One of Our Aircraft is Missing (1942)

A superior WW2 propaganda film. The cheekie chappie crew of a Wellington bomber bail out over the Netherlands after their plane is hit (though it continues on without them to eventually crash into a pylon back home!) The air crew, led by Haggard (Hugh Burden) and Corbett (Godfrey Tearle), meet up with Dutch locals and an English speaking teacher (Pamela Brown) who helps them get to the coast and evade the German patrols. However, the journey is fraught with danger, from the Germans and collaborators.

Finally they end up at the home of de Vries (Googie Withers), who at first appearance is a collaborator but is really fighting the Germans behind the scenes. She helps the air crew get a boat and they reach the North Sea and (eventual) safety...

A tense wartime drama, although made for propaganda purposes it is elevated by the shades of grey, realism and an attempt of some humanisation of the enemy. The Germans are still the bad guys but some attempt is made to make them more than cardboard characters. Our heroes are normal chaps who are trying to do their best not chisel jawed super men. A good film though a little slow at times. Notable for being Peter Usinov's film debut, though he is hardly recognisable until he speaks!

The Long and the Short and the Tall (1961)

A gritty war film. Mitchem (Richard Todd) is leading a British Army patrol in the Malayan jungle with the Japanese closing in. His motley group of men fulfil various British stereotypes including the anti-establishment cocky cockney Bamforth (Laurence Harvey) and the touchy, proud but conflicted Scotsman (Ronald Fraser). Mitchem's main problem seems to be with Corporal Johnson (Richard Harris) who questions his orders.

Holed up in a hut the men capture a Japanese soldier (Kenji Takaki), Bamforth forges a friendship with the man and ends up defending him when Mitchem decides the man must die, and Johnson shows a rather bloodthirsty desire to carry out that order. When it is established the Japanese are a lot closer than expected the patrol tries to retreat but is it too late?

Although studio based (with some stock footage of wild animals) the film makes the most of it's limited sets and budget to produce a realistic view of war, and it's effects on humanity. No daring chisel jawed heroes here, more like ordinary men hurled into extraordinary times and how the true man behind the facade emerges when the pressure is on.

Contraband (1940)

An excellent little wartime spy drama. Andersen (Conrad Veidt) is the captain of a neutral Danish freighter which is impounded by the Royal Navy to check it's cargo. Two of his passengers, Mrs Sorensen (Valerie Hobson) and Mr Pidgeon (Esmond Knight), jump ship and head for London. Andersen goes in pursuit, he catches up with Sorensen and soon finds he is involved in a cat and mouse fight between British and German agents.

Andersen and Sorensen end up the prisoners of the Germans in a basement lair. Andersen manages to escape and enlists the help of some of his countrymen to save the day and more importantly Mrs Sorensen...

An exciting film full of derring-do that makes the most of a modest budget. Filmed when it was, just as the war was starting, the propaganda is dialled back and the Germans are mostly portrayed as doing their duty as opposed to just being evil. The growing relationship between Andersen and Sorensen is well portrayed and very believable.

Unpublished Story (1942)

An engaging, if propaganda-ish, view of the Blitz and the fight against enemy agents in London. War reporter Bob Randall (Richard Greene) returns from Dunkirk to find London in a state of flux, though a peace group is trying to stop the war. He is sent to report on the peace group. While there, he finds his fellow reporter Carol Bennett (Valerie Hobson) is also attending and interested in the group... 

During a bombing attack, Bob and Carol discover that one of the members of the peace group, Trapes (Frederick Cooper), is distributing leaflets. Carol later tracks Trapes down to an air raid shelter where he admits he was wrong. However, when Trapes tells his superiors at the peace group of his change of heart and they arn't too pleased. While Trapes is a misguided idealist, it turns out the others in the group are Nazi agents...

At times this is a tough and realistic film which uses actual footage (then fairly recently shot of course) of bombed and burning buildings in London. Of course, due to the propaganda, everyone has the stiffest of lips and accept the destruction of everything they have held dear with a suitably chipper or matter-of-fact attitude. The Nazi agents, including Andre Morell, are also suitably sinister looking. Basil Radford plays an excellent role as the unflappable newspaper editor.

False Faces (1919)

The story of a criminal (the Lone Wolf played by Henry B Walthall) who is tasked by the Allies in the First World War with stealing a cylinder containing vital information from behind the German lines. German agents are aiming to stop him of course, with the usual twist in movie land the head of the German agents (Lon Chaney) is the man who earlier killed Lone Wolf's sister and nephew...

