be-told-in-movies/824354/45 "2018-11-13T18:35:29Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > The German film Stalingrad. An often overlooked film. Too bad, because it’s quite gripping. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-in-pictures-or-how-much-of-the-war-can-be-told-in-movies/824354/46 "2018-11-13T18:59:22Z")
I haven’t seen this, but no story about the weapons of WWII would be complete without a treatment on the [Proximity Fuze](https://shop.pbs.org/the-deadly-fuze-the-story-of-wwiis-best-kept-secret-dvd/product/DFBS401). Although the A-bomb gets all the glory, the proximity fuze and radar were probably the two most important technological advantages that the Allies had. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-in-pictures-or-how-much-of-the-war-can-be-told-in-movies/824354/47 "2018-11-13T19:45:20Z")
All allegedly based wholly or partly on true stories: _Five Fingers_ (1952) - During WWII the valet to the British Ambassador to Ankara sells British secrets to the Germans while trying to romance a refugee Polish countess. _The Devil’s General_ (1955) - 1941, the Third Reich seems to be winning the war. Luftwaffe (air force) general Harry Harras enjoys the good life as highly respected technician and Berlin ministry/ HQ official. However his outspoken critical attitude at social occasions awakes hopes from opposition and suspicion from the Nazi party. _The Man Who Never Was_ (1956) - True story of a British attempt to trick the enemy into weakening Sicily’s defenses before the 1943 attack, using a dead man with faked papers. _Ice Cold In Alex_ (1958) - During WW2 in North Africa, a medical field unit must cross the desert in their ambulance in order to reach the British lines in Alexandria. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-in-pictures-or-how-much-of-the-war-can-be-told-in-movies/824354/48 "2018-11-13T21:10:15Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > _The Imitation Game_ is about Alan Turing and British codebreaking. While the movie might give you a feel for Turing as a character, it’s a bit too fictional for a good historical treatment. It works as a movie but much of the story is made up to the point that it is seriously inaccurate in really important things about how the war went. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-in-pictures-or-how-much-of-the-war-can-be-told-in-movies/824354/49 "2018-11-13T21:12:55Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > His heroism was attested to by all his shipmates, including his towing of a badly-burned fellow sailor with a life-jacket strap clenched in his teeth, despite injuring his own back. He earned the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. > > [John F. Kennedy - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy#Commanding_the_PT-109) In his book _ **The Kennedy Imprisonment: A Meditation on Power** _, Garry Wills devotes some time to the PT 109 incident and how it was handled. > **[The Kennedy Imprisonment: A Meditation on Power: Wills, Garry: 9780618134434:...](https://www.amazon.com/Kennedy-Imprisonment-Meditation-Power/dp/0618134433)** > > The Kennedy Imprisonment: A Meditation on Power \[Wills, Garry\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. The Kennedy Imprisonment: A Meditation on Power It’s definitely worth a read. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-in-pictures-or-how-much-of-the-war-can-be-told-in-movies/824354/50 "2018-11-13T22:04:49Z")
I’ve gone over the list and do not see _ **The Great Escape** _, one of my all-time favorite movies. I recommend you read the book as well, for purposes of comparison. [https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb\_sb\_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks-intl-ship&field-keywords=The+Great+Escape](https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks-intl-ship&field-keywords=The+Great+Escape) Neither do I see _ **The Desert Rats** _ or _ **The Desert Fox** _. Both fairly accurate depictions of the war in North Africa, and both have James Mason as Erwin Rommel! _ **Thirty Seconds over Tokyo** _ should be watched after seeing _ **Destination: Tokyo** _ (the story of the submariners in Tokyo Harbor who fed information to Doolittle’s force) and before _ **The Purple Heart** _ (the show trial of the airmen captured during the Doolittle Raid.) Another of my all-time favorite movies is _ **Objective: Burma** _. Errol Flynn leads a Merrill’s Marauders–type group on a mission behind Japanese lines. My mother told me “Once you’ve seen it, you’ll never forget it,” and she was right. _ **13 Rue Madeline** _ and _ **Orders to Kill** _ are about Allied agents working with the French Resistance. _ **Decision before Dawn** _ is about a German recruited by the Allies as an agent who’s caught up in the chaos of the