War and Anti-War Films
"War and Anti-War Films" often acknowledge the horror and heartbreak of war, letting the actual combat fighting or conflict (against nations or humankind) provide the primary plot or background for the action of the film. Typical elements in the action-oriented war plots include POW camp experiences and escapes, submarine warfare, espionage, personal heroism, "war is hell" brutalities, air dogfights, tough trench/infantry experiences, or male-bonding buddy adventures during wartime. Themes explored in war films include combat, survivor and escape stories, tales of gallant sacrifice and struggle, studies of the futility and inhumanity of battle, the effects of war on society, and intelligent and profound explorations of the moral and human issues.
Listed below are all the very best of this genre. Scroll yer heart out....
The Pin-Up Girl (1944)
Director: H Bruce Humberstone
Starring: Betty Grable, John Harvey, Martha Raye, Joe E Brown, Eugene Pallette
Betty Grable stars in this flag-waving musical comedy as Lorrie Jones, a military canteen worker during World War I, who dreams of fame entertaining t... Read more
The Pride and the Passion (1957)
5.7/10
Director: Stanley Kramer
Starring: Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, Sophia Loren
In this adventure saga Cary Grant is a British naval officer who must retrieve a huge cannon abandoned by Spanish troops in order to use it against Na... Read more
The Purple Heart (1944)
6.8/10
Director: Lewis Milestone
Starring: Dana Andrews, Richard Conte, Farley Granger, Sam Levene
A WW2 flight crew bail out over Chile after an aerial attack on the Japanese mainland. Now they have been captured and charged with murder, they will... Read more
The Railway Man (2013)
7.1/10
Director: Jonathan Teplitzky
Starring: Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Stellan Skarsgard, Hiroyuki Sanada, Jeremy Irvine, S...
While serving in the Second World War, British Army officer Eric Lomax (Jeremy Irvine) is captured and held prisoner by the Japanese. He is brutally t... Read more
The Railway Man ( Blu-ray ) (2013)
7.1/10
Director: Jonathan Teplitzky
Starring: Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Stellan Skarsgard, Hiroyuki Sanada, Jeremy Irvine, S...
While serving in the Second World War, British Army officer Eric Lomax (Jeremy Irvine) is captured and held prisoner by the Japanese. He is brutally t... Read more
The Rats of Tobruk (1944)
Director: Charles Chauvel
Starring: Peter Finch, Chips Rafferty, Grant Taylor, Pauline Garrick
A.k.a. "The Fighting Rats of Tobruk". Following on the great tradition of "Forty Thousand Horsemen", Charles Chauvel's 1944 cinematic account of the B... Read more
The Reader (2008)
7.6/10
Director: Stephen Daldry
Starring: Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, Bruno Ganz, Matthias Habich, Susanne Lothar, Lena O...
Kate Winslet won an Oscar and a BAFTA for her complex and gripping portrayal of a post-war German woman who discovers a sick teenage boy in the street... Read more
The Reader (Blu-ray) (2008)
7.6/10
Director: Stephen Daldry
Starring: Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, Bruno Ganz, Matthias Habich, Susanne Lothar, Lena O...
Kate Winslet won an Oscar and a BAFTA for her complex and gripping portrayal of a post-war German woman who discovers a sick teenage boy in the street... Read more
The Red and The White (1967)
7.8/10
Director: Miklos Jancso
Starring: Tibor Molnar, Andras Kozak, Josef Madaras
Brilliantly photographed drama in which director Miklos Jancso examines Hungarians fighting in the Red Army in 1918 during the bloody civil war in Rus... Read more
The Red Badge Of Courage (1951)
7.3/10
Director: John Huston
Starring: Audie Murphy, Bill Mauldin, Royal Dano
Director John Huston's powerful adaptation of Stephen Crane's novel about the horrors of war. Set during the American Civil War, the film features a s... Read more