DVD war movies on special

[Sivodsi]

I'm not a salesman, honest, but this is too good a deal not to let you know about: 50 classis war movies on dvd for $25

[Redwolf]

Just a warning, overstock.com fundamentally sucks and is about the worst online shop ever.

You can probably pick up a few movies but leave your mouse off that popup with the IBM thinkpad.

[Holman]

If I read the information correctly, this package contains (in addition to some mediocre war movies) lots of documentaries by John Huston and Frank Capra (including all of the "Why We Fight" series).

Thus it might be a worthwhile purchase for some.

[aka_tom_w]

Originally posted by Martyr:

If I read the information correctly, this package contains (in addition to some mediocre war movies) lots of documentaries by John Huston and Frank Capra (including all of the "Why We Fight" series).

Thus it might be a worthwhile purchase for some.

UM

this is the list:

Movies include:

Go For Broke, Van Johnson; Gung Ho, Randolph Scott; War Head, David Janssen; The Devil's Cavaliers, Frank Lattimore; Escape from Angola, Stan Brock; The Mark of the Hawk, Sidney Poitier; The Proud and the Damned, Chuck Connors; Yellowneck, Lin McCarthy; Three Came Home, Claudette Colbert; The Torch, Paulette Goddard; Hell in Normandy, Peter Lee Lawrence; The Adventures of Tartu, Robert Donat; Captain Scarlett, Richard Greene; The Last Chance, Ewart G. Morrison; The Bushwackers, John Ireland; This Is the Army, Ronald Reagan; Kansas Pacific, Sterling Hayden; The Avenger, Steve Reeves; Blood on the Sun, James Cagney; Flying Blind, Richard Arlen; Eagle in a Cage, Sir John Gielgud; The Big Lift, Montgomery Clift; Appointment in Tokyo; The Battle of Britain; The Memphis Belle; Divide and Conquer; The Battle of China; The Battle of Russia; Desert Victory; The Great Battle of the Volga; Prelude to War; The Nazis Strike; Attack in the Pacific; Attack! The Battle for New Britain; After Mein Kampf; Nuremberg Trials; The Secret Life of Adolf Hitler; Combat America; December 7, 1941; Payoff in the Pacific; True Glory; Tunisian Victory; The KGB Connections; Report from the Aleutians; The Stilwell Road; Submarine Warfare; Thunderbolt; To the Shores of Iwo Jima; Marines at Tarawa-Return to Guam; The Battle of San Pietro;

I LIKE war movies and my personal collection has GREAT war movies in it like Full Metal Jacket, A Bridge too Far, SPR, Kelly's Heroes (of course) Apocolypse Now (AND Redux) Platoon, Black Hawk Down and many more

BUT I don't know or recognize ANY of those 50 war movies as any movie I would pay $25.00 for ?

are there ANY good or really high quality WAR movies in there?

really?

just curious

-tom w

[Michael Dorosh]

The Battle of San Pietro and Memphis Belle are both excellent wartime documentaries. The first was actually banned, I think, because of its graphic nature; you actually see American GIs being loaded into mattress covers for burial. A lot of the footage is repeated during the movie, but it is the closest thing to frontline footage produced in WW II. It all appears to be authentic stuff filmed in combat rather than in training exercises. I may be wrong. It also gives a deatiled breakdown, with animated maps, of a regimental attack on a position in Italy, and may even be a great resource for a scenario designer.

IF the titles refer to the same wartime movies I'm thinking of.

[tar]

BUT I don't know or recognize ANY of those 50 war movies as any movie I would pay $25.00 for ?

But it appears that the deal is ALL 50 for $25. So the question then becomes whether you would pay fifty cents a movie for them....

[John Kettler]

Troops,

For the money involved, this looks like a great deal. You can get details on the individual titles here

www.imdb.com

"Go For Broke" is the story of the 442nd RCT, the Nisei unit which was, I believe, the most heavily decorated unit in the entire U.S. Army. Movie action is squarely in CMAK territory: Italy (uphill assault in vineyard a must see), also true of John Huston's documentary "The Battle of San Pietro." "Battle of Britain" was made in the 60s and featured real Hurricanes and Spits against Spanish versions of Me-109s and He-111s. "The Battle of New Britain" is a Pacific War documentary directed by Jack Hively, the guy who did the original "Black Beauty," and a man whose boat was once moored near mine in Marina del Ray, California. Used to visit him on weekends and even went out boating with him a few times. A real gentleman. Was attached to MacArthur's staff when he made the film, a film I've yet to see. "Memphis Belle" was directed by William Wyler, the same guy who did "Ben Hur" starring Charlton Heston and also a superb documentary on a day in the life of a P-47 squadron. The "Why We Fight" series is considered classic wartime propaganda and is studied to this day. Made devastating use of Axis propaganda footage to undermine the Axis and motivate the troops and the homefront.

Summary conclusion? While every movie in there may not be great, there are more than enough good-excellent/rare ones to justify the asking price.

Regards,

John Kettler

[Holman]

I took the plunge and bought this collection. Although I've just begun to get into it, I can say that I'm glad I spent the money. The complete "Why We Fight Series" is great to have, as well as the famous "Desert Victory" Montgomery propaganda film. Wyler's "Memphis Belle" is excellent. A totally unexpected gem was "The Great Battle of the Volga," a 70-minute Soviet commemoration of Stalingrad which includes lots of great footage.

That's all I've seen so far, but that's already a $25 value in my book.

[John Kettler]

Martyr,

Tres cool! Please keep us posted on your viewing developments. The Stalingrad film almost sounds like a justification for the purchase price by itself. Is "Desert Victory" the one in which something like a dozen cameramen were killed and starts out with the cameramen walking backwards in order to film the leading assault troops jumping off in their night attack?

Regards,

John Kettler

[Holman]

"Desert Victory" is exactly that. (I believe Keith Douglas has a few cynical things to say about the film in his memoir "Alamein to Zem Zem.")

Last night I watched a little of "Tunisian Victory," a joint British-American documentary about the North African landings. While it is of course very rah-rah, the footage is again excellent.

Which is the great thing about this whole set. There is a huge amount of period camera work, much of it shot under fire. Everything I've seen so far has justified the purchase, especially as it is long-form (1 hour+) stuff rather than short newsreels.

I haven't even watched any of the fictional movies. I suspect they were included because the publisher could get the rights very cheaply.

[aka_tom_w]

Will they ship to canada? (YES)

They ship internationally and they are currently out of stock on that War Movies item.

Has anyone from outside the USA had these DVD's shipped to them?

-tom w

[ January 11, 2005, 01:00 PM: Message edited by: aka_tom_w ]

[Webs]

My wife bought 'em for me and had them shipped to Canada.