Third Reich’s last days. _ **The Guns of Navarone** _ is a great movie, once you get past Gregory Peck speaking “German like a German, and Greek like a Greek,” and teen heartthrob James Darren singing at a Greek wedding. Watch _ **Force Ten from Navarone** _ only if you want a good laugh and don’t mind your intelligence being insulted. _ **The Secret Invasion** _ is about an attempt to create a diversion in the Balkans prior to the invasion of Sicily (IIRC). It would never win any awards for accuracy, but it does touch on an aspect of the war that’s usually overlooked. The same is true for _ **633 Squadron** _, in which RAF Mosquito crews train for a suicide mission up a Norwegian fjord. If this sounds familiar, it’s because whole scenes were lifted from this movie for the raid on the Death Star in the original _ **Star Wars** _. Seriously though, the Mossie is one of the great unsung heroes of WWII. ---
**Author:** ![Reindeer\_Flotilla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reindeer_flotilla/32/3024_2.png) [@Reindeer\_Flotilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reindeer_Flotilla)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-in-pictures-or-how-much-of-the-war-can-be-told-in-movies/824354/51 "2018-11-13T22:12:42Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > You should probably not cite _Inglourious Basterds_, _Iron Sky_, _The Final Countdown_, or _Bloodrayne: The Third Reich_ in any doctoral dissertations either. How dare you sir! _Iron Sky_ was a documentary, and the events happened in real time. 😉 Good choices, and I’d also add the just-released _Overlord_, which probably contains a slight embellishment or two. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-in-pictures-or-how-much-of-the-war-can-be-told-in-movies/824354/52 "2018-11-13T22:27:21Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > On the other hand Battle of the Bulge is hated even though it is one of a few movies that show tank battles. Waste of a good cast and a good story. Yeah, but the scene where Robert Shaw and his recruits sing the _ **Panzer Lied** _ is worth the cost of admission alone! :o I just wish they had bothered to learn more than the first verse. :( ---
**Author:** ![Reindeer\_Flotilla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reindeer_flotilla/32/3024_2.png) [@Reindeer\_Flotilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reindeer_Flotilla)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-in-pictures-or-how-much-of-the-war-can-be-told-in-movies/824354/53 "2018-11-13T22:31:41Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > As a former tanker I can tell you actual tankers love Kelly’s Heroes. Who cares if it doesn’t make historical sense. > > On the other hand Battle of the Bulge is hated even though it is one of a few movies that show tank battles. Waste of a good cast and a good story. I also consider _Kelly’s Heroes_ one of my favorite tank movies. As a kid, I really loved _Battle of the Bulge_ but as an adult, not so much. Still, it brings back fond childhood memories of watching it so I’ll pop it in the player every now and then. > [@](#): > > The scene where Edward Albert’s plane catches on fire and he’s screaming as he is putting out the fire on his own body stuck with me. You want the feel of war? That’s it. I saw that movie when it was new in the theaters (in Sensurround!!!) and that scene, including the suffering endured to fly back and land on the carrier, still haunts me. Through the eyes of a kid the movie’s action scenes were fun in a comic book sort of way, but everything suddenly got real about combat when that happened. > [@](#): > > Tora! Tora! Tora! was mentioned but should be again. More than Midway it tried to be as accurate as possible from both sides. It was a joint US and Japanese production with directors from both countries. I’d like to triple the mention of it. The Blu-Ray of it is awesome and I like to show it to friends with an interest in WWII history. Especially to give it some love as it flopped at the box office, but now is rightfully being appreciated. And as you know, a significant portion of the Japanese production side was done by Kurosawa and the quality shows. He was let go near the end of production, and that and the failure the first attempt at his screenplay for _Runaway Train_ ended his Hollywood career ambitions. I do highly recommend the 80’s remake of _Runaway Train_ that credits Kurosawa, it’s wonderful. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-in-pictures-or-how-much-of-the-war-can-be-told-in-movies/824354/54 "2018-11-13T22:45:42Z")
[Swing Kids](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swing_Kids_(1993_film)) ---
