WW2 dramas / Films

[Davey S2]

I realise that I’m very late to the party but I’ve recently watched Band of Brothers and Pacific and can’t believe I didn’t watch them sooner. Utterly fantastic and incredibly scary when you think that it’s a accurate portrayal of what happened.

I’ve watched Dunkirk as well and loved that too.

Does anyone have any recommendations for similar series or films?

Thanks

[ottovonskidmark]

Generation War. A German mini series following a group of friends during WWII. I thought it was excellent. Iirc it was on Netflix. The loss of innocence is stark

Also - The cruel sea, Cross of Iron, Stalingrad (use subtitles) and Europa Europa.

[Eric Mc]

Battle of Britain and A Bridge Too Far. I can watch them over and over (and have).

[boxedin]

Das Boot
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Boot

If you're ever near St. Rochelle:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/nazi-uboat-pen...

You can go up to the rooftop as well.

[RichFN2]

+1 for Generation War

Downfall
The Pianist
The 12th Man
Hacksaw Ridge
Shindlers List
Saving Private Ryan

[Wacky Racer]

I could reel of a list of around a hundred, but standout ones:-

The Cruel Sea

Angels One Five

Went the day well?

Operation Daybreak

Carve her name with pride

[Davey S2]

Cheers chaps. Should keep me going for a while

[Smiljan]

Thanks for this thread, I'm digging out my Band of Brothers and Pacific box sets this week and re-watching them. Pacific got a lot of poor reviews but it's equally as good as Band of Brothers and historically correct. The two books that were written by two of those men after the war are incredible pieces of writing.

The Pianist is right up there as one of the best. Top class acting and again a true story that watching it's hard to believe what they endured and how insidious the changes were over time that the Germans made.

[cuprabob]

Currently watching Appointment in London on one of the Sony channels.

Twelve O' Clock High is also a good watch. Another is One of our Aircraft is Missing

Edited by cuprabob on Sunday 12th April 11:09

[texaxile]

ottovonskidmark said:

Generation War. A German mini series following a group of friends during WWII. I thought it was excellent. Iirc it was on Netflix. The loss of innocence is stark

Also - The cruel sea, Cross of Iron, Stalingrad (use subtitles) and Europa Europa.

Yep, Generation War was excellent and interesting to see it from the German perspective.

Another shout for Stalingrad, but the 1993 version rather than the 2013. I have been told that it might be possible to get it from certain sites which provide the downloading of TV shows and films.

[aeropilot]

Davey S2 said:

I’ve watched Dunkirk as well and loved that too.

I hope that was the proper 1950's film with John Mills in, rather than the awful one released a couple of years ago?

[Wacky Racer]

Smiljan said:

The Pianist is right up there as one of the best. Top class acting and again a true story that watching it's hard to believe what they endured and how insidious the changes were over time that the Germans made.

I saw The Pianist on The Imax screen when it was released, superb.

The Wheelchair scene:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aD6VpfUlHE

[NBTBRV8]

I am currently watching the 2018 Das Boot mini series. It is pretty good.

[ottovonskidmark]

aeropilot said:

Davey S2 said:

I’ve watched Dunkirk as well and loved that too.

I hope that was the proper 1950's film with John Mills in, rather than the awful one released a couple of years ago?

My fil nearly walked out of the cinema! I hated it as well. Complete fantasy nonsense from the start. The protagonist running from the Wehrmacht in a street then turns a corner and is on the beach. The Germans were miles away engaging the rearguard. Oh, and the burning spitfire with broom handle holding in the prop!

The original is excellent.

[Mortgage_tom]

+3 for Generation War

[davidc1]

Heroes of telemark. Ray mears 3 part series. Is on you tube i think.

[wisbech]

Grave of the Fireflies. Make sure you have lots of tissues... Semi-autobiographical as well (about two small kids during the fire-bombings of Osaka)

[ottovonskidmark]

davidc1 said:

Heroes of telemark. Ray mears 3 part series. Is on you tube i think.

+1 for this. Double hard Norwegian commandos. Was this the story where a Norwegian resistance fighter is chased for miles by a determined German mountain soldier? They skied for bloody miles until the German gave up the chase!

[Europa1]

The special effects are woeful to modern eyes, but I still enjoy The Dam Busters. It's a reminder of what was a truly remarkable achievement, from the concept of the bomb itself through to the skill in chucking a Lancaster around at low altitude, to the bravery of doing so flying into anti aircraft fire and the agony felt by Barnes Wallis at the cost of it (although I do not know whether that is a historical fact).

[tdm34]

A matter of Life and Death.

Valkyrie

633 Squadron (because Mossies)

The Purple Plain

Sink the Bismarck

Battle of Britain