This has to be one of my favourite wartime adventures that really quite powerfully illustrates not only the perils of those sailing the Atlantic during the Second World War but the courage of the ordinary folks drafted in to man these tiny ships at the mercy of the weather and the U-boats. "Ericson" (Jack Hawkins) has been put in command of an convoy escort that's staffed by a rather obnoxious former used-car salesman "Bennett" (Stanley Baker) and two green-around-the-gills sub-lieutenants "Ferraby" (John Stratton) and "Lockhart" (Donald Sinden). Initially, their task is mainly to keep afloat in the turbulent waters but as continental Europe falls to the Nazis, the threat from Grand Admiral Doenitz's wolf-pack system of submarine attacks makes their jobs even more deadly. With their enemy largely unseen and highly manoeuvrable, it's difficult enough to see one let alone attack it, but they've all got a job to do. There's a strong dynamic here between Sinden and Hawkins and the story is peppered with back references to the lives ashore of many of the crew who have families in a homeland that is constantly being bombed. It was made long after the war finished, but it still manages to convey an effective sense of the danger - physical and emotional - faced by these men who left home uncertain as to what might await them on their return. It grittily encapsulates so much of the human story of the war, but there's also a little time for some romance (cue Virginia McKenna) and a little light banter from Liam Redmond, Bruce Seton and the always reliable Megs Jenkins who can't be bothered to fix up the blackout curtains. Moira Lister adds a bit of shallow glamour to the proceedings and by the half way mark we have a pretty comprehensive appraisal of the people's Royal Navy that's well captured by some chilling photography and haunting audio.
On June 6, 1944, the Allied Forces executed Operation Overlord, the largest seaborne invasion in history, storming the beaches of Normandy. This pivotal event, known as D-Day, liberated France and Western Europe. A new documentary features interviews with historians, experts, and eyewitnesses, providing detailed insights into the events leading up to this crucial day that played a vital role in bringing an end to World War II.
Nagyvárad, Hungary, 1944. From February to June, Eva Heyman, a 13-year-old Jewish girl, wrote a diary describing the harsh conditions of her life under Nazi occupation. How would she have told her story if she had used Instagram?
Orson Welles reads the poem especially for this film by Larry Jordan, which is dedicated to the late Wallace Berman, and is made possible by a grant from The National Endowment Of The Arts.
After World War II, a woman refuses to believe her husband, missing on the Russian front, is dead. Flashbacks reveal their brief courtship and marriage. Years later, she travels to Russia with his photo, determined to find him. What will she discover?
In the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.
Based on a real-life story, this drama focuses on a small group of Allied soldiers in Burma who are held captive by the Japanese. Capt. Ernest Gordon, Lt. Jim Reardon and Maj. Ian Campbell are among the military officers kept imprisoned and routinely beaten and deprived of food. While Campbell wants to rebel and attempt an escape, Gordon tries to take a more stoic approach, an attitude that proves to be surprisingly resonant.
In the midst of the D-Day invasion, a group of US soldiers are given orders to smuggle a member of the French Resistance behind enemy lines to assassinate a high-value Nazi target.
In order to check the German offensive, Partizans send an elite team of explosive experts to blow up a strategically important bridge. Besides being heavily guarded, that bridge is almost indestructible and the only man who knows weak spots in the construction is the architect who built it. He is, however, reluctant to cooperate because he doesn't want to see his masterpiece destroyed.
When a folk high school is turned into an internment camp for German refugees, the headmaster couple Jakob and Lis and their children are thrust into an impossible situation. Should the family help the refugees — or stand firm in the Danish resistance against the Germans?
Horrific Nazi experiments have left a surviving WWII soldier with a terrifying condition: at the sight of fresh blood, he transforms into a man-sized, blood-sucking killer insect. Refusing to let his affliction destroy him and all he loves, he instead commits himself to using his "powers" for good-by finding the people responsible and bringing them to justice.
A brother and sister learn their biological grandfather was a kamikaze pilot who died during World War II. During their research into his life, they get conflicting accounts from his former comrades about his character and how he joined his squadron.