**Author:** ![UncaStuart](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncastuart/32/404_2.png) [@UncaStuart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncaStuart)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-in-pictures-or-how-much-of-the-war-can-be-told-in-movies/824354/55 "2018-11-14T03:20:00Z")
With _Sink the Bismarck!_ being mentioned, I would add _Battle of the River Plate_ (also released as _The Pursuit of the Graf Spee_). Definitely second _They Were Expendable_ and _Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo_, as two made-during-the-war movies that did not go into propaganda mode to any great extent. _A Walk in the Sun_, released in 1946, is a good one to show the GI’s view of things, ignorant of the larger tactics and strategy surrounding them. A mini-series, _Piece of Cake_, shows the bone-wearying constant combat in the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain for a RAF squadron (even if the filmers had to use Spitfires instead of Hurricanes). ---
**Author:** ![UncaStuart](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncastuart/32/404_2.png) [@UncaStuart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncaStuart)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-in-pictures-or-how-much-of-the-war-can-be-told-in-movies/824354/56 "2018-11-14T03:23:49Z")
Oh, and _The Story of GI Joe_, from 1945, based on Ernie Pyle’s articles while with the US Army in Tunisia and Italy, gives an unromanticized look at the fighting there. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-in-pictures-or-how-much-of-the-war-can-be-told-in-movies/824354/57 "2018-11-14T06:08:42Z")
> [@UncaStuart](#): > > Oh, and _The Story of GI Joe_, from 1945, based on Ernie Pyle’s articles while with the US Army in Tunisia and Italy, gives an unromanticized look at the fighting there. _ **To Hell and Back** _ is the true story of Audie Murphy, the most decorated American soldier in history. It stars Audie Murphy himself, and is true to his autobiography. _ **The Great Raid** _ is an accurate account of an actual raid to free Allied POWs in the Philippines. _ **Merrill’s Marauders** _ is about the group of commandos by the same name, operating behind Japanese lines in Burma. It’s been years since I’ve seen it, but I think it’s fairly accurate depiction of their exploits. _ **No Man Is an Island** _ is the story of an American sailor hiding out on Guam during the Japanese occupation. If you can get past the concept of a tough Marine paired with a beautiful nun,\*\*\* Heaven Knows, Mr Allison\*\*\* is also a pretty good movie about hiding out from the Japanese on a Pacific island. _ **Three Came Home** _ is an autobiographical account of Allied women interred in Borneo during the Japanese occupation. _ **The Big Lift** _ and _ **The Search** _, both with Montgomery Clift, are about life in postwar Germany. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-in-pictures-or-how-much-of-the-war-can-be-told-in-movies/824354/58 "2018-11-14T06:27:24Z")
_ **The Train** _, about the French Resistance foiling an attempt to ship looted art treasures to Germany, is also highly recommended. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-in-pictures-or-how-much-of-the-war-can-be-told-in-movies/824354/59 "2018-11-14T06:47:25Z")
Another mini-series, _ **A Man Called Intrepid** _, “tells for the first time the full story of British Security Co-ordination, the international allied intelligence agency of World War II whose work [was] a closely guarded secret for [many] years. Accounts include top level wartime undercover operations including the breaking of the German Enigma code and the race for the atomic bomb.” The HBO version of Robert Harris’s _ **Enigma** _ is worth watching to get an idea of how the codebreakers at Bletchley Park worked, though the story is changed around a lot to give the female lead (Kate Winslet) a more important role. Again, read the book for purposes of comparison. MAJOR ERROR IN THE BOOK: Smolensk is in Russia, not Ukraine. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-in-pictures-or-how-much-of-the-war-can-be-told-in-movies/824354/60 "2018-11-14T06:59:38Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > [_A Bridge Too Far_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Bridge_Too_Far_(film)), which I believe is a reasonably accurate depiction of Operation Market Garden. One “concession” for American audiences: the bridge taken by (I think) Robert Redford (or maybe Ryan O’Neal; I don’t remember) was actually taken by a British paratrooper. Just like in _ **Memphis Belle** _, the B-17s HAD TO BE escorted by Mustangs instead of Spitfires, even though they weren’t available yet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-in-pictures-or-how-much-of-the-war-can-be-told-in-movies/824354.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-in-pictures-or-how-much-of-the-war-can-be-told-in-movies/824354.md?page=4)