Friendly Persuasion

Friendly Persuasion (1956) starring Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, Anthony Perkins. A pacifist Quaker family, living in southern Indiana during the Civil War, struggles to maintain ideals while under threat of attack by Rebel raiders. Surprisingly, the war section of the movie occupies only a fraction of the screen time; much of the rest of the film is filled with comic vignettes from the lives of the main characters. Cooper stars as Jess Birdwell, the patriarch of the family, and McGuire plays his minister wife, who tries to restrain her son Josh (Perkins) from going off to fight the Rebels. The film starts slowly but builds momentum until the final action scenes put an exclamation point on the story. Very entertaining, well acted, and ultimately moving. (English subtitles are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B+

Man Hunt

Man Hunt (1941) starring Walter Pidgeon, Joan Bennett, George Sanders, John Carradine. Directed by Fritz Lang. In 1939, before World War II had broken out, a British man named Thorndike (Pidgeon) carries out a "fake" assassination attempt on Hitler, only to be apprehended by the Nazis. He manages to escape and stow away on a ship bound for England, but once back home he finds himself pursued relentlessly by German agents. Although the movie strains the bounds of believability, it is still an entertaining propaganda film, made in America but set in Britain. Bennett provides a strong female love interest, playing a lower-class girl named Jerry who helps Thorndike out, then falls for him. (Subtitles in English are available for the hearing-impaired, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B  

Aimee & Jaguar

Aimee & Jaguar (1999) starring Maria Schrader, Juliane Kohler. In 1943 in Berlin, two women fall in love with one another. One is a young German hausfrau with a husband and four children, the other turns out to be a Jew. Even though war is being waged all around them, they try to love each other through it. It might sound like an outlandish plot, but it has the virtue of being true. Unfortunately, it does not have a happy ending -- another characteristic of true stories. The movie is quite well made, and the love scenes between the two women are tastefully done. In German, with English subtitles. Grade: B+ 

The Young Lions

The Young Lions (1958) starring Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Dean Martin, Hope Lange, Barbara Rush. World War II study has Brando as a German who is conflicted about the war, Clift and Martin as American G.I.s who fight prejudice in basic training, then end up fighting together in Normandy. It's a pretty good movie, one of the better ones to look at WWII. It even shows the liberation of a concentration camp. (English subtitles are available, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B+

The African Queen

The African Queen (1951) starring Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn. Directed by John Huston. An unlikely duo -- riverboat scamp (Bogart) and missionary woman (Hepburn) -- team up to take the boat African Queen down a river in Africa with plans to torpedo a German gunboat during World War I. It was the first time Bogart and Hepburn appeared in a movie together, and the chemistry is good. The trip down river lets them go through some difficult times together, and the ending of the film is a slam dunk. I had seen this movie once a long time ago and remembered it as being good, but I had forgotten how the ending was resolved. The film was shot in Africa, in beautiful Technicolor, and in 1951 that was quite a feat. Bogart won an Oscar for his performance. (Subtitles in English and closed captions are both available.) Grade: A-   

A Woman in Berlin

A Woman in Berlin (2008) starring Nina Hoss, Yevgeni Sidikhin. In May of 1945, near the end of World War II, the Russian army advances into Berlin. All the German women who remain in the city are subject to being raped, including the protagonist (Hoss). She realizes that the only way to survive is to find a Russian protector -- a lover of high rank who can prevent her being gang-raped. This movie is based on an anonymous diary published in 1959, purportedly  written by the  woman of the title. It was condemned at the time as an affront to German women, because so many of them had gone willingly with Russian soldiers. The film is rather depressing and not uplifting in its portrait of the human spirit. It's in German and Russian with English subtitles. Grade: B-

The Wind That Shakes the Barley

The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) starring Cillian Murphy, Padraic Delaney, Liam Cunningham, Orla Fitzgerald. In the 1920s in Ireland, a young doctor (Murphy) is radicalized by the fight against the British oppressors, and gradually goes over to being a Republican guerilla fighter. Frankly, I found the politics hard to follow, and the uniforms of the British hard to distinguish from the later uniforms of the Irish. This is an intense drama, with deep feelings on both sides, but here we are clearly supposed to sympathize with the Irish. I did. (Subtitles in English for the hearing-impaired are available.) Grade: B+

