Decent WWII naval drama
593761
Kirk Douglas is playing a tragic but tough as nails character. John  Wayne is trying to redefine his father's role with his son. This drama is happening with pacific theater is happening in the background .
339150
Pretty good plot, relatively good acting, nicely shot.  Cruise did an okay job directing and he probably had something to do with casting judging by the size of the breasts of his actress co-star.
2318774
Readers looking for World War 2 sea battle drama intermixed with romance/family drama are likely to enjoy this book. A lot of complex characters as well as complex battle discussions/planning/execution mixed together.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
1076616
An alright war movie whose release pre-dated the United States' entry into World War Two by a couple of months, Henry Hathaway's SUNDOWN (1941) doesn't contain, beyond a couple of skirmishes, any combat battle scenes nor, for its first hour, all that much action.

  Gene Tierney plays Zia, an exotic and beautiful leader of a thriving band of nomadic traders.  Bruce Cabot is Crawford, a British - Canadian, actually - commissioner in the small Kenyan village of Monicka, in what was then British East Africa.  While the big war is heating up in Europe, British Regular George Sanders (Coombes) arrives to find out who's sending guns to the hostile natives.  A key to Axis global domination, at least as formulated by this movie, is control of Africa.  Fortunately, the docile natives love the paternal British.  Heck, even a captured Italian (Joseph Calleia) is thoughtfully anti-Fascist.

  SUNDOWN is a terribly talky action movie, with about two-thirds of it taking place in and around bwana macooba's commandant hut.  Don't know if I've got the spelling right on that, but that's what the affectionate villagers call Crawford.  This film was nominated for three Oscars - for cinematography, art direction, and musical score.  It's a pleasant enough little jungle fantasy in a "Tarzan Goes to War" sense.  It's hard to take seriously as a war movie, though, despite its opening dedication to the gallants in the beginning and Sir Cedric Hardwicke homily at the end.

  Also on the disk - a definite added bonus - is a 1953 episode of `Four Star Playhouse.'  Hosted by Ronald Colman, this 25-minute play stars a young Angela Lansbury in a adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's `A String of Beads.'
1557768
This is a war film about a british recruited saboture being placed aboard a german cargo ship hauling a load of rubber from Japan to German occupied France. The cast is far better than the material they are given to work with, but the result is a very good drama anyway. The only thing I disliked was the pointlessly bleak ending and the fact that nobody really captured the absurdity of the whole thing. The ship is on a sucide mission and Brando has been given a suicide mission within that suicide mission by the British. They try to give events some sort of a moral context, but it doesn't fully work. But the casting and the quality of the actors involved is A+. Brando did lots of bad movies in the 1960s but this, for all its obscurity, is not one of them.
3483834
Somebody looking for an intense World War II film that has a few shocking twists, can't go too wrong with this movie. (Those annoyed by historical inaccuracies: stay away!)

For a submarine movie, it has far more action than most, with half of it outside the sub instead of inside as so often the case. It also looks great on DVD and offers some outstanding 5.1 surround sound.  I'd like to see this on Blu-Ray.

This is definitely a man's movie with an all-male cast of tough seamen fighting tough Nazi seamen in the middle of WWII. Matthew McConaughey and Harvey Keitel are the two main stars and it's a bit odd to see the veteran Keitel taking orders from the "kid."

My only faults with it are that sometimes it goes a bit long on the depth-charge action scenes and that the language is too rough for a PG-13  (if you have kids). otherwise, this is good entertainment and certainly a different kind of World War II story.
2152638
Another Great War movie, With  The Duke and Kirk Douglas as two naval officers.  Plenty of  sea action.
I have watched this movie a few times and plan on watching it again.
36039
In brief, the book recaptures a true story that takes place during the end of World War II on the island of 'Dutch" New Guinea. It involves a military plane crash on a remote part of the island that is inhabited by native people that are so remote as to be unaware of the existance of the rest of the world and its inhabitants. A few survivors from the crash are forced, by circumstances and their instinct for survival, to engage the natives and await what appears to be an impossible rescue. Strange heros emerge from both the survivors and the natives and this is their story.
The book is interesting. There are some detail background sketches that bog the story down though and appear to be an attempt to just fill pages. This might lose some readers along the way, but if you can stay with it, you will find the book generally rewarding.
Overall, I didn't think the book was as good as "Unbroken" but if you like biographical, historical drama, you should place this among your list of picks.
1272870
Unless you were around and aware of things in 1943 - I wasn't - watching DESTINATION: TOKYO is going to be a bit like taking a trip to a foreign country.  It's a war flick made at the mid-point of America's involvement in World War Two.  Like a lot of in-war (1941-1945) Hollywood war movies it takes place in the Pacific theater.  America is planning a bombing raid on the Japanese mainland, and they need to land a meteorologist on the outskirts of Tokyo - into the heart of Enemyland, in other words - to take weather readings, gather information on shore installations, etc.  The submarine USS Copperfin, commanded by Cary Grant, is ordered to transport the meteorologist to Tokyo and, hopefully, bring him back alive.

