"Great war films that are less well known?" Topic

What are some great war films that are less well known?

Two films that I didn't know about until many years after their release are

1. The Duelists (Napoleonic)
2. Le Colonel Chabert (Napoleonic)

which are both superb.

I watched the Lost Battlion on YouTube last year. Never heard of it befor that but it was very good.

The Crossing…. Jeff Daniels plays Washington as he decides to cross the Delaware and attack the hessians at Trenton. I was impressed with his performance… Its on You Tube……

Port Arthur Japanese film,Die Manner der Emden german film. Admiral Russian film .

The Lighthorsemen. Australian mounted infantry in Palestine during WWI.

The General with Buster Keaton (1926), Walt Disney's The Great Locomotive Chase (1956), The Train with Burt Lancaster (1964) -- three of the best war/railroading movies ever made.

Speaking of lesser-known movies, my favorite is the one from the Franco-Prussian war, that I really liked, but nobody could remember the name, back when somebody ask what films were there about this conflict.

One of my favorite world war one films is "a very long engagement "

From lesser-known wars, I would pick " Flesh+Blood" and the "last valley."

The Gift Horse (aka Glory at Sea), a 1952 British film showing life on the ocean waves in the Royal navy during the early part of WWII, plus an abbreviated but vivid reenactment of the commando raid on St. Nazaire.

Son of the Morning Star, a Ted Turner made-for-TV production about 1989 that is nonetheless the best recreation of Little Bighorn yet done. Superb!

Joyeux Noel (aka Merry Christmas), a very nice movie from only a few years ago about the Christmas Truce of 1914.

"Speaking of lesser-known movies, my favorite is the one from the Franco-Prussian war, that I really liked, but nobody could remember the name, back when somebody ask what films were there about this conflict."

Could it have been Champ d'Honneur (aka Field of Honor)?

Black Robe isn't about war, strictly speaking, but it's a terrific film about the French and Hurons and Iroquois in the 17th century that was lost in the shadows of Dances with Wolves, which came out earlier in that same year.

"Anzacs". Ok it is an Australian TV series but well worth watching. Very convincing considering it was all shot in out-back Victoria. Great acting too.

@TheGDog. With you on "The Lighthorsemen" – Great film.

Of course, I might be bias! :-)

Mike

@ Bobgnar. Are you thinking of "Prisoner of Honour" Starting Richard Dreyfus?

Mike

Ditto for Lost Battalion and ANZACS. I would toss in The Roughriders from TNT. Not WWI, but a good and watchable recount of the Spanish-American War and Roosevelt's part in it.

'Too Late the Hero' (Michael Caine film set in the Pacific) which has a bit of a far fetched premise but it's a decent watch.

Franco-Vietnamese production: Dienbienphu.

It is very hard to know what is 'well known' and what isn't, some of the films above I watched when they were first released (although not 'The General'!).

A few of the more marginally obscure, although probably not to many people as many of them have been discussed on the forum:

'Die Brucke', the original of The Bridge, remade a few years ago.

'Come and See', a rather harrowing account of partisans and SS in Byelorussia with beautiful imagery.

'They were not Divided', postwar flag waver about the US-UK special relationship featuring a US officer serving it the Guards Armoured Div. One for treadheads as it uses lots of original kit, including running Stug and Tiger 1.

The incomparable 'The Way Ahead', another wartime flag waver starring David Niven about the plucky British infantryman. Made during the war. In a similar vein 'The Cruel Sea', dramatisation of Nicholas Montserrats book. Again, neither are hugely obscure, but worth seeing if you haven't.

'Breaker Morant'. The Boer War. Is it obscure? not sure.

'The Last Valley', an interesting 30 Years War film starring Micheal Caine. 'We won but oh how we lost'. You don't get many 30 Years War films.

'Ulzanas Raid', both a classic western and interesting commentary on Vietnam. Strong stuff and Burt Lancaster is excellent.

Also for lovers of Burt Lancaster, 'Valdez is Coming', not really a war film but he does wear his cavalry uniform. 'Sharps, my own load'.

'It Happened Here', b/w film about a successful German occupation of the UK. A beak picture of nazi occupation, includes the British 'Black Prince' Waffen SS division and a working Jagdpanther.

'Threads', WW3 in the 1980s. Surprisingly hard to get hold of, but of personal interest as I run past 'Ruths parents' house every week and occasionally shop in the store where the customers saw the mushroom cloud over RAF Finningly. Even after all these years Tinsley is still the best place to drop a nuke on Sheffield. Also pretty strong stuff in places.

'The odd angry shot' is worth a watch

Many great titles mentioned above. I would also like to add the New Zealand movie "Utu".

Mike

"Zulu Dawn" with Peter O'Toole and Burt Lancaster -- prequel to "Zulu" but less well-known.

Actually, my favorite of the two films.

The Last Armoured Train (Russian ) WW2
"Ambush" (Finnish) WW2 bicycle recon troops Karellian campaign.
Charlie Mopic (vietnam)
Dunkirk with John Mills.

"The Tanks are Coming" about an American tank crew in NW Europe in 1944/45. Story by Samuel Fuller and filmed at Fort Knox in 1951, it's full of original American armor. They even make the attempt to make the German tanks look right, using M10s modified with sheet metal to look like Panthers.

