War and Anti-War Films
"War and Anti-War Films" often acknowledge the horror and heartbreak of war, letting the actual combat fighting or conflict (against nations or humankind) provide the primary plot or background for the action of the film. Typical elements in the action-oriented war plots include POW camp experiences and escapes, submarine warfare, espionage, personal heroism, "war is hell" brutalities, air dogfights, tough trench/infantry experiences, or male-bonding buddy adventures during wartime. Themes explored in war films include combat, survivor and escape stories, tales of gallant sacrifice and struggle, studies of the futility and inhumanity of battle, the effects of war on society, and intelligent and profound explorations of the moral and human issues.
Listed below are all the very best of this genre. Scroll yer heart out....
The Guns of Navarone (1961)
7.6/10
Director: J Lee Thompson
Starring: Gregory Peck, David Niven, Anthony Quinn, Stanley Baker, Anthony Quayle, Irene P...
Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Anthony Quinn star as a team of Allied military specialists recruited for a dangerous but imperative mission: to infilt... Read more
The Guns of Navarone ( Blu-ray ) (1961)
7.6/10
Director: J Lee Thompson
Starring: Anthony Quayle, Anthony Quinn, David Niven, Gregory Peck, Irene Papas, James Dar...
Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Anthony Quinn star as a team of Allied military specialists recruited for a dangerous but imperative mission: to infilt... Read more
The Hasty Heart (1949)
7.4/10
Director: Vincent Sherman
Starring: Ronald Reagan, Patricia Neal, Richard Todd
In Burma on the penultimate day of World War II, Cameron Highlander Lachlan 'Lachie' MacLachlan is seriously wounded and transported to a local milita... Read more
The Haunted Airman (2006)
4.8/10
Director: Chris Durlacher
Starring: Julian Sands, Rachael Stirling, Robert Pattinson
A vivid, but loose, BBC adaptation of Dennis Wheatley's highly innovative psychological novel 'The Haunting of Toby Jugg'. Tells the chilling tale of... Read more
The Heavy Water War (2015)
Director: Per-Olav Sorensen
Starring: Espen Klouman-Hoiner, Soren Pilmark, Anna Friel, Pip Torrens
Set during World War II, this six part dramatization centers on Germany's secret nuclear project and the Allies' efforts to prevent Hitler from develo... Read more
The Heroes of Telemark (1965)
6.5/10
Director: Anthony Mann
Starring: Kirk Douglas, Richard Harris, Michael Redgrave
German-occupied Norway 1942: physics professor Dr Pederson (Kirk Douglas) and underground leader Straud (Richard Harris) must convince British Intelli... Read more
The Hiding Place (1975)
7.6/10
Director: James F Collier
Starring: Julie Harris, Jeannette Clift
The award-winning wartime drama, based on the real-life exploits of Corrie Ten Boom, a Dutch woman who was sent to a Nazi concentration camp with her... Read more
The High Command (1937)
5.9/10
Director: Thorold Dickinson
Starring: Lionel Atwill, Lucie Mannheim, James Mason
A general of the old school, who believes strongly in his own honour and sense of duty, must come to terms with a crime he commited years earlier, dur... Read more
The Human Condition Trilogy (Blu-ray) (1959)
Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Chikage Awashima, Keiji Sada
The Human Condition Part I: No Greater Love. A Japanese pacifist, unable to face the dire consequences of conscientious objection, is transformed by... Read more
The Hurt Locker (2009)
7.6/10
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Starring: David Morse, Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes, Evangeline Lilly, Jeremy Renner, Anthony...
War is a drug. Nobody knows that better than Staff Sergeant James (Jeremy Renner), stationed in Iraq and head of an elite squad of soldiers tasked wit... Read more