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€25 very well spent
This arrived the other day. I often watch movies while I'm painting, which might seem counter-productive as gifted and talented* though I am, I don't possess a second pair of eyes. I think the trick is to pick films that one has watched many times before and loves. Then you can look up for the good bits and then get back to the matter at hand.
Regular favourites include Zulu, Master & Commander and Khartoum. But I've also been very keen on British war movies of the 1940s and 1950s.
In which we serve
(though once described as "In which we sink", I still love it, well played Captain Coward)
The Battle of the River Plate
(brilliant film)
The Dam Busters
(once described by my father as
"one man, a ping pong ball and a bucket of water versus the nazis")
The Cruel Sea
(cruel indeed, but gripping)
The Colditz Story
(I went to several boarding summer camps, no wonder this was a favourite)
Ice Cold in Alex
(worth waiting for)
I was Monty's Double
(haven't seen this one)
Went the Day well?
(love this film, which has been described as The Archers meets Straw Dogs)
Cross of Iron (bit of an odd one out here)
The Wooden Horse (haven't seen this one)
They who dare (haven't seen this one)
The Way Ahead (haven't seen this one)
Films that could have been in the collection, but weren't.
The Third Man, Sahara, Bataan, A Matter of Life and Death, The Hill, 633 Squadron, Cockleshell Heroes and Sink the Bismarck!
Is there anything that you would add to the list?
*And did I mention handsome, lissome, strong, funny, brave and with an excellent singing voice? And modest too.
Where Eagles Dare
ReplyDeleteWaterloo
Henry V
The Great Escape
The Bridge on the River Kwai
All Quiet On The Western Front
The Battle of Britain
The Heroes of Telemark
Kagemusha
Conrad Kinch,
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent collection of films at a very reasonable price.
Watch and enjoy!
All the best,
Bob
You have to add in "Sands of Iwo Jima" and "12 O'Clock High" for the full B&W film fest!
ReplyDeleteIan
From the era (so ignoring Private Ryan) I would add D-Day the Longest Day, Dunkirk, and just squeaking in year'wise perhaps a Bridge too Far...
ReplyDeleteHow about "The Sea Wolves" . . . based on a true story.
ReplyDeleteThat is one that my wife loves.
Thinking about it for a moment, there are just too many that crowd into my mind.
-- Jeff
Mr. Kinch:
ReplyDeleteA thoroughbred collection you have there sir. I heartily commend "The Way Ahead" - a terrific ensemble cast including David Niven and Stanley Holloway. There is a great scene where Niven's character shames his platoon after a lackluster EX by explaining what their regimental cap badges mean and then saying that they don't deserve to wear them. Needless to say, the men buck up. I uses that scene once in a talk to some young NCMs and they got the idea of regimental pride.
Other films on my list: The Eagle Has Landed with Donald Sutherland chewing the scenery as an IRA man in league w Nazis, and, for a very early Vietnam film, GonTell It To The Spartans.
I'd add 'Dunkirk' and 'A Bridge Too Far', simply to round out the war. I enjoy 'Went The Day Well' and allways thought of it as the inspiration for 'The Eagle has Landed'. Most of the post war films I was taken to by my dad, who'd been on a Corvette throughout. 'The Way Ahead' was seen at school, a special matinee in the hall, ostensibly for the CCF (school cadet force) but anyone could slip in.
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