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
I Was a Fireman (1943)
Director: Humphrey Jennings
Features three films from the man described by Lindsay Anderson as 'the only true poet of the English Cinema'. A collection of key war-time documentar... Read more
In Love with Adolf Hitler (2007)
Director: Isabelle Clarke, Daniel Costelle
Starring: Eva Braun, Adolf Hitler
A unique, compelling and thoroughly fascinating documentary drawing on the vast personal film and photo archives of Eva Braun along with exclusive sho... Read more
In the Year of the Pig (1968)
7.7/10
Director: Emile de Antonio
Produced at the height of the Vietnam War, Emile de Antonio's Oscar-nominated 1968 documentary chronicles the war's historical roots. With palpable ou... Read more
Instant Expert: The Battle of Britain (2009)
Germany's devastating campaign to gain air superiority over the RAF and the British isle was the first such battle to be fought entirely in the air an... Read more
Instrument of War: Part One - Ladies From Hell (1997)
6.2/10
Director: Patrick King, Grahame Wickings
Starring: Narrated by, Charlton Heston, Tom Conti, Hannah Gordon
The fierce, kilted, bagpipe-wielding highlanders were nicknamed 'The Ladies From Hell' by their enemies. This award-winning documentary traces their... Read more
Instrument of War: Part Two - Call to the Blood (1997)
6.2/10
Director: Patrick King, Grahame Wickings
Starring: Narrated by, Charlton Heston, Tom Conti, Hannah Gordon
Part Two of the award-winning documentary picks up the haunting call of the bagpipe from World War 2 through the presidency of John F Kennedy to its u... Read more
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (2000)
7.8/10
Director: Mark Jonathan Harris
Starring: Narrated by, Judi Dench
In the months before WW2, an extraordinary rescue operation aided the youngest victims of Nazi terror. Ten thousand Jewish and other children were tra... Read more
Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers (2006)
7.7/10
Director: Robert Greenwald
Who profits from the war in Iraq? This Robert Greenwald ('Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War') documentary "follows the money trail" to shi... Read more
Iraqi War: The Untold Stories (2006)
Unlike Vietnam, images from the second Iraq war have been heavily censored by an administration desperate to hide the gory details from the American p... Read more
Islands of Death: Volume 1 (1945)
Containing interviews from people who were there, this documentary series is a comprehensive guide to the battle that raged in the Pacific during the... Read more