167 articles
¡Ay, Carmela!
¡Ay, Carmela! is Carlos Saura's 1990 Spanish-Italian tragicomedy, adapted from José Sanchís Sinisterra's play, starring Carmen Maura, Andrés Pajares, and Gabino Diego as Civil War variety performers; it won 13 Goyas from 15 nominations.
49th Parallel
49th Parallel (US title The Invaders) is a 1941 British Powell and Pressburger propaganda thriller for the Ministry of Information, following six U-boat survivors fleeing across Canada toward the neutral US; it won Pressburger the Best Original Story Oscar.
55 Days at Peking
55 Days at Peking (1963) is a Samuel Bronston epic directed by Nicholas Ray, starring Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, and David Niven, dramatizing the 55-day siege of the Peking legations in the 1900 Boxer Rebellion; shot in Spain, it ended Ray's Hollywood career.
A Bridge Too Far (film)
A Bridge Too Far (1977), Richard Attenborough's epic war film adapted by William Goldman from Cornelius Ryan's book, depicts the failed Operation Market Garden; all-star cast, $25 million budget, four BAFTA wins.
A Canterbury Tale
A Canterbury Tale (1944) is a British film by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (The Archers), following three wartime pilgrims and the 'glue man' mystery in Kent toward a blessing at Canterbury Cathedral.
A Walk in the Sun (1945 film)
A Walk in the Sun is Lewis Milestone's 1945 World War II film, adapted by Robert Rossen from Harry Brown's novel, following a platoon from Salerno to a farmhouse six miles inland, starring Dana Andrews and Richard Conte.
Action in the North Atlantic
Action in the North Atlantic is a 1943 Warner Bros. war film directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring Humphrey Bogart and Raymond Massey as Merchant Marine officers surviving U-boat attacks on a convoy to Murmansk; also known by the working titles Heroes Without Uniforms and Torpedoed.
Air Force (1943 film)
Air Force (1943) is a Howard Hawks Warner Bros. war film about the B-17 Mary-Ann's crew, caught in the Pearl Harbor attack and the Philippines defense; it won the Oscar for Best Film Editing.
Albert R.N.
Albert R.N. (1953) is a British POW-camp war drama directed by Lewis Gilbert, also released as Break to Freedom, based on the real papier-mache dummy prisoner built by artist John Worsley at Marlag O to cover escapes.
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now: 1979 Francis Ford Coppola war film, also known as Apocalypse Now Redux and Final Cut, adapting Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness to the Vietnam War; shot in the Philippines over 238 days, won the 1979 Palme d'Or.
Ashes and Diamonds
Ashes and Diamonds (Popiół i diament), 1958 Andrzej Wajda film from Jerzy Andrzejewski's novel, starring Zbigniew Cybulski as Home Army assassin Maciek Chełmicki; Polish Film School landmark, Venice FIPRESCI winner.
Back to Bataan
Back to Bataan is a 1945 RKO World War II drama directed by Edward Dmytryk, starring John Wayne and Anthony Quinn, depicting Filipino guerrilla resistance after the fall of Bataan and the 1945 Cabanatuan raid.
Ballad of a Soldier (Баллада о солдате)
Ballad of a Soldier (Баллада о солдате) is Grigori Chukhrai's 1959 Mosfilm drama about soldier Alyosha Skvortsov's six-day leave home across wartime Russia; Cannes special prize 1960, Lenin Prize 1961, Oscar-nominated screenplay.
Bataan (1943 film)
Bataan (1943) is an MGM World War II film directed by Tay Garnett, starring Robert Taylor as sergeant of a thirteen-man patrol holding a bridge on Bataan; the first multi-ethnic WWII combat film and genre template.
Battle of Okinawa (激動の昭和史 沖縄決戦) (1971 film)
Battle of Okinawa (激動の昭和史 沖縄決戦) is a 1971 Toho war film directed by Kihachi Okamoto, scripted by Kaneto Shindo, starring Keiju Kobayashi, Tetsuro Tamba, and Tatsuya Nakadai, depicting the 1945 Okinawa ground battle from the Japanese 32nd Army's perspective.
