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
War Stories Our Mothers Never Told Us (1995)
Director: Gaylene Preston
Starring: Pamela Quill, Flo Small, Tui Preston, Jean Andrews
Seven women discuss their secret lives during World War II in this unique, moving, unforgettable film. Featuring Pamela Quill, Flo Small, Tui Preston,... Read more
The Great Commanders: Volume 1 (1993)
8.5/10
Director: Phil Grabsky
Three episodes (of six) are covered in volume 1 of 'The Great Commanders' series. Filmed on locations around the world, leading experts in the field t... Read more
Combat on the Russian Front (1998)
On the Russian Front there were no rules; no code of honour; no decency or humanity. It was the largest and most brutal war in history, a barbaric str... Read more
Shoah - 1st Era, Part One (1985)
Director: Claude Lanzmann
Claude Lanzmann's landmark, monumental epic of the Holocaust. With an assemblage of witnesses, death camp survivors and Nazi functionaries whose combi... Read more
Shanghai Ghetto (2002)
7.1/10
Director: Dana Janklowicz-Mann
Starring: Narrated by, Martin Landau
With much of the world closed off to European Jews attempting to flee Nazi persecution in the late 1930s, more than 20,000 men, women and children fou... Read more
The Great Commanders: Volume 2 (1993)
8.5/10
Director: Phil Grabsky
Three episodes (of six) are covered in volume 2 of 'The Great Commanders' series. Filmed on locations around the world, leading experts in the field t... Read more
They Shall Not Grow Old (Blu-ray) (2018)
8.5/10
Director: Peter Jackson
Using state-of-the-art technology and materials from the BBC and Imperial War Museum, filmmaker Peter Jackson allows the story of World War I to be to... Read more
Gallipoli: The Frontline Experience (2005)
7.5/10
Director: Tolga Ornek
Starring: Narrated by, Sam Neill, Jeremy Irons
The Gallipoli campaign of World War I was so controversial and devastating, it changed the face of battle for ever. While many films have focused on t... Read more
Barbarians (1998)
5.8/10
They were the dreaded forces on the fringes of "civilization," the bloodthirsty warriors who defied the Roman legions and terrorized the people of Eur... Read more
They Shall Not Grow Old (2018)
8.5/10
Director: Peter Jackson
Using state-of-the-art technology and materials from the BBC and Imperial War Museum, filmmaker Peter Jackson allows the story of World War I to be to... Read more