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
Code Breakers (2005)
6.1/10
A gripping insight into the wartime cryptanalyst's role; the tale of the Enigma machine and it's operators in all the theatres of World War II. This w... Read more
Great Blunders of World War II (2006)
Tragic mistakes that changed the course of WWII. 'Hitler's Luftwaffe': When the Russians pulled their industry back deep into their heartland, the Luf... Read more
War Dance (2007)
7.9/10
Director: Sean Fine, Andrea Nix
Since the 1980s, Uganda has been locked in a violent civil war; a war in which children are often snatched from refugee camps or even their homes and... Read more
Only the Dead (2015)
7.7/10
Director: Bill Guttentag, Michael Ware
When the invasion of Iraq ended no one knew what was to come. In the midst of the celebrations, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the most vicious of Al Qaeda lea... Read more
Western Desert: 1940 - 1943 (2003)
The War in the Western Desert began as a sideshow but steadily escalated into one of the most important campaigns of the second World War, with essent... Read more
Falklands War: A Military History (2002)
8.1/10
This twentieth anniversary commemorative program is a powerful record of the invasion of the Falklands islands by the Argentine forces. Within three d... Read more
How the War Was Won: D-Day - The Lost Evidence (2002)
During the largest invasion in history, Allied reconnaissance planes flew up and down the coast every hour on the hour. By the end of the day, a visua... Read more
A Film Unfinished (2010)
7.3/10
Director: Yael Hersonski
In 1942, more than two years after Nazi troops herded Poland's Jews into a ghetto in Warsaw, where they were to be held until they were sent to exterm... 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
SAS Survival Secrets: Sabre Squadron (2003)
8.5/10
Using ex-SAS men, this is a vivid and detailed recreation of a typicle mission calling upon all four Troops of the squadron. The Squadron must capture... Read more