Sunday

In the last of my posts about Second World War films, for now, I'd like to list a few of those that were made during the war besides The Great Dictator. There is a website that lists all that have been made: http://users.aol.com/sailgower/WWIImovies.html There were 612 by the year 2000 (so should be 620 or more by now). Anyway, if you look at them you will realise the phenomenal amount that were made during the war. Some, yes, were outright propaganda, but they were still feature-length movies containing an ostensibly fictional plot and characters. Classics include: Went The Day Well, Waterloo Bridge, Casablanca, The War Ahead, Foreign Correspondent, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, and 49th Parallel. I would argue these aren't just some of the best films about World War II, or even about war in general, these are some of the best films ever made. The shift in tone from the 40s, to the 50s and then the 60s is fascinating. Some find the 40s movies too patriotic and stoic, but I can conversely find some of the 60s movies quite irritating and camp. In the 50s they are somewhere in-between. Anyway, I like that at the end of the wikipedia article on the Second World War it says 'See also: World War I'.