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 Long March to Freedom (2011)
Director: Stephen Saunders
In January 1945, in the death throes of an evil empire and as the Red Army resumed its relentless advance towards Germany, the inmates of POW camps in... Read more
The Long Way Home (Simon Wiesenthal Collection) (1997)
7.1/10
Director: Mark Jonathan Harris
Starring: David Paymer, Helen Slater, Martin Landau, Michael York, Morgan Freeman, (narrat...
Using interviews with Holocaust survivors, newsreel footage, and readings of letters, journals, and news reports, to tell the story of the hardships f... Read more
The Memphis Belle (1944)
7.4/10
Director: William Wyler
Supervised by Lt. Col. William Wyler, director of such classics as 'Mrs Miniver' and 'Wuthering Heights', for the U.S. War Department. The film's subj... Read more
The Nazi War Machine of WWII (2007)
This is the story of the creation of the Nazi war machine. We trace it's origins from the Freikorps and street thugs battling in the German streets af... Read more
The Nazis: A Warning From History (1997)
8.7/10
This fascinating six-part BBC documentary chronicles the rise of the Nazi party, using interviews and archive footage to determine if the civilized, c... Read more
The Pacific War: Day of Infamy (2005)
On December 7 1942, the US Naval base on Oahu was bombed by the Japanese, drawing the US into World War 2. Sixty years on, experts and eye witnesses... Read more
The Pacific: The Most Famous Battles (2010)
8.3/10
Experience the bloodiest battles of the Pacific Theatre as this in-depth documentary examines the personalities, weapons, firepower, tactics and leade... Read more
The Quest for Bannockburn (2014)
6.7/10
700 years after one of the most significant conflicts in British history, Neil Oliver and Tony Pollard go in search of both the real and imagined Batt... Read more
The Rescuers: Heroes of the Holocaust (2011)
6.9/10
Director: Michael King
The film traces the journey of Stephanie Nyombayire, a young Rwandan anti-genocide activist who teams up with Sir Martin Gilbert, the renowned Holocau... Read more
The Robert Epstein Collection: The Celluloid Closet / Common Threads / Paragraph 175 / The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
Director: Jeffrey Friedman, Rob Epstein
A collection of four documentaries from queer filmmaker Robert Epstein. "The Celluloid Closet" (1995) - This entertaining and often hilarious look at... Read more