"Sahara" is one of those rare movies where you seen an M3 Lee

"Black and White in Color" is a great WWI move set in Africa – which is in French but is a fantastic film

Tae Guk Gi – The brotherhood of war A Korean film about the Korean War

Sahara -- Humphrey Bogart
Air Force -- John Garfield
The Real Glory -- David Niven and Gary Cooper
Battleground -- Van Johnson
Hell is for Heroes
just about anything with John Wayne

Not a war movie per se but military. Guns at Batasi. Interesting movie set in 50s or 60s Africa. Stars Richard Attenborough and Jack Hawkins. I only saw the last half but it was pretty good.

No Man's Land.

"The fall of a nation!" 2ed Part of "rise of a nation".

Five Graves to Cairo

Stalingrad (2013)

No one mentioned "A Midnight Clear" (1992) yet.

Not quite of the same quality, but with some good performances, "Malta Story" (1953) with Alec Guiness is on Netflix right now.

The hill (Sean Connery)
The Wargmame (1965) – Cold war nuclear attack, presented as a documentary
Slaughterhouse five (Dresden)

I also like Went the Day Well and Appointment with Venus.

Warriors of the Rainbow. More heads cut off in one movie than I have ever seen before. About 300 native highland warriors on Taiwan fighting the Japanese in 1910 and again in 1930's.

Man, I am glad to have watched some of those. But sad not yet not have seen some of the others.

I really thought "Wicked Spring" was a pretty good ACW film.

"A Long Day's Dying". A movie about 3 telepathic British paratroopers and their German fallshirmjager prisoner during Operation Varsity.

"Castle Keep". I know lots of people hate it, I like it. Again, a slightly surreal take on WW2 but very good characters and good action.

"84 Charlie Mopic". Vietnam war movie about a special forces team and a documentary crew.

"317e Section". French movie about the Indochina war.

"La Grande Illusion". 1930s WW1 POW movie. Excellent.

"67 Days", "Battle of Neretva". Back in my teens, I had a thing for Yugoslavian partisan movies. It's a phase a lot of war movie buffs go through.

"Pork Chop Hill". Possibly the best Korean War movie ever.

"Wings". Possibly the best aerial combat movie ever made and it's from 1927.

"Damn The Defiant". Early 60s movie set on board a British warship in the Napoleonic Wars and featuring Dirk Bogarde as a sadistic first officer.

"Battleground". Superior Battle of the Bulge movie from the late 1940s. Made in spite of the Hollywood decency code and with a real feel of authenticity about it.

"The Winter War" is still my favorite WWII movie.

I'm glad others have filled in some worthy blanks above! Die Brucke, Damn the Defiant, Wings, Zulu Dawn, A Midnight Clear (my personal fave WWII film), the Hill, Too Late the Hero, all very interesting movies. Some maybe a little more well known than others (esp. with this group).

The Wind that Shakes the Barley is excellent at portraying the gritty reality and tragic conflicts of the Irish civil wars.

Tunes of Glory isn't set in wartime, but it is a very dramatic depiction of a clash of egos and attitudes in a Scottish Highland battalion in the post-WWII period, and the period slang and uniforms are very well done (apart from the fictional tartan).

"Dawn Patrol" the 1938 film with Errol Flynn. Captures how we think fighter pilots should be.

'Guns at Batasi' made a lasting impression on me as a child, mainly for Richard Attenborough's classic ram-rod Sergeant Major bellowing 'That man there!!! across the parade ground.

Mike – the leader of a bush walking group I used to belong to once recounted to me an incident that occurred during his four-wheel driving adventures:

He was driving cross-country in the Flinders Ranges, when he began to wonder if he was losing his grip on reality, imagining that he saw in the distance a Middle Eastern town.

Naturally perturbed, and desirous of avoiding a stint at the funny farm, he determined to confirm that his sanity was intact and so made a bee-line for the mirage, which disturbingly failed to vanish in the heat haze as he approached. It was only when he was almost in camera-shot and production staff were frantically trying to wave him away that the truth of the situation dawned.

Bang Rajan… fairly recent movie showing the Thais struggling against Burmese invasion…. not sure of the time period but I believe the Burmese had gunpowder and the Thais none.

Captain Alatriste: The Spanish Musketeer starring Viggo Morgensen. Shows Tercios, etc. Didn't see the whole movie but saw one scene with the sword and buckler men sticking it to the pikemen…

El Cid and Action in the North Atlantic

Finnish movies- usually lots of good period kit.
Talvisota
Rukjarvenen Tie
Framom Fremsta Linjen
Tali-Ihantala

German
Stalingrad (1993)

Max Manus man of steel, excellent WW2 film!

Thanks for trying on the Franco-Prussian war movie but it's not any of those mentioned so far. It was made in the late 70s early 80s.

I forgot one of my favorites from a long forgotten war: "the beast "

: Out of commission, become a pillbox. Out of ammo, become a bunker. Out of time, become heroes.

Sand pebbles. Set on a US boat during the boxer rebellion. Starring Steve Mr Queen, Richard Attenborough and Candice Bergen.

Probably not that poorly known but the German Stalingrad and Cross of Iron are both excellent.

From Russia, Attack on Leningrad and The Brest Fortress / Fortress of War are both excellent.
The former is more of a "movie set during war" and is pretty gut wrenching, the latter is a straight up war action flick.

The Cuckoo is a weird but very funny movie about a Soviet and Finnish soldier both stuck in the same spot with a Lapp lady. Noone speaks the same language so its basically the three characters talking to themselves.

"The General Died at Dawn (1936) was inspired by Cohen, with Gary Cooper playing the part of an Irish-American [sic] adventurer in China."

Haven't seen the film, but I read the book which is excellent.