Favourite WWI films

[napoleon]

What are people's favourite films set during The Great War? My top three would have to be ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (the 1930 version), THE BLUE MAX and PATHS OF GLORY. I did quite like WINGS when I saw it on television many years ago and the other air combat films, RED BARON and FLYBOYS, I thought were okay too. (On a slightly different note, I thought DEATHWATCH was a decent WWI horror film!).

[JohnnyMac]

"Lawrence of Arabia" and " The African Queen".

[Porkchopexpress]

In terms of dramatic narrative it's mostly about trench warfare, which can be moving and soul destroying in it's portrayal. (Blackadder for instance), but makes for quite repetitive themes in terms of films.

So for me! My two are 'A Very Long Engagement' and 'Gallipoli'.

More a personal love affair with Jeunet than WW1 specifically, but 'A Very Long Engagement' is captivating cinema, beautifully scored and with a killer performance from Cottilard in a supporting role. It just happens to be a love story set in WWI, rather then it being it's defining characteristic, so it probably doesn't count.

My favourite therefore would have to be 'Gallipoli' as an out and out WWI film and great performances and always leaves me with a hollow feeling at the end, which a good war film should in my opinion. There's no glory in it.

Speaking of which the first time I realised a little of war and the way of things was when I cried as a child at the end of 'A Bridge Too Far', for the first time the 'goodies' didn't win and I was devastated. I read Cornelius Ryan's book as a teenager afterwards and never saw the world in the same way since.

[JohnnyMac]

Originally Posted by Porkchopexpress

In terms of dramatic narrative it's mostly about trench warfare, which can be moving and soul destroying in it's portrayal. (Blackadder for instance), but makes for quite repetitive themes in terms of films.

You've hit the nail on the head and explained why I was drawn to films set away from the trench warfare setting.

[Siegfried]

The Big Parade, from 1925, is not only one of the finest films about World War 1, but one of the finest war films of all time.
Directed by King Vidor, and starring John Gilbert in the film that made him a major star, it is an intensely moving, and often harrowing account of one man's experience fighting in France during WW1.
It was the highest grossing film of the silent era, enormously influential and remains today a powerful and moving experience.

[dumbdegenerate]

Regeneration, largely because the original novel, by Pat Barker, is top 3 easy.

I love war films as a genre, but I think there is something particularly haunting about watching the effects of shell shock as a pose to the actual horror of battle.

Actually, anyone got any recommendations about shell-shock based movies?