# Your favorite/best War Movies Prior to 1940 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 28, 2015, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-best-war-movies-prior-to-1940/721010 "2015-05-28T03:18:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-best-war-movies-prior-to-1940/721010/21 "2015-05-29T02:42:04Z")
Add a Dawn Patrol vote as my fifth. A period where I only had to exclude a couple I’ve seen unlike some of the likely later time periods. There’s none where I felt like I was voting for something merely okay. I suspect some great but relatively unseen will suffer in later eras as well. I doubt my nomination for 84C Mopic goes anywhere for example. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-best-war-movies-prior-to-1940/721010/22 "2015-05-29T03:51:17Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Have to add 1938’s Dawn Patrol to my vote. > [@DinoR](#): > > Add a Dawn Patrol vote as my fifth. > > A period where I only had to exclude a couple I’ve seen unlike some of the likely later time periods. There’s none where I felt like I was voting for something merely okay. I suspect some great but relatively unseen will suffer in later eras as well. I doubt my nomination for 84C Mopic goes anywhere for example. Duly noted. Thanks. Here’s the whole group (at this moment) with current votes and the ones not even in the poll. This is teaching me to wait for more nominations in the other decades before starting another thread for voting! ```auto View Poll Results: Which are your preferred War Movies from this period? This poll will close on 06-26-2015 at 10:22 PM All Quiet on the Western Front 12 40.00% The General 8 26.67% Alexander Nevsky 8 26.67% Wings (1927) 6 20.00% La Grande Illusion 5 16.67% The Battleship Potemkin 4 13.33% Beau Geste 4 13.33% Lives of a Bengal Lancer 3 10.00% The Four Feathers (1939 version) 3 10.00% For Whom the Bell Tolls 2 6.67% OTHER War Movie before 1940 (post and identify) 1 3.33% For King and Country 0 0% The Big Parade 0 0% Allegheny Uprising 0 0% Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 30 ``` =================================================================================================== ```auto The Birth of a Nation http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0004972/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4 (1915) The Fall of Babylon http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0010108/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (1919) Tell It To the Marines http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0018471/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (1926) The Dawn Patrol http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020815/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2 (1930) Bonnie Scotland http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026126/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (1935) Blockheads http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029923/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2 (1938) The Dawn Patrol http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030044/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (1938) Gone with the Wind http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031381/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (1939) For King and Country http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0160109/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2 (1913) POLL The Birth of a Nation http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0004972/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4 (1915) The Fall of Babylon http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0010108/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (1919) The Battleship Potemkin http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0015648/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (1925) POLL The Big Parade http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0015624/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (1925) POLL The General http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017925/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (1926) POLL Tell It To the Marines http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0018471/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (1926) Wings (1927) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0018578/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (1927) POLL All Quiet on the Western Front http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020629/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (1930) POLL The Dawn Patrol http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020815/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2 (1930) Bonnie Scotland http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026126/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (1935) Lives of a Bengal Lancer http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026643/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (1935) POLL La Grande Illusion http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028950/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (1937) POLL Alexander Nevsky http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029850/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (1938) POLL Blockheads http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029923/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2 (1938) The Dawn Patrol http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030044/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (1938) Allegheny Uprising http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031033/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (1939) POLL Beau Geste http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031088/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (1939) POLL For Whom the Bell Tolls http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035896/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (1939) POLL The Four Feathers (1939 version) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031334/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2 (1939) POLL Gone with the Wind http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031381/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (1939) ``` ---
**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:** [May 29, 2015, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-best-war-movies-prior-to-1940/721010/23 "2015-05-29T05:05:13Z")
I’m pleased to see comedy ranging from the gentle to the absurd alongside drama in these polls. Also, there’s a distinction here between _war_ and _military_ that I like. It’s a shame some of the more obscure films will likely get few (if any) votes, because they are superb indeed (e.g., Alan Bates’ _ **King of Hearts** _, as has already been noted elsewhere). Best of all, there is now a great database for future reference. ---
**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:** [May 29, 2015, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-best-war-movies-prior-to-1940/721010/24 "2015-05-29T05:39:46Z")
> **[The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936 film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Charge_of_the_Light_Brigade_(1936_film))** > > The Charge of the Light Brigade is a 1936 American historical adventure film from Warner Bros., starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. It was directed by Michael Curtiz and produced by Samuel Bischoff, with Hal B. Wallis as the executive producer. The film's screenplay is by Michael Jacoby and Rowland Leigh, from a story by Michael Jacoby, and based on the 1854 poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The music score was composed by Max Steiner, his first for The f... ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-best-war-movies-prior-to-1940/721010/25 "2015-05-29T12:50:01Z")
PLEASE SEE [this update](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18398706&postcount=184) for more voting. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-best-war-movies-prior-to-1940/721010/26 "2015-05-29T21:15:01Z")
Here’s a progress report on both polls: ```auto ===================================================== View Poll Results: Which are your preferred War Movies from this period? This poll will close on 06-26-2015 at 10:22 PM All Quiet on the Western Front 15 42.86% Alexander Nevsky 10 28.57% The General 9 25.71% The Battleship Potemkin 7 20.00% La Grande Illusion 7 20.00% Wings (1927) 6 17.14% Beau Geste 5 14.29% Lives of a Bengal Lancer 3 8.57% For Whom the Bell Tolls 3 8.57% The Four Feathers (1939 version) 3 8.57% OTHER War Movie before 1940 (post and identify) 1 2.86% For King and Country 0 0% The Big Parade 0 0% Allegheny Uprising 0 0% Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 35 ===================================================== View Poll Results: Your favorite/best War Movies Prior to 1940 -- Part 2 This poll will close on 06-28-2015 at 07:35 AM The Charge of the Light Brigade 5 83.33% The Dawn Patrol (1930) 2 33.33% The Dawn Patrol (1938) 2 33.33% Drums along the Mohawk 1 16.67% Gone with the Wind 1 16.67% The Birth of a Nation 0 0% The Fall of Babylon 0 0% Tell It To the Marines 0 0% Bonnie Scotland 0 0% Blockheads 0 0% Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 6 ===================================================== ``` ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2015, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-best-war-movies-prior-to-1940/721010/27 "2015-05-30T01:53:27Z")
For another update on both polls [click here.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18400682&postcount=5) ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2015, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-best-war-movies-prior-to-1940/721010/28 "2015-05-30T14:42:10Z")
> [@DinoR](#): > > I suspect some great but relatively unseen will suffer in later eras as well. True. Even with the generally knowledgeable SDMB audience. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2015, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-best-war-movies-prior-to-1940/721010/29 "2015-05-30T14:57:23Z")
> [@Algernon](#): > > True. Even with the generally knowledgeable SDMB audience. No doubt. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop and to learn that one of my all-time favorites has yet to be mentioned. If fact, I wonder how much of a dent our 299 (and counting) makes in the total number of “war movies.” Is there some “official” listing of ALL of them somewhere? ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-best-war-movies-prior-to-1940/721010/30 "2015-05-31T21:38:51Z")
Gance’s _Napoleon_ is well up there. The night-time Siege of Toulon segment is one of the best battle sequences I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-best-war-movies-prior-to-1940/721010/31 "2015-06-01T02:32:23Z")
> [@bonzer](#): > > Gance’s _Napoleon_ is well up there. The night-time Siege of Toulon segment is one of the best battle sequences I’ve ever seen. Napoleon [Napoleon (1927) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0018192/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) (1927) will be added to the “overflow” file. See [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18403558&postcount=216](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18403558&postcount=216) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-best-war-movies-prior-to-1940/721010.md?page=1)