 Hollywood movies made while the war was raging, and still in doubt, provided information, inspiration, and a more or less accurate reflection of the national spirit.  If not complete feel-good movies - the war wasn't going that good for the Allieds in 1943 - they generally reflected a gritty determination to get the job done and, all too often, depicted heroism in defeat.  There's a reason these movies are packed with clichd characters - the fast-talking kid from the big city, the slow-talking kid from the small town in Iowa, or Wisconsin, or Montana, the wise old vet who just wanted to get home to his wife and kids and easy chair.  Those were the men who were Over There, the sons and uncles, brothers and fathers of the audience.  John Garfield plays the fast-talker in DESTINATION: TOKYO, appropriately named Wolf, who has a swell dish in every port and a long, elaborate, and filmable story about each (plenty of flashback action in this one.)  Alan Hale plays `Cookie,' the gruff mess cook who has a soft side he shows when it's most needed.  William Prince is the agnostic pharmacy attendant named `Pills' who finds his doubts about the existence of a higher being evaporating when a higher power is most needed.  Unlike later war movies, the characters can be abrasive at times, but none are pushed to the margins.

  So, if a movie like DESTINATION: TOKYO wants to fill its roster with generally likeable characters and spend a slightly mawkish Christmas with them - the Copperfin sets sail on December 24th, and most of the first act is spent trailing on-board carolers and partaking in a makeshift Christmas party - more power to it.  It slows down the action, but it gives the major players a chance to introduce themselves, and it's so sentimentally treated it probably boosted the morale of the stateside audience.  The weirdest aspect of this picture is listening to the men discuss the `Japanese character.'  It'd take a couple of decades for Americans to become enamored with the Way of the Warrior.  As best I can make it out, we were in that war because the 8-year-old Japanese child was dis- and re-assembling machine guns blindfolded while the 8-year-old American child was getting a pair of roller skates on their birthday.  If you can wade through the shallow social science and the casual racism in these explanatory scenes there's a message of real value, which can be distilled down to "The enemy isn't inherently bad, but their culture is." Yeah, I know, that kind of talk can lead to bad results, but in 1943 it was progressive (the enemy weren't subhuman animals after all) and oddly optimistic (let's talk about peaceful co-existence with the up-to-now invincible enemy we're destined to beat the stuffing out of.)

  Don't get me wrong, though.  DESTINATION: TOKYO is a still-exciting action movie with minimal philosophizing - the social science stuff caught my ear because I watch too many of these kind of movies.  Cary Grant is now-to-earth and sincere as the ship captain, and the underwater scenes hold up well.  Strong recommendation.
4499482
This Canadian mini-series centers around a little-remembered aspect of World War II. The British face a Nazi onslaught and are desperately short of planes. Canadian newspaper magnate turned cabinet member Lord Beaverbrook conceives a bold plan to fly them across the Atlantic from Newfoundland to Ireland. "But that's impossible," everyone exclaims. Not so. With a motely crew of civilian volunteers including Americans, it can and will be done.
The first half of this mini-series moved along briskly. We're introduced to some of the flyers and their intrepid commander and the girl who will organize the operation and provide the love interest. Joss Ackland provides the Chrchill impersonation, complete with growling voice and huge cigar.
Unfortunately, the dramatic tension is not sustained in Part II. Once the pilots show they can indeed cross the Atlantic, the plot veers to infighting over who will control the operation and a poorly conceived love triangle that totally lacks any snap, crackle or pop.
542850
Not a whole lot could be done telling a story regarding "action" prior to when the Titanic sets sail other than labor strikes. This series focuses on the "have" and "have-nots" well but could use a dose of more drama other than slow drama with just a handful of characters.
 No cliff hangers at the end of each episode here because of the apathy in the acting.
Not bad if you're into nostalgic history, just don't expect excitement for the majority of the series.
2804432
Nol Coward, renowned playwright, was most celebrated for his witty stage plays, but he's dabbled a time or two with cinema. In fact, whilst palling around with Winston Churchill, he expressed interest in contributing to England's war effort against Germany. Ergo, In Which We Serve, a grand 1942 propaganda film that he scored, starred in, co-directed (with David Lean), and for which script he wrote. He based the character he plays on the battle experiences of Captain Lord Louis Mountbatten, whose naval destroyer, H.M.S. Kelly, was sunk by Germans in early 1941.

