Posted on 01/05/2003 7:48:31 PM PST by Justice
Best Navy: Tora Tora Tora, Away All Boats
Best Army: Patton, Saving Private Ryan
Best USMC: Battle Cry
Best USAAF: 12 O'Clock High
Best Navy: Tora Tora Tora, Away All Boats
Best Army: Patton, Saving Private Ryan
Best USMC: Battle Cry
Best USAAF: 12 O'Clock High
Another great book, so-so adaptation, IMO. The screenplay was faithful to the novel, since Herman Wouk wrote both, but tall, 70ish Robert Mitchum as short, 50ish Victor Henry is one of the worst casting mistakes in Hollywood history.
Warning! - "Band of Brothers" critique following.
I just recently rented the whole series, one episode after another. It might be the best adaptation of a book for the screen I've ever seen. The actors are great. They even resemble their characters photos from the book. They also didn't downplay the less positive aspects of the book, primarily some of the incidents that happened after VE day.
It covered the first. But the crux of the story was the second attempt, their capture, interrogation, trial and execution.
They were found guilty of committing acts of sabotage. But, in recognition of their remarkable valor and ingenuity, the raiders were afforded the "highest honor" -- which heretofore had been restricted exclusively to Japanese warriors. No enemy had ever been accorded such an honor in the entire history of the empire.
They were executed, yes. Beheaded. And, in accordance with Japanese tradition, the act was performed by their closest friends -- the interrogators, who had become extremely close to the prisoners and were filled with admiration for their deeds.
A powerful motion picture that dramatically encapsuled the culture gap between East and West. The end of the movie is guaranteed to bring a stunned silence to the room.
Best Jap POW movie: Camp on Blood Island
Best pure WW2 propaganda: A Walk in the Sun
Best Air War Movie: 12 O'Clock High (also more about management than combat)
But man, I'm amazed at some of the junky, overwrought, badly written stuff some of y'all are mentioning. Yeah, A Bridge Too Far is accurate, but the script is just awful. Worst work William Goldman ever did. Tora Tora Tora? You must be joking. Important story, big budget. Too bad it's just a bad movie at almost every level. In the Japanese-American co-production genre (not to be confused with co-prosperity spere) there was a really interesting movie Showtime made about the atomic bomb, and the conflicts within the Japanese leadership over surrender, including the backstab of the Russians, who declared war just when the Japanese approached them about opening a line of communication to the Allies.
Yes the book was well-researched and intriguing. With movies based on books, I like to pick up the book AFTER seeing the movie. That way I don't go into the film with preconceptions.
In the case of Enemy at the Gates, the filmmakers chose as their main focus, the duel between two rival snipers. This was only a small part of the entire Stalingrad fight. Also, the film took one paragraph from the film and developed the Joseph Fiennes character as the Soviet political officer who created a media hero out of the Soviet sniper. So the film was really "suggested" by historical events, not an exact retelling.
Well the film wasn't a financial success, so you may have a point. However, I found it intriguing.
This one is from the early 80's, it's well worth searching out. Lee Marvin plays a war-hardened sergeant leading a band of young soldiers as they liberate a concentration camp. Mark Hamill (Luke in Star Wars) played one of the recruits. Very powerful film. Don't want to spoil the ending for anyone but it's damn memorable.
This is an excellent, highly recommended, harrowing film about the ordeal of a boy in war. If you liked it "Come and See" is another Russian film on the same theme.
There are many fine European films about the war. "Das Boot" is one of the most remarkable. The same director made a film about Stalingrad, called "Stalingrad." It gives more information than "Enemy at the Gates," but doesn't have the drama. Between the two films, you can get a better idea of what was going on in Stalingrad.
Andrzej Wajda's "Kanal" is about the Warsaw rising, and has some startling scenes. "Closely Watched Trains," a Czech film is another classic. "Europa, Europa" is also worth seeing: the story of a young Jew who survives the war in the Hitler Youth.
The thing about European films about 1939-1945, though, is that there isn't this split between the "war film" and tales of the home front in the period. So you can get a lot of WWII on the screen without seeing any battles or armies. "Hope and Glory" is a fine British film about a boy growing up in the 1940s. Not a war film in the conventional sense, but pervaded with the spirit of the war. It's similar to Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun," more lowkey, but also more real and memorable.
"Fortunes of War" (drama involving WW II)
Another fine choice. A British miniseries about a woman who's husband works for the British Council in the Balkans. The book is better, though, and filled with little details of the time and place that don't come out on the screen.
"Memphis Belle" was also a good view. By now the recent film may come packaged with the documentary that inspired it. And don't forget some of the old British films of the day, like "the Dam Busters."
For something really off the wall, there's the British television series "Goodnight Sweetheart." A 1990s Englishman discovers a passage in London than can take him back to the 1940s. A silly exploitation of nostalgia, but I can't help wondering what he decided to do at the end of the series.
I think that is "A Midnight Clear." Another fine war film.
Notice how the ending was ripped off from Moby Dick, in that only the writer/story teller survives. "And I only am escaped alone to tell thee."
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