La Grande Illusion (1937)

One of the best war films, though not a great deal of "war" takes place in it. Captain de Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay) and Lieutenant Marechal (Jean Gabin) are French officers captured early in the First World War by Captain von Rauffenstein (Eric von Stroheim). Officers are shown respect and the French officers are sent to a fairly cushy prison camp where they are given a remarkable degree of freedom by the Germans. They use that degree of freedom to try and escape.

After being recaptured the officers are sent to a much tougher fortress where escape is much harder. By now von Rauffenstein, his body horribly mutilated by war injuries, is in charge of the prison. He takes de Boeldieu in hand, aristocrat to aristocrat. Marechal and the others he does not because of their humble origins. The two aristocrat officers muse on their ways coming to an end, the common man is rising no matter who wins the war.

Although a war film, it is as much - if not more - about class. However the subject is dealt with remarkable subtlety and nuance. The divide between the classes is stark, de Boeldieu has much more in common with von Rauffenstein than the other French prisoners but the film does not make them as villains, merely doomed players in the relentless passage of time in a fast changing world.

Deadly Prey (1987)

Ridiculous ultra violent nonsense, fun for all the wrong reasons of course. Colonel Hogan (David Campbell) has set up a mercenary camp in the woods, to train his men he sets them off to hunt down an overweight office worker. Despite the fact they make pretty heavy weather of it, his team are sent to find another victim, someone tougher. More of a challenge. How about ex-special forces, and former comrade of Hogan, Mike Danton (Ted Prior)?

Mike is set off to run into the woods to be hunted down, but soon it becomes clear that he is the hunter as he steadily wipes out the camouflaged bums one by one. Finally Hogan realises who his "prey" is and the hunt becomes personal...

Well there isn't much story but a load of macho nonsense as muscular men fight with knives, rocks and anything else. Cameron Mitchell plays Mike's father-in-law who manages to find where Mike is being held despite the vaguest of information and infiltrates a base of heavily armed mercenaries. Despite the fact Hogan keeps half a dozen hand grenades on his desk you get the impression this army of fortune isn't all that good...

The film is great fun if you like cheesy violent 1980s films. Lets face it who doesn't like a film where a man gets a hand grenade put down his pants?

Fire Over England (1937)

A quality historical romp. With England under threat of invasion from the Spanish Armada, Queen Elizabeth (Flora Robson) treads a thin line between appeasing the anger of Spain and rejoicing in the heroics of the likes of Sir Francis Drake. Meanwhile in Spain young Michael (Sir Laurence Olivier) escapes the clutches of the Inquisition and eventually makes his way back to the English Court...

He is reunited with his love Cynthia (Vivian Leigh) one of the ladies in waiting. However soon he must return to Spain in place of the traitor Vane (James Mason) and discover the secret plans of the King of Spain (Raymond Massey) before it is too late...

A superb adventure with plenty of swashbuckling. There is also much intrigue in Court (though some of the historical details may be a bit off). Although the love of Michael and Cynthia is central to the film it is Elizabeth who steals the show of course, if history can be considered a film then she always had some of the best lines.

Incident in Shanghai (1938)

A love triangle in the chaos of a war zone. While Japan batters Chinese forces in the Shanghai international settlement Dr Linden (Derek Gorst) is trying to hold his group of Western and Chinese survivors together. Complication number one is when his estranged wife Madeleine (Margaret Vyner) turns up as a nurse. Complication number two is when a British pilot Pat (Patrick Barr) fighting for the Chinese arrives on the run from the Japanese...

Dr Linden treats his wife terribly, his jealously intense. Things take a turn for the worse when Pat starts to fall for Madeleine. When Pat is seriously injured only Dr Linden can save his life but will he?

A rather short and rough film with a good ensemble, with some incredibly dated stereotypes as you can imagine. It is also padded out quite a bit including a rather odd Chinese variety show though the dialogue is pretty good.

Sink the Bismarck! (1960)

An epic war film. World War 2 could not be won at sea by the British but it could be lost, just as in the case of World War 1 and Jutland. So when the most powerful German battleship Bismarck prepares to head out into the Atlantic the Royal Navy must stop it at all costs...