Watch on the Rhine

Watch on the Rhine (1943) starring Bette Davis, Paul Lukas, Geraldine Fitzgerald. A couple (Davis and Lukas) arrive in America in 1940, fleeing Europe but determined to carry on their anti-Nazi activities. They are harried by German spies in Washington, D.C.; then they learn that Kurt (Lukas) must return to Europe to try and save some anti-Nazi friends of his. The film may seem a little hyper-patriotic to us today, but remember that it was made in 1943. This movie is based on a stage play by Lillian Hellman, with screenplay by Dashiell Hammett. Lukas won an acting Oscar for his work in this film. (Subtitles for the hearing-impaired are available, but not closed captions.) Grade: B+  

In Darkness

In Darkness (2011) starring Socha Wieckiewicz, Mundek Furmann, Klara Grochowska. In the Polish city of Lvov, during the dark days of World War II, a group of Jews hide from the Nazis in the city's sewers. Based on a true story, the movie tells of how they are assisted by a Polish sewer worker who is just in it for the money -- at first. Unfortunately, most of the movie takes place, literally, in darkness. The only light is from flashlights, and much of the time the viewer is left to squint and try to make out what's going on. I found the movie both oppressive and depressing to watch, but in the end inspiring. The film was nominated for an Oscar in the Foreign Language movie category. It's in Polish and Yiddish, with English subtitles. The subtitles are very readable. Grade: B

To Have and Have Not

To Have and Have Not (1944) starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Walter Brennan. Directed by Howard Hawks. Casablanca wanna-be is notable as Bacall's film debut. Bacall and Bogie fell in love both on- and off-screen in this wartime drama, which has Bogart playing boat owner Harry Morgan, who gets involved with the Free French in Martinique in 1940. Brennan is a standout as Morgan's always-drunk friend, Eddie, a good man in spite of himself. (The DVD offers English subtitles, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B

Sophie Scholl: The Final Days

Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005) starring Julia Jentsch, Fabian Hinrichs, Gerald Alexander Held. In 1943, Sophie Scholl (Jentsch), a member of the White Rose resistance group in Nazi Germany, is caught after distributing anti-Hitler leaflets. The movie shows her interrogation by a Nazi official (amazingly, she is not beaten or otherwise physically abused), her show trial and inevitable execution. Other members of the White Rose are executed and otherwise punished, but this movie focuses on Sophie. Although it is somewhat static with relatively little action, I found it spellbinding. It is really well written in the way it presents the ravings of Nazi officials who can't see that they are losing the war. The film is in German with English subtitles. Grade: A-

Casablanca

Casablanca (1942) starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid. A strong candidate for best Hollywood picture of all time, Casablanca won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Bogart stars as Rick Blaine, who owns Rick's American Cafe in Casablanca during the early years of World War II. Much to his surprise, who should walk through the door but his lost love Ilsa (Bergman) with her husband, Victor Laszlo (Henreid). Victor is a top leader in the underground resistance movement against the Nazis, and he and Ilsa are trying to escape to Lisbon and then to America. At first Rick is in no mood to help them, but later, after he hears the whole story, things turn around and he gets to deliver one of the greatest speeches ever. (Subtitles are provided, but the closed captions are more readable.) Grade: A

Summer of '42

Summer of '42 (1971) starring Jennifer O'Neill, Gary Grimes. Is it possible to be nostalgic for a place and time before you were even born? That's what Summer of '42 goes for. Fifteen-year-old Hermie (Grimes) and his friends Oscy and Benjie are spending the summer of 1942 on an island with their parents. There are girls their own age there, but Hermie gets a crush on an "older woman" named Dorothy (O'Neill), the wife of an Army pilot who is deployed in the war. When Dorothy's husband is killed in action, Hermie's crush bears unexpected rewards. This is a lightweight coming-of-age movie which succeeds in capturing the feeling of '42, and of adolescence, but little else. The disc has adequate subtitles, and also closed captions. Grade: B