Unfortunately this isn't that great a film despite the promising story. The film, made so soon after the end of the war, suffers from veering too much into propaganda. The Germans are portrayed as vicious animals, the Allies are perfect good guys of course. Most characters are fairly one-dimensional. The plot is also rather incoherent with a lot of back and forth shenanigans which have little end product. The scenes aboard a submarine are ridiculously unrealistic. 

An interesting watch from the point of view of an early war film but thats it! The film has some interesting ideas, such as the use of ghosts to portray guilt and torment but the execution is usually pretty flawed.

The Adventures of Tartu (1943)

A truly excellent wartime espionage film. Terence Stevenson (Robert Donat) is a bomb disposal officer dealing with unexploded bombs during the Blitz. As if that isn't dangerous enough he is chosen to head to Eastern Europe to infiltrate a German factory in Czechoslovakia which is producing a new deadly chemical weapon. Unfortunately for Terence, who uses the cover name Jan Tartu, his contacts are captured by the Gestapo before he can make contact.

He takes board at a house but quickly discovers that there is more than meets the eye to Maruschuka (Valerie Hobson) and Paula (Glynis Johns) who he both suspects are involved somehow with the underground. However, Maruschuka thinks Terence/Jan is a Gestapo agent and tries to get the German officer sweet on her (Walter Rilla) to kill him! Luckily she discovers that Terance/Jan is the real deal just in time but as the Germans are getting ready to produce the first shipment of gas can a successful sabotage mission be staged?

The film travels at a fast pace and leaves little room for much subtly but has an exciting plot with plenty of twists and turns. Although the film has unmistakable propaganda touches, it also has room for a great deal of shade. Is Maruschuka a collaborator or an agent herself? Does Terence really know what he is doing? The chemical factory sets are very impressive and wartime footage is cleverly interwoven into the film. 

Heroes for Sale (1933)

A powerful film though a bit melodramatic at times. We start in WW1 with Tom (Richard Barthelmess) and Roger (George Westcott) preparing to raid a German position. During the battle Roger loses his nerve and Tom is injured, apparently killed, after capturing a German officer. Roger ends up getting all the glory and a fast track to becoming a senior officer, even though he knows it is all a lie.

To Roger's shock after the end of the war he discovers that Tom survived and had been nursed back to rough health by the Germans. They both return home, Roger to glory and respect and Tom a drug habit. Tom's life begins to spiral downwards as the drug addiction takes away his job, his reputation and his respect. This isn't the end of Tom's topsy turvey adventure as he rises up to become a success in business but inadvertently causes a riot. Roger has his troubles too, in the end he gets caught for stealing. The two men end the film as they started, together with nothing, and in the rain.

The film has plenty of story, which is frequently laid on a bit thick. Barthelmess produces a superb portrayal of a man beaten down by the system and all life can throw at him but still come up for more. Loretta Young and Alice McMahon also take on very good roles.

Theirs is the Glory (1946)

A film of the heroic but ultimately doomed Arnhem operation where British and allied parachutists seized and tried to hold a bridge in Arnhem far behind the front line from the Germans in World War 2. Unlike the 1970s epic A Bridge too Far, this film does not star any actors but soldiers who actually fought in the battle a couple of years before and using original equipment.

A tremendous film this is too, though things can be a bit stilted and awkward when the non-actors have to act (though there has been much worse done in films by real actors!) The re-enactment schemes are amazing and very accurate. 

Propaganda perhaps but that is not always a bad thing.

Above Us the Waves (1955)

A classic British war film, stiff upper lips in the face of certain death, but just time for a cup of tea first. The German battleship, the Tirpitz, must be destroyed but it is hiding deep in a Norwegian fjord. Commander Fraser (John Mills) concocts a plan using human torpedoes to attack the ship. Admiral Ryder (James Robertson Justice) thinks it is a folly but when Fraser's team plant dummy charges on his own ship he decides to give the go-ahead.

With a plucky team of heroes including Duffy (John Gregson) and Corbett (Donald Sinden), Fraser makes his attack but it fails even before they reach the Tirpitz. There is a plan B though, with midget submarines. Three of which make an attack, penetrating deep into German occupied territory, evading patrol boats and torpedo nets...

A very tense film, especially during the actual attack. Submarines are always claustrophobic but a midget submarine where you can't move without risking kicking a comrade in the head are even more so. The film is based on real events and is a fitting tribute to the sheer courage needed to perform such deeds.