And the cost is high, especially to the iconic (though ageing) HMS Hood. The cost could also be high to Captain Shepherd (Kenneth More) in charge in the Admiralty war room. His son, a gunner on a plane, is missing and he is under pressure to find the Bismarck. Such is the pressure that even his stiff upper lip wobbles a bit at times. His assistant Lt Davis (Dana Wynter) is there to support him.

On the Bismarck mad Nazi Admiral Lutjens (Karel Stepanek) - a somewhat inaccurate depiction of the real man it should be said - cares not for human lives, just for glory for the Reich. The Bismarck makes the Atlantic but thanks to an attack by Swordfish torpedo bombers ends up damaged and unable to flee. The RN battleship King George V closes in for the kill...

Although obviously using models, archive footage and filming aboard real warships the sea battles are fantastic. This is one of the best naval war films ever made. The sheer inhuman ferocity of modern warfare has seldom been as brutally portrayed.

Shadows Over Shanghai (1938)

An enjoyable spy caper set in Shanghai during the Japanese invasion of China. An amulet which can raise funds to help buy the Chinese weapons in their fight against the Japanese ends up in the hands of Irene (Lynda Grey). She heads to Shanghai to try and get on a boat to America. However brutal Soviet agent Sargoza (Robert Barrat) is determined to get the amulet for himself...

Sargoza is foiled by happy-go-lucky reporter Johnny (James Dunn) and the slightly mysterious Barclay (Ralph Morgan) who seems to always have a friend who can help and a plan. To complicate matters the Japanese in the form of Yokohama (Paul Sutton) are also after the amulet and, while the bombs are dropping on Shanghai, will stop at nothing to get it...

A low budget film but makes the most of what it has, especially with the heavy use of stock footage during the bombing. Dunn provides the humour though his wise cracks can sometimes fall a bit flat.

Minesweeper (1943)

A decent little war movie with a dose of romantic melodrama and the propaganda kept mostly in the background. Richard Houston (Richard Arlen) is a former Navy officer who deserted due to gambling debts. When the war breaks out he decides he needs to re-enlist. He takes the name of Smith and joins up with friendly Fixit (Guinn Williams).

He starts serving on a minesweeper, work frequently dangerous though for a rookie he seems to learn very fast (if only they knew eh?) He is also after Mary (Jean Parker) even though she is also involved with Smith's crewmate Nash (Russell Hayden).

When Houston/Smith accidentally causes the death of Fixit he admits his secret to Mary. However the Navy are already onto him. Time for a final dramatic set-piece of course. Redemption via self-sacrifice is how we'll win the war sailor.

Predator (1987)

For the blog's four hundredth review another of our all-time favourite films...

Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is leading his elite team of special forces in the South American jungle on a CIA mission with Dillon (Carl Weathers) when they come under attack. However its not a human that is stalking them and taking them out one by one. It's something not of this world...

Predator has a rather simple premise and plot: humans are hunted by an alien with some nifty stealth gear and laser guns who takes scalps of his conquered prey. The hero (Arnie of course) eventually is left alone to deal with the hunter in an epic showdown and settle the interstellar conflict between human and alien in the traditional Kirk manner: with his fists.

What makes the film sing is the great cast ensemble including Jesse Ventura (who goes around carrying a Gatling gun!)

Despite the science-fiction underpinning the film is mostly a straight ahead war action film with some great twists. The film has plenty of humour despite the blood letting, some of it rather cheesy (such as when Dutch impales a bad guy with a knife to a wall and he tells him to "Stick around!") but in the context of the film and delivered so dead-pan it works. The sfx also stand up remarkably well for a film from the late 1980s.

Inside the Third Reich (1982)

Albert Speer, Hitler's architect and friend, survived the Second World War and wrote a book about his time inside the most inner of all circles in the Third Reich, this movie adaptation stars Rutger Hauer as Speer and is one of the best war films ever made.

It starts with the chaos of the early years of post-First World War Germany and Speer becoming curious with the then-tiny Nazi party and it's charismatic leader Hitler (Derek Jacobi). As Hitler slowly rises to power Speer is bought to Hitler's attention as the architect to design the grandiose new Reich he has in mind...