Stalag 17

Stalag 17 (1953) starring William Holden, Don Taylor, Otto Preminger. The quintessential World War II POW movie starts with an escape attempt, which tells you it's going to be about life in the camp. Holden stars as Sefton, a sergeant who has adapted very successfully to life in the camp -- much to the envy of the other men, who suspect him of being a snitch; and there is a snitch in Barracks 14. He turns out to be -- not who you'd suspect. Preminger stars as the camp commandant. Holden won an Oscar for his performance. The disc comes with English subtitles and closed captions. Grade: A-

Winter in Wartime

Winter in Wartime (2008) starring Martijn Lakemeier, Jamie Campbell Bower. In German-occupied Holland during World War II, a teen-age boy (Lakemeier) tries to aid a downed English pilot (Bower). Complications arise when it is discovered that the pilot shot and killed a German soldier after parachuting into a tree. The movie is in Dutch and German, with English subtitles, which forms somewhat of a barrier to complete enjoyment; but it is filled with high drama and exciting sequences. Grade: A-

The Small Back Room

The Small Back Room (1949) starring David Farrar, Jack Hawkins, Kathleen Byron. Munitions expert Sammy Rice (Farrar) battles crippling injury, bureaucracy during World War II. The Germans are dropping a new kind of weapon on England, and meanwhile Rice is fighting the temptation to drink his pain away. After his girlfriend Susan (Byron) leaves him, he is called to disassemble one of the new devices in the field. This is really a pretty standard World War II movie, except for one scene where Rice wrestles with the desire to take a drink. The disc has English subtitles for the hearing impaired. Grade: B

Since You Went Away

Since You Went Away (1944) starring Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Shirley Temple, Joseph Cotten, Monty Woolley. World War II home-front drama has Colbert as Anne Hilton, the wife of a businessman who has enlisted and is headed off to war. She tries to keep the home fires burning, which includes keeping up a normal household for her two daughters (Jones and Temple). Cotten plays a friend of the family who comes to visit, and Woolley plays their cranky lodger. The movie was nominated for nine Oscars, including Best Picture. Too many subplots make this an overlong film (almost three hours), and it's dated and somewhat corny. Still, it's a landmark film. Good subtitles, as well as closed captions. Grade: B

Sea Wife

Sea Wife (1957) starring Richard Burton, Joan Collins, Basil Sydney. Set during World War II, Burton and Collins survive a ship being torpedoed, and he falls in love with her afterwards, not knowing she is a nun. His name becomes "Biscuit," because he dispenses the biscuits in their life raft. She is called "Sea Wife," another name for a mermaid. Why Sea Wife chooses to keep the fact that she's a nun a secret never became clear to me while watching the movie. I didn't think the chemistry between Burton and Collins was particularly good. I found the ending particularly unsatisfying. The film has good subtitles and closed captions. Grade: B-

Sayonara

Sayonara (1957) starring Marlon Brando, Ricardo Montalban, Miiko Taka, Miyoshi Umeki, Red Buttons, James Garner. In 1951, during the Korean War, a hotshot American fighter pilot (Brando) goes on leave to Japan to meet his American fiancee. While there, he falls in love with a Japanese entertainer named Hana-Ogi (Taka). Fraternizing with the Japanese is strongly discouraged by the authorities, and it seems that their love is doomed from the start. This movie has very high production values and is well-acted. It attempts to condense a James Michener novel into two and a half hours and is only partially successful. Buttons and Umeki won Oscars for Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress. All in all, a very involving evening's entertainment. No English subtitles, but closed captions are available. Grade: B+

Safe Conduct

Safe Conduct (2002) starring Jacques Gamblin, Denis Podalydes. Set in 1942 in Paris, this movie tells the true story of French filmmakers struggling to continue to work during the German occupation. Conflict arises when some film artists try to go along with German dictates about how movies should be made, and others strive to rebel and survive. The film is darkly humorous, with many striking visuals. The "Safe Conduct" of the title refers to the papers the French were required to carry to move about freely in the German-occupied zone. In the end, however, I found this epic film (almost three hours long) had lost something in the translation. The movie is in French, with English subtitles. Grade: B