Battleground (1949 film)
Battleground (1949) is an MGM war film directed by William A. Wellman, written by Robert Pirosh, produced by Dore Schary, about the 101st Airborne at besieged Bastogne; it won two Oscars from six nominations and revived the postwar combat film.
Bullet in the Head
Bullet in the Head (喋血街頭) is John Woo's 1990 Hong Kong action epic starring Tony Leung, Jacky Cheung, and Waise Lee as friends who flee 1967 Hong Kong for wartime Vietnam and are destroyed by gold; a box office failure later reappraised as his most personal film.
Casualties of War
Casualties of War is a 1989 American war drama directed by Brian De Palma, based on the real rape and murder of a Vietnamese woman by American soldiers.
Chapaev (Чапаев)
Chapaev (Чапаев) is a 1934 Soviet Lenfilm war film by the Vasiliev 'brothers' about Civil War commander Vasily Chapaev, based on Furmanov's novel, starring Boris Babochkin, seen by about 60 million viewers and restored in 4K in 2024.
Come and See
Come and See (Иди и смотри) is Elem Klimov's 1985 Soviet war drama about a Byelorussian boy amid the Nazi occupation, based on Ales Adamovich's Khatyn narrative, titled from Revelation's fourth seal, with about 30 million Soviet admissions.
Cromwell (film)
Cromwell (1970) is a Ken Hughes British historical drama starring Richard Harris as Oliver Cromwell and Alec Guinness as Charles I, released by Columbia, winner of the Academy Award for Costume Design, and widely criticized for historical inaccuracy.
Cross of Iron
Cross of Iron is Sam Peckinpah's 1977 British-West German war film, based on Willi Heinrich's novel The Willing Flesh, starring James Coburn as Sergeant Steiner and Maximilian Schell as Stransky during the 1943 German retreat on the Eastern Front.
Des Teufels General
Des Teufels General (The Devil's General) is Helmut Käutner's 1955 West German film of Carl Zuckmayer's play, starring Curd Jürgens as Luftwaffe general Harras, modeled on Ernst Udet, who dies in a sabotaged plane to shield his resistance friend Oderbruch.
Destination Tokyo
Destination Tokyo, 1943 Warner Bros. war film, Delmer Daves's directing debut, starring Cary Grant as sub captain Cassidy on a spy mission into Tokyo Bay for the Doolittle Raid, Navy training tool, Oscar-nominated story by Steve Fisher.
Dunkirk (1958 film)
Dunkirk (1958) is a British Ealing war film directed by Leslie Norman, produced by Michael Balcon, starring John Mills, Richard Attenborough, and Bernard Lee, dramatizing the 1940 Operation Dynamo evacuation; notable as Ealing's last war film and a Nolan antecedent.
Eastern Condors (东方秃鹰)
Eastern Condors (东方秃鹰, also Eastern Bald Eagles) is a 1987 Hong Kong action war film directed by and starring Sammo Hung, a Dirty Dozen-style mission to destroy a secret US missile depot in Vietnam, with Yuen Biao, Yuen Wah, and Haing S. Ngor.
El Cid (film)
El Cid (1961) is Anthony Mann's 184-minute epic starring Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren, produced by Samuel Bronston in Spain, adapted from the Poema del Mío Cid, with three Oscar nominations and a 1993 restoration.
Empire of the Sun (film)
Empire of the Sun is Steven Spielberg's 1987 war drama adapted from J.G. Ballard's semi-autobiographical novel, starring a young Christian Bale as Jim, a British boy interned in Japanese-occupied Shanghai; the first western production to film in Shanghai since World War II, it earned six Oscar nominations but underperformed at the box office.
Escape from Sobibor
Escape from Sobibor is a 1987 British TV war drama directed by Jack Gold, starring Alan Arkin, Rutger Hauer, and Joanna Pacula, dramatizing the October 1943 Jewish prisoner uprising and mass escape from the Sobibor extermination camp; it won two Golden Globes and five Emmy nominations.
Escape to Victory
Escape to Victory (US title Victory) is John Huston's 1981 sports war drama starring Stallone, Caine, and Pelé as Allied POWs playing a propaganda match against a German team in occupied Paris while planning an escape, loosely inspired by the 1942 Kyiv Death Match.