Beau Ideal (1931)

A tale of the French Foreign Legion and fighting dervishes in the desert, often key ingredients for a good film though this isn't one of them. This is a sequel to the earlier film Beau Geste, in it Otis (Lester Vail) heads off to the African desert to tell his boyhood friend John Geste (Ralph Forbes) that Isobel (Loretta Young) is the one she loves. Alas, John is in disgrace and is now a prisoner in Morocco, and Otis ends up in the same deep pit. However, it is ages before John and Otis realise this. John and Otis manage to get out of prison with the help of the Arabian princess Zuleika (Leni Strengel) and then have to fight an evil Emir (George Regas) to clear their names...

So, a tale of deep friendship amid betrayal. Unfortunately the film has very stilted and awkward dialogue as with many early talkies. It also gets off to a rather slow start with a seemingly endless and heavily overacted scene in a prison pit before the story gets going. The plot at times is hard to take seriously, Otis heading off to Africa to find a man whom he has not seen for years and doesn't even know what name he now uses, and yet they end up in the same prison! The desert scenes are suitably magnificent, the fighting scenes are fine but the film really isn't very good.

Submarine Command (1951)

A very good war film though has a fairly standard plot. White (William Holden) is a new executive officer on the US Navy submarine USS Tiger Shark in the last days of WW2. White has not yet seen any combat but when he does finally see some on the very last day of the war it does not end well, as his captain is killed. White blames himself, as do some of his crew like Boyer (William Bendix).

White stays in the Navy and settles down to shore life with Carol (Nancy Olsen) but he is still haunted by his actions in the war and this starts to affect his personal relationships, especially with Carol. Then there is a new war, in Korea, and USS Tiger Shark is reactivated and sent across the Pacific with White back in command. Can he finally find redemption during a highly dangerous mission?

So, not a highly original plot line but the film is very well executed and has a number of excellent action set-pieces. The film was one of the first war films to explore post-traumatic stress disorder and it's effects on soldiers long after the guns have gone silent.

Power Play (1978)

A dark tale of authoritarian regimes and military coups. Quite where this film takes place is not clear, the state has the feel of a 1970s Latin American country though it looks more like somewhere in Central Europe and the nationalities and names of the population are all over the place. In any case, a group of officers led by Rousseau (Barry Morse) has grown tired with the regime, which has Blair's (Donald Pleasance) brutal secret police at it's dark heart.

Rousseau and Narriman (David Hemmings) assembles a group of officers to begin to make plans to overthrow the regime. With Blair closing in on their plot and time running out, the officers make the fateful decision to recruit the unpredictable Zeller (Peter O'Toole) and his tanks. The coup runs smoothly (though not bloodlessly) and Zeller has seized the palace, is it now all over?

Not quite, the film has a delicious twist. The film is also very violent with many killings and torture scenes. Life is cheap in this country, wherever it is. The great cast though is priceless.

A Better Tomorrow III: Love and Death in Saigon (1989)

The second sequel to the peerless A Better Tomorrow; however, this one - a prequel - feels a bit of a disappointment. There aren't any massive gunfights fought by men in sharp black suits, instead a tale set in Saigon soon after the Vietnam War and shows how Mark (Chow Yun Fat) became the man he was in HK in the earlier films.

Cheung (Tony Leung) arrives in Saigon to bring his uncle and cousin (Mark) to HK. However, things are chaotic in the city. Cheung needs the help of Chow (Anita Mui) to carry out his aims, unfortunately things get more complicated when a love triangle develops between Chow and the two cousins. Things get even more complicated when they fall foul of a local general...

It isn't a bad film, the character of Mark is revisited and some important background is retro-conned but the film doesn't quite work. It's too different to the first two films and lacks the same quality of action. It probably would have been better as a stand-alone tale in Vietnam and not struggling to carry the baggage of the iconic films it followed.

Villa Rides (1968)

An action packed tale of the Mexican revolutionary war hero Pancho Villa (Yul Brynner) and his efforts to defeat the enemy and his villainous rival general Huerta (Herbert Lom). Aviator and gun runner Arnold (Robert Mitchum) is captured by Villa's forces which include the rather wonderfully sinister Fierro (Charles Bronson) who likes to shoot prisoners as a hobby.

Arnold is enrolled in Villa's army and uses his plane to help turn the tide against the enemy. However, Huerta's jealousy at Villa's success brings everything to a head. Villa is sent to Mexico City and Arnold back to the US to face theft charges...

An uneven film which includes a lot more fighting than less exciting things like characterisation, historical accuracy and plot line. Brynner's, Bronson's and Lom's characters are fairly one-dimensional but if the film is approached in the right way then it is a lot of fun and the battle scenes are spectacular. Also interesting to see Brynner play a character with hair.

