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....
Sea of Sand (1958)
Director: Guy Green
Starring: John Gregson, Michael Craig, Richard Attenborough
The North African desert in World War II is the setting for this gripping thriller about a British patrol charged with locating and destroying a key G... Read more
Battle of the V.1 (1958)
Director: Vernon Sewell
Starring: Michael Rennie, David Knight, Patricia Medina
Michael Rennie stars in this tense, action-packed thriller set in occupied Europe during the Second World War and based on real life events. Stefan (R... Read more
Gold Cinema Collection: Carve Her Name With Pride / Cottage to Let / Sea of Sand (1958)
Director: Anthony Asquith, Guy Green, Lewis Gilbert
Starring: Virginia McKenna, Paul Scofield, Jack Warner, Leslie Banks, Alastair Sim, John M...
'Carve Her Name With Pride' (1958) Violette Bushell is a young woman living in London in World War 2. She meets a young French soldier whom she falls... Read more
A Time to Love and a Time to Die (Blu-ray) (1958)
7.7/10
Director: Douglas Sirk
Starring: Don DeFore, Keenan Wynn, John Gavin, Jock Mahoney, Lilo Pulver
Douglas Sirk's wartime romance is based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, author of the classic anti-war novel 'All Quiet On the Western Front', w... Read more
A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958)
7.8/10
Director: Douglas Sirk
Starring: John Gavin, Lilo Pulver, Jock Mahoney, Don DeFore, Keenan Wynn
Douglas Sirk's wartime romance is based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, author of the classic anti-war novel 'All Quiet On the Western Front', w... Read more
Operation Amsterdam (1958)
6.4/10
Director: Michael McCarthy
Starring: Peter Finch, Eva Bartok, Tony Britton
Set in WW II, an English Major and two Dutch diamond experts attempt the dangerous task of removing millions of pounds-worth of industrial diamonds fr... Read more
Carve Her Name With Pride (1958)
7.3/10
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Starring: Virginia McKenna, Paul Scofield, Jack Warner
Based on R. J. Minney's book about real-life British war heroine Violet Szabo (Virginia McKenna) who parachuted into Nazi-occupied Europe as a secret... Read more
Dunkirk (1958)
7/10
Director: Leslie Norman
Starring: Richard Attenborough, Bernard Lee, John Mills, Robert Urquhart, Meredith Edwards
This realistic account of the evacuation of more than 350, 000 trapped British and Allied troops from Dunkirk is a well-staged recreation of the actua... Read more
I Was Monty's Double (1958)
Director: John Guillermin
Starring: Clifton James, John Mills, Cecil Parker, Marius Goring, John Le Mesurier
If official documentation didn't exist, we'd never believe a fantastic yarn like this. Actor M.E. Clifton James plays himself, a British stock-company... Read more
Ice Cold In Alex (1958)
7.9/10
Director: J Lee Thompson
Starring: John Mills, Sylvia Syms, Anthony Quayle
A well-made psychological drama of a British ambulance officer, two nurses and a German soldier bought together in the African desert. John Mills, Syl... Read more