Speer finally became armaments minister in the war and was there in the bunker when Hitler ended his life. The history is well-known but the insight into the personalities and antics behind the scenes in the Reich maybe not, and here it is very well portrayed. I particularly enjoyed Bormann (Derek Newark) barking orders and shouting at all and sundry.

Beast of Berlin (1939)

Anti-Nazi films were rare even by 1939, this film was banned and censored in parts of the US even as armies prepared for war in Europe. So this is a significant film though not that good a one.

It follows a group of anti-Nazis including Alan Ladd, Roland Drew, Greta Granstedt and Steffi Duna. They are printing pamphlets and spreading dissent, all the while scared of betrayal and being caught by the brutal SS. A complication is that one of their number, Hans von Twardoski, is a member of the SS but wants out before liquor consumed in a Nazi booze-up loosens his tongue...

The propaganda is laid on heavy, as heavy as a Tiger tank. For some reason the actors speak English with a vague German accent interspersed with a few actual German words like Ja and Auf wiedersehen. At times it is a bit Allo Allo, though darker. At times very dark indeed.

British Intelligence (1940)

A spy is betraying British military secrets to the Germans during the First World War. The top British agent Frank Bennett (Bruce Lester) is sent to capture the German spy Strendler but is betrayed and ends up hospitalised. He is nursed back to health by a pretty nurse Helene (Margaret Lindsay)... who is in fact another top German spy!

Now using the identity of a refugee known as "Frances Hautry" she is sent to London to infiltrate the home of Bennett's father Arthur (Holmes Herbert), a cabinet minister. The butler Valdar (Boris Karloff) turns out to be another German spy!

The head of British intelligence Yeats (Leonard Mudie) already suspects Helene... and Valdar turns out to be a double agent. But Frank Bennett turns up at his family home and recognises his ex-nurse things get even more complicated... especially when Valdar tells Helene that he is Strendler!

Although sometimes thinly veiled propaganda this is an exciting war and espionage film. The plot is sometimes confusing when you wonder exactly which side some of the characters are on. The film ends with a zeppelin raid, any film with zeppelins is great!

Adventure in Iraq (1943)

An unintentionally hilarious adventure film set in Iraq during the Second World War. Doug Everett (Warren Douglas) is flying George Torrence (John Loder) and Tess Torrence (Ruth Ford) across Iraq when engine trouble forces them down in the middle of nowhere. To add some spark George and Tess are married but getting divorced and Doug has the hots for Tess...

They end up in a remote kingdom ruled by the smooth talking Sheik (Paul Cavanagh). The Sheik appears kind and refined, living in an Arabian Nights-esque palace but with a population of devil worshippers. Soon they begin to suspect the Sheik's is not as nice as he appears (which to be honest is pretty obvious)...

An enjoyable romp and the movie studio was no doubt able to reuse plenty of existing sets and costumes. Don't expect a very accurate portrayal of 1940s Iraq though. Paul Cavanagh is wonderful as the Sheik with plenty of good if corny lines, he also wears a monocle.

The Legion of Missing Men (1937)

A decent enough film about the French Foreign Legion. It is not unlike other films about the Legion especially made pre-war, expect plenty of shootouts in the desert and murderous Arab rebels (who speak English in a rather mysterious convoluted way).

It stars Ralph Forbes as Ben, a veteran of the Legion. Things take a turn for the worst when Ben's younger brother Don (Ben Alexander) turns up in Morocco and has joined the Legion. Despite his brother's warnings Don falls foul of the rather prickly NCO Garcia (George Regas) and ends up on punishment routine. The Arabs led by Sheik (Roy D'Arcy) capture Don and Ben is forced to get the guns working...

It isn't a bad film, just not that original. The two brothers fall out over a nightclub singer (Hala Linda) but are reunited to save the day et cetera.

The Boss of Big Town (1942)

In times of war with food being scarce the position of City Market Official Michael Flynn (John Litel) is vital. The city marketers are being put under pressure by a slick gangster Miljan (Kenneth Craige) - though the real Mr Big is as yet unknown. Flynn is also being leaned on but resists the overtures of the gang. City attorney Moore (H.B. Warner) is also putting the pressure on Flynn to sort it all out.

After failing to stop the attacks on market traders Flynn is fired but decides to go undercover and pretends to fall in with Miljan so he can find out who Mr Big is...