The opening narration goes like this: "This is the story of a ship." Specifically, it's the story of the royal naval destroyer, the H.M.S. Torrin and its captain and its crew of 244 men. It's chronicled in semi-documentary fashion, which lends the thing a sense of stark realism. A huge chunk of it are flashback sequences that give us the background histories and domestic lives of certain of the crewmembers, particularly the Captain (Coward), the affable Chief Petty Officer Hardy (Bernard Miles), and everyman sailor Shorty Blake (John Mills).

There have been plenty of war pictures that have strived to depict hard-bit verisimilitude, and some of them have been sensational. In Which We Serve is one of the best at this. It doesn't at all try to be flashy, and this is appreciated. It's a character study, and that's okay. The performances are universally terrific, and it's telling that because the actors play their roles as real, down-to-earth men and women, their heroism and sacrifice mean that much more.

Coward undoubtedly wanted to articulate his people's resiliency and indomitable spirit and national fortitude, that famous stiff upper lip. And we sense all that, palpably, as the Torrin sails from one skirmish to the next, and lives are lost and the children and womenfolk back home are left to pray and to agonize. To quote some bloke in the film: "Men must work, and women must weep."

Truth to tell, some of the most poignant scenes revolve around the womenfolk, whether it's the Captain's wife Alix (Celia Johnson), CPO Hardy's beloved Kath (Joyce Carey), or young Shorty Blake's modest bride Freda (Dora Gregory). Some folks tout the Coward's farewell speech near the movie's end as the most rallying, but I say that, rather, it's Celia Johnson's remarkably moving toast to a blushing bride on behalf of "all wretched naval wives."

I wish YouTube had been around in the 1940s, because, then, the world would've been able to see more of Celia Johnson's works on display. She is so good, in this movie and in Brief Encounter, for which she received her one Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. In Which We Serve was her big screen debut, her first of tragically not too many appearances in film. Celia Johnson was a stage actress, except that, in the 1940s, she couldn't commit to extended stage runs due to her service in the Women's Auxiliary Police Corps and her commitment to caring for her family. She turned to film and to radio as those mediums had the less time-consuming schedules. As mentioned, she still didn't make enough movies, not nearly enough.

In Which We Serve is a morale booster in a time when a bombed-away island nation desperately required such upliftment. It's the most classic illustration of wartime British cinema, the sort that adroitly expresses a people united in patriotism and in social accord and resolute in spitting in the face of an oncoming abomination. To quote Celia Johnson's closing words in that wonderful toast: "God bless this ship and all who sail it." See this movie.
3919276
War & Remembrance is an exception to the rule of TV Miniseries- either good or forgetable.  This one blows all of them out of the war, like many of the ships in this film.  The story is of the Henry family, US Naval officers and their loved ones thrown into the four corners of WWII.  Captain Victor Henry (well done by Robert Mitchum) is the Patriarch thrown into the battles of Midway, Guadalcanal, Leyte Gulf, and others, the political infights of Washington, Lend Lease to Russia, and in England with the Allies.  His wife Rhoda (Polly Bergen)is the matriarch with the wandering eyes for family friend Palmer Kirby (Peter Graves from Stalag 17 and Mission Impossible). There is daughter Madeline Henry (Leslie Hope), with CBS and the USO. Sons, Warren and Byron are young naval officers thrown into the maelstrom of the Pacific War (Michael Woods as Warren and Die Hard's Hart Bochner as Byron).  Byron is doubly troubled since his wife Natalie Jastrow Henry (Jane Seymour) and his son are trapped in Europe, along with great uncle and writer Aaron Jastrow (Sir. John Gielgud), both being Jewish and the infant half-Jewish.  The Jastrows are forever pursued by the SS and Nazi Foreign Ministry seeking to exploit Aaron, a US citizen living in Europe, to speak against the war.  The pursuit continues in Europe, with Byron getting updates from his father Pug, and a US Diplomat and agent Leslie Slote (David Dukes).  The war forms a crescendo of true events with these characters and real figures woven into this mix.

The historical detail is well documented.  The sequences of the Holocaust are chilling.  Much of the concentration camp segments were filmed at the actual Auchwitz extermination camp.  There Aaron's cousing Berel Jastrow (Topol of Fiddler on the Roof) is imprisoned, and later escapes.  There is reenactments of inspections by SS Leader Himmler, the gassings, evacuations, and even the medical experiments are alluded to.  There is also the massacre at Babi Yar and the unearthing and burning of the victims' bodies.  Commandant Rudolf Hoess (Gunther M Halmer, also Hoess in Sophie's Choice with Meryl Streep) of Auchwitz and SS Colonel Blobel (Kenneth Colley of Star Wars) of the Babi Yar massacre are portrayed chillingly and all too humanly.  Monsters with families, but willing to do the unthinkable and using terms like processing and units in reference to extermination of 6 Million souls.  There is also a foreman played by John Rhys Davies.  All are part of the darkest chapter of the 20th century.