Angels One Five (1952)

An excellent tale of the "Few" and the Battle of Britain. T.B. Baird (John Gregson) - who gets the nickname Septic due to his unfortunate initials - turns up at a Hurricane squadron. Though he doesn't get off to a good start with his CO "Tiger" Small (Jack Hawkins) and Squadron Leader Moon (Michael Denison) - who is rare in not having a nickname - when he crashes his plane on arrival!

After a period of being given ground duties he finally gets airborne during an emergency and gets his first kill but still gets a bollocking after leaving his radio channel open. However, he is soon a regular in the air and proving his worth but as the Luftwaffe steps up it's attacks the squadron is pushed to the brink both in the air and on the ground.

The film doesn't include a lot of flying scenes it concentrates more on the humans than the machines. The emotions, the fears, the camaraderie and often the ridiculousness of war and young men being sent to their possible deaths time and time again. 

Milwr Bychan (1987)

A tough and uncompromising film. Young Welsh soldier Wil Thomas (Richard Lynch) is in jail after shooting a civilian during the Northern Irish Troubles. As his victim comes from an influential family, the Army won't sweep it under the carpet after pressure from the government (Bernard Hill). Thomas however, won't let the system break him no matter what sadism and brutality the Military Police deal out to him (and its a lot!)

The sad story is told in flashback as Thomas' love affair with a local girl Deirdre (Emer Gillespie) ends when she finds out the truth. The harsh realities of the Troubles and the repeated violence enough to brutalise any soul. The parallels between the Crown's indifference and disdain for the Northern Irish and the Welsh are made clear (if plastered on rather thick).

The narrative is a little too fragmented and this makes it difficult for the film to get much of a flow but it is riveting viewing. Low budget maybe but high impact.

The World Owes Me a Living (1945)

An interesting premise for a film though the execution unfortunately lets it down. During the Second World War senior officer Paul Collyer (David Farrar) suffers amnesia following a plane crash. Vital plans are kept in his head and his memory needs to be restored as a matter of urgency. His friends, including Moira (Judy Campbell), try and help him remember by going back to the interwar years when Paul was a barnstorming pilot.

Most of the film is told in flashback and details the lives of Paul, Moira and other aviators as they try and make a living giving joyrides. Paul eventually works on a transport glider for the Army. Unfortunately this flashback can often be rather aimless and dull. 

The film isn't without interest and includes plenty of good aerial footage. Not a bad film, it just could have been a lot better. 

Women in Blue (1943)

A fascinating if somewhat dated short film showing the training of new recruits to the US Navy Women's Auxiliary Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES). The narrator (Hugh James) explains that the recruits learn how to march and learn important information such as how the Navy is run (unfortunately the narrator was able to resist the temptation to quip "badly"). Then they can take over base duties from men who can be sent into combat (to their universal delight of course).

Fighting Coast Guard (1951)

A decent if fairly unoriginal war movie. Bill Rourk (Forrest Tucker) is a foreman in a shipyard, he is chasing Admiral's daughter Louise (Ella Raines), who is also the beau of US Coast Guard Commander Ian McFarland (Brian Donlevy). After Pearl Harbor the world suddenly changes, and Bill is tricked into joining the Coast Guard at the academy under Ian's command...

Bill is still courting Louise, though it gets him into trouble. He assumes Ian has it in for him and has ruined his chances. He ends up in combat in a ship under Ian's command. Will he survive the war and get back to see Louise?

This film has all the usual war movie themes, the only really novel part is that it involves the Coast Guard. The film is a good watch though with plenty of stock footage during the battle scenes. The love triangle is probably the weakest part of the film but it is OK.

High Treason (1929)

High Treason is one of the earliest British "talkies" and also an early science fiction film, being set in the "near future" of 1940. However, despite being only set eleven years into the future the world is a very different place (though quite familiar to us today). 

Two power blocs jockey for position in an uneasy peace. Arms manufacturers don't like peace of course as its bad for business so they engineer a war between the Atlantic States and Europe by bombing the Channel Tunnel. Ironically, big business manipulating two states into a war actually happened in South America a few years later in the 1930s...

Dr Seymour (Humberston Wright) leads a peace league which is opposed to the seemingly inevitable war. Injured in an explosion he calls upon his daughter Evelyn (Benita Hume) to stop the bombers... one complication is that the bombers are commanded by her ex Deane (Jameson Thomas)...

As you can imagine the world in 1940 is an Art Deco masterpiece with aeroplanes and airships flying over skyscraper filled cities, video calling and fencing being the interval act at a dance. While the film looks a treat, the story is a bit hokum and the peace message is hammered on rather too thickly. 

War is averted by a rather neat twist (though you can see it coming). Peace in our times, well for a few years anyway.