Not the most exciting film ever, the story is a bit unoriginal and it is overall a bit dull though the final reveal and showdown work. The wartime propaganda isn't laid on very thick which is a blessing. It is watchable though the best thing about the film is the title.

Robot Pilot (1941)

War is coming and US armaments companies are gearing up with big government contracts. Doc Williams (Emmett Vogan) has invented a way to pilot planes by remote control, but when he demonstrates it with the help of Jerry (Forrest Tucker) is ends up in a big crash.

Meanwhile enemy agents steal a brand new bomber but of course the Doc's remote control device saves the day. This isn't a bad little comedy spy war drama. There is also a bit of a romantic sub-plot with Betty (Carol Hughes).

The film is mainly done for laughs though some of the comedy especially with the ridiculously Mexican stereotype Pedro (Joaquin Edwards) is a bit painful. The planes in the film are great. The real stars.

Battle Beneath the Earth (1967)

Rogue Chinese communists under the control of a mad general (the rather non-Chinese Martin Benson) are using advanced laser burrowing machines to dig tunnels under the Pacific and then under US cities and military bases so they can detonate nuclear weapons.

As far as plot is concerned this film is a winner, completely ridiculous but a winner. However it has a rather cheap and 60s spy film cheesy feel about everything.

It is a British film but set in the US, some of the accents and sets are somewhat suspect. The "Chinese" are also generally played by White actors in the tradition of Fu Manchu. Our heroes led by Kerwin Matthews and Ed Bishop go into the tunnels to stop the Chinese before they can detonate the warheads. Thus this film has a gunfight around nuclear warheads deep underground. It is total nonsense but... so much pulp action fun!

Cross of Iron (1977)

Being someone who devoured, as a teenager, the books of Sven Hassel and Leo Kessler on bands of misfit German soldiers in World War 2 then Cross of Iron is easily right up my street as it covers much the same ground. It stars James Coburn as a tough battle-hardened yet cynical German NCO leading his men on the Hellish Eastern front.

While dodging Russian bullets and Nazi spies he also has to deal with his new commander Captain Stransky (Maximillian Schell), a mad Prussian obsessed with winning the Iron Cross no matter the cost (though preferably without having to do any actual fighting).

It is a tough film, uncompromising and filled with brutality and violence with some very good and realistic battle scenes. The film is all about the darker side of humanity, there is lightness though at times but usually showing the absurdity of life such as when Stransky is trying to show he can earn his Iron Cross but cannot even load his machine pistol. A great supporting cast including James Mason and David Warner make this a pretty special film.

Zeppelin (1971)

Early in the First World War the Germans unleashed a new war machine, the zeppelin. For the first time the British population in their homes were under attack (well apart from the inhabitants of coastal towns who received the odd bombardment from German warships in fact). Michael York is a British officer with German heritage sent to find out more about the zeppelin threat.

The Germans however think he is one of theirs and his knowledge of Scotland is just what they need for their cunning plan to win the war... to land at a Scottish castle and destroy the Magna Carta!

Although historic accuracy may have been jettisoned like a zeppelin jettisoning ballast it is a very intriguing and enjoyable film. Airships have always had an aura about them, large majestic castles of the sky... and packed full of bags of highly flammable gas.

The German plan is quite frankly nonsense but it is a thrilling operation all the same. The raid and the following air battle are excellent action scenes. It is also good to see that the German officers involved were allowed to show courage and honour and not just be one-dimensional evil bad guys. The special effects, especially of the zeppelin, are reasonable. The zeppelin is the star of the film for sure.

Yellow Canary (1943)

A fascinating war time film involving Nazi spies and sympathisers. Anna Neagle plays Sally, a notorious pro-Nazi who is scorned by everyone from her own family down, who is sent off to Canada.

There she becomes involved with a Polish officer (Albert Lieven) while British officer Richard Greene keeps an eye on her.

However all is not what it seems, Sally is really a deep cover agent and Albert is the spy. Sally's mission is to penetrate a spy ring and foil a devastating Nazi plot. That and other twists elevate this film above standard wartime propaganda fare. There are some good performances too including from Margaret Rutherford who provides a bit of light relief.