Much is made of the Pacific war, but Wouk did focus on Natalie and Byron much, and of course Victor.  Victor is not free from war or duty, and even has an affair with Pamela Tudsbury (Victoria Tennant), the young daughter of friend and reporter Alistar Tudsbury.  Thus Victor is in London and Moscow everytime she is, not always on purpose and sometimes fated.

The rich tapestry of this film is well done.  There are some big names, but many picked due to their resemblance and embodiment of actual figures- Churchill, FDR, Hitler, Himmler, General Eisenhower, Patton, and others.  The battles are not so much focused on as much as personal conflict, but it does well with the narration.

This is a collector's items for die hard historians and fans of the old sweeping epics of yester-year.  This is one worth finding, if Paramount redoes these for sale, like they did Winds of War, the prequel to this story. War & Remembrance is a worthy investment of time and money.
1758650
Yes, this movie is extremely dated by today's CGI standards, using Malta, an American heavy cruiser, aging British cruisers (including the real HMNZS Achilles and HMS Cumberland) to stand in for the actual combatants, but I enjoyed this movie when I saw it years ago, and still enjoy it.

Some fine British actors lead the cast of this historic and dramatic naval encounter, which was one of the first major victories for the Royal Navy in World War II. They established a moral dominance over the German battle fleet after this encounter, and Hitler reacted to the loss of Graf Spee very harshly...from then on, he regarded the battle fleet as cowards, no matter what they did. This movie is a fine memorial to the brave sailors on both sides -- including the merchant sailors trapped in the pocket battleship -- who fought and died in the battle.

I expect that if this movie was done today, it would be far less close to the historic encounter. Worse, the British wouldn't be the heroes. Graf Spee would be sunk by an American pilot (James Franco, Shia LaBoeuf) flying an aircraft that would be a cross between an F-22 Raptor and a Star Wars TIE fighter, and his weapons officer/navigator in the back of the plane would be the blonde hottie (Claire Danes, Jennifer Lawrence) who looks great in a bathing suit and can also kick the tar out of a man who harasses her in the beach volleyball game.

The only Britons in the movie would be a smarmy Tom Felton playing the incompetent British admiral who nearly sabotages the whole operation and is actually giving secrets to the Germans and a Marty Feldman-type for comic relief. The German captain would be played by Jurgen Prochnow, and he would discover that his chief engineer is hiding a Jewish family in the engine room to escape the Gestapo, and the two of them would struggle to save the family when the ship goes down, with the captain dying in the efforts.

Critics would hail the movie for its special effects, and as a "great tribute to the American fighting man and woman of World War II," historians would ridicule it for its idiocy, and actual WW2 veterans of both sides would be infuriated by everything about it. Needless to say, the latter would go unheard, and kids watching the movie would believe that F-22 Raptors or X-Wing fighters defeated Darth Hitler in 1942.

So I'll take this movie any day.
2841407
In general, does a good job of telling the story of the USS Franklin & USS Santa Fe and their crews. The personal histories of selected members of the crews were well-written, interesting, and contributed well to the story. The technique of moving the story ahead, then jumping back in time, then moving ahead again was frustrating at times. Just as you have been brought to a point of action, you read about some earlier event in the ship's or crew member's history. The digressions should have been shorter to help the flow. If the author's previous works have been crime fiction, that could explain the approach he chose.
There were several aggravating errors and inconsistencies. We are told a plane is approaching from the port side, then two sentences later a sailor is looking at the same plane approaching from starboard. There are some technical errors. For example, I never heard of a Betty bomber with wing guns or a belly gun. If the author is relying on veterans' memories, a disclaimer would have been nice (as other vets have done in their books) to the effect that this is how events were remembered and may not be technically precise.
I'd recommend this book to those interested in personal recollections of WWII if they can get by the occasional error and inconsistency.
2873254
Good story of WW2 Pocket battleship. Could use more action in the beginning but it does tell the story well.
4405846
I like this poster of this is great submarine film set during WWII against a Nazi battleship. James Caan is good in the strong silent type lead of this secret mission. The film also has a lot to do with self-redemption and fighting overwhelming odds. Good stiff upper lip adventure. This poster is very colorful and reminds of when I first saw this movie.