Cinema - British films - War

British cinema: War (Page 1 of 3)

49th Parallel (1941)

Michael Powell

Early in WWII, a German U-boat surfaces off the east coast of Canada. Only six members if its crew survive when RCAF bombers destroy the submarine in a fierce raid. These six head for the 49th parallel, the unguarded frontier between Canada and the United States, hoping to seeking sanctuary in the latter country which has yet to enter the war... [More...]

A Bridge Too Far (1977)

Richard Attenborough

September, 1944. D-Day has come and gone but the allied advance has slowed to a crawl owing to over-extended supply lines. Field Marshal Montgomery and General Paton are both confident that they can win the war with one more decisive push. U.S. President Eisenhower backs Montgomery’s plan – codenamed Operation Market Garden - to land 35,000 paratroops behind enemy lines to secure half a dozen bridges in Holland... [More...]

A Canterbury Tale (1944)

Michael Powell

One summer during WWII, three complete strangers are thrown together when they get off a train one evening at Chillingbourne village, several miles from Canterbury. Bob Johnson, a sergeant in the American army, had intended to spend part of his leave visiting Canterbury but disembarked at the wrong station... [More...]

A Tale of Two Cities (1958)

Ralph Thomas

In 1775, the banker Jarvis Lorry travels to Paris to be reunited with his old friend, Dr Alexandre Manette, who has been held prisoner in the Bastille for the last eighteen years. Dr Manette is revived from his near-catatonic state when he sets eyes on his daughter Lucie and the pair leave for England to start a new life together... [More...]

A Town Like Alice (1956)

Jack Lee

In 1942, Jean Paget is working in Malaya when the Japanese army begins to attack the country. In no time, she ends up with a party of women and children who are instructed to walk fifty miles to Kuala Lumpur, where they will be allowed to leave the country for Singapore. Before they reach their destination, the party is halted by more Japanese soldiers and sent in another direction... [More...]

The African Queen (1951)

John Huston

In 1914, Rose Sayer assists her brother, the Reverend Samuel Sayer, in leading a missionary village in German East Africa. Their supplies are brought to them by Canadian Charlie Allnut on his steam-driven barge, The African Queen. The Sayers disregard Charlie’s advice to leave the village now that Germany is at war with England and decide to stay on... [More...]

The Angry Hills (1959)

Robert Aldrich

An American journalist Mike Morrison arrives in Athens just as the Allies are about to pull out on the eve of a full-scale Nazi invasion of Greece. Morrison is immediately contacted by an agent named Dr Stergion who offers him a large bounty if he will deliver a piece of paper to British Intelligence... [More...]

Battle of Britain (1969)

Guy Hamilton

In the spring of 1940, British fighter pilots are waging a losing battle against the Nazis in continental Europe. Seeing that the fall of France to Germany is inevitable, Air Chief Marshal Dowding advises the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to withdraw all RAF fighters and prepare for a German attack on mainland Britain... [More...]

The Battle of the River Plate (1956)

Michael Powell

November 1939. When his freighter, The Africa Shell, is sunk by the German pocket battleship Graf Spee, Captain Dove finds himself a prisoner of Captain Langsdorff. Despite the humiliation of his situation, Dove is impressed by Langsdorff’s courtesy and professionalism, and shows him the respect due to a fellow naval officer, albeit one on the opposing side... [More...]

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

David Lean

During WWII, a contingent of British prisoners march into a Japanese camp run by the ruthless Colonel Saito, who intends using them to construct a railway bridge across the River Kwai. The bridge is vital to the Japanese war effort, since it will enable men and supplies to be transported between military centres in Bangkok and Rangoon... [More...]

Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)

Gabriel Pascal

During his conquest of Egypt, Julius Caesar takes time off to soliloquise beside the great Sphinx. As he does so, he is beguiled by a young woman of extraordinary beauty. The woman is Cleopatra, joint heir to the throne of Egypt with her brother, Ptolemy. Under Caesar’s kindly tutelage, Cleopatra changes from a demure ingénue to a self-confident and ambitious queen who soon puts paid to her young brother’s ambitions to be king... [More...]

The Captive Heart (1946)

Basil Dearden

In August 1940, a German prisoner-of-war camp receives a fresh intake of captured British soldiers. These include Captain Hasek, a Czech soldier who, after escaping from a Nazi concentration camp, stole the uniform and papers from a dead British soldier named Captain Mitchell. The other soldiers grow suspicious of Hasek because of his ability to speak German fluently but the Czech wins them around and convinces them that if his true identity is discovered he will be executed by the Nazis... [More...]

Carry on England (1976)

Gerald Thomas

England, 1940. A mixed sex anti-aircraft battery has been set up somewhere in England but, despite the best efforts of the military commanders, no one has yet succeeded in converting the unruly ensemble of male and female privates into an effective fighting force. In desperation, the top brass send Captain S... [More...]

Carry on Sergeant (1958)

Gerald Thomas

For the past six years, Sergeant Grimshaw has dreamed of turning out a champion platoon at his army training camp. So far the dream had eluded him, but this time, his last opportunity before he retires, he is certain he will succeed. Then he sees his latest National Service intake and his heart sinks... [More...]

Carve Her Name with Pride (1958)

Lewis Gilbert

London, 1940. On the pretext of celebrating Bastille Day with a Frenchman, Violet Bushell accosts Etienne Szabo, an officer in the French Foreign Legion, and invites him back to her home for dinner. Within a few days, they have fallen in love and decide to marry. Three years later, Etienne is dead, killed in action at El Alamein, but Violet is consoled by the fact that he gave her a beautiful daughter... [More...]

The Chronicle History of King Henry the Fift (1944)

Laurence Olivier

London, 1600. At the Globe Theatre, players are performing Shakespeare’s Henry V to a packed house. The play opens in 1415. The young King Henry has proven himself a worthy successor to his father and has succeeded in uniting the English nation. He now turns his attention to France, which he believes is rightfully his... [More...]

The Cockleshell Heroes (1955)

José Ferrer

During WWII, Major Stringer, an American officer recently assigned to the Royal Marines, devises a daring plan that will help to break Germany’s blockade of Britain’s sea lanes. The plan involves a party of marines rowing up the Gironde estuary in collapsible submarines to enter the harbour at Bordeaux... [More...]

The Colditz Story (1955)

Guy Hamilton

1942, Saxony. After an unsuccessful escape from a German prisoner-of-war camp, captured British army officers Pat Reid and Mac McGill are sent to Oflag IV-C, a castle prison that is reputedly escape-proof. These latest arrivals waste no time planning their next escape, but their efforts are thwarted by escape attempts by prisoners of other nationalities... [More...]

Convoy (1940)

Pen Tennyson

In 1940, Royal Navy cruiser HMS Apollo returns to base only to be immediately reassigned for a special mission: to escort a convey of merchant ships across the North Sea. When a civilian ship containing refugees is attacked by a German U-Boat, Lieutenant David Cranford overrides the orders of his captain, Tom Armitage, and sends a destroyer to its aid... [More...]

Cottage to Let (1941)

Anthony Asquith

When Mrs Barrington puts her cottage up for let she gets far more than she bargained for. It is wartime and the cottage serves as a military hospital, although the only patient being treated on the premises is Flight Lieutenant Perry, who injured himself when he parachuted from his Spitfire. Mrs Barrington had promised the cottage to child evacuees, but when Mr Charles Dimble turns up claiming to have let the cottage through an estate agent, the children have to go elsewhere... [More...]

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