War Docos
Innovative German film-maker Leni Riefenstahl's pioneering masterwork epic "Triumph of the Will" (1934) was explicitly propagandistic yet historical in its spectacular yet horrifying documentation of the Nazi Party Congress rally in Nuremberg in 1934. It was a revolutionary film combining superb cinematography and editing of Third Reich propaganda. She also documented the 1936 Berlin Olympics in the stunning film "Olympia" (1938) - with graceful and beautiful images of 'Aryan' athletes in competition. To respond to the Nazi propaganda, Frank Capra was commissioned by the US War Department to direct seven films in a "Why We Fight" (1943) series of narrated WWII newsreel-style films. The first in the series, "Prelude to War," a look at the events from 1931-1939, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1942. These and many other truely great War Documentaries, including the BBC's brilliant "World At War" series, are available by scrolling below.
Right: William Wyler's Academy Award winning "The Memphis Belle"Â
The Holocaust: Dachau & Sachsenhausen (2006)
7.5/10
Whilst Hitler sought the answers to his "Jewish problem", more and more centres of containment sprung up throughout Nazi occupied Europe. Two such cam... Read more
The Holocaust: Majdanek (2006)
7.5/10
Discovered by Russian troops in July 1944 the Majdanek Nazi concentration and extermination camp near Lubin was the scene of some of Hitler's most dis... Read more
The Holocaust: The Liberation of Auschwitz (2004)
7.5/10
Recorded from January - February 1945 by a Soviet film crew attached to the 1st Ukrainian Front, the programme tells the story of the liberation of th... Read more
The Holocaust: The Yellow Star (2006)
7.5/10
"One hundred dead are a catastrophe; millions of dead are a statistic." The horrendous observations of Adolf Eichmann. This Oscar nominated documentar... Read more
The Hunt For HMAS Sydney (2008)
Starring: (narrated by), Colin Friels
The wreckage of HMAS Sydney, sunk off the West Australian coast in 1941, has at last been found. The Sydney's entire crew of 645 went down with the sh... Read more
The Kill Team (2013)
7.1/10
Director: Dan Krauss
A work of acute psychological journalism, Dan Krauss's The Kill Team outlines an event that caused a dishearteningly brief furor in the domestic media... Read more
The Korean War: Fire and Ice (2011)
7.3/10
Director: Lou Reda
The Korean War was a war of firsts: The first jet war; the first war where it was not possible to unleash full power, politically or militarily, and t... Read more
The Lancaster at War (2009)
Director: Stephen Saunders
Starring: Narrated by, Stuart Rodgers
The Avro Lancaster is widely regarded as the finest British heavy bomber of the Second World War. Using the best wartime film and air-to-air footage o... Read more
The Last Ridge: The Uphill Battles of the 10th Mountain Division (2007)
Director: Abbie Kealy
On February 18, 1945, the newly initiated 10th Mountain Division managed what many thought impossible in the mountains of Italy. Scaling a 2000 foot c... Read more
The Last Voices of the Great War (2008)
8/10
Director: Nick Maddocks
A powerful first-person testimony to one of the most fascinating and traumatic episodes in human history, The Last Voices of the Great War, presents t... Read more