Ten Most Famous World War 1 "The Great War" Movies

World War I (WWI) was "The Great War" of mass destruction of humanity which lasted for around 5 years from 1914 to 1919. I personally felt that it was a total waste of everything, we gained nothing out of war and more importantly "In war, Nobody Wins". I really do not know why?.. May be they didn't know much about weapons of war could lead to. We are always curious to know about World War how did it actually begin?. The only way to know more about world war is by going through documentaries and films. This is a list of movies illustrates real reason and effects of "The Great War" on different aspects of life. So let's see the top ten most famous World War I movies of all time.

1. Paths Of Glory (1957)

 

 ***One Of The Greatest Anti-War Movies You Will Ever See***

"BOMBSHELL! the roll of the drums... the click of the rifle-bolts... the last cigarette... and then... the shattering impact of this story... perhaps the most explosive motion picture in years!"

 "War began between Germany and France on August 3rd 1914. Five weeks later the German army had smashed its way to within eighteen miles of Paris. There the battered French miraculously rallied their forces at the Marne River and in a series of unexpected counterattacks drove the Germans back. The front was stabilized then shortly afterwards developed into a continuous line of heavily fortified trenches zigzagging their way five hundred miles from the English Channel to the Swiss frontier. By 1916 after two grizzly years of trench warfare the battle lines had changed very little. Successful attacks were measured in hundreds of yards and paid for in lives by hundreds of thousands.

Stanley Kubrick's 1957 war film, "Paths of Glory" based on a novel of the same name by Humphrey Cobb is more of an anti-war statement. Hence, calling it a 'war film' wouldn't be right, as it does not lie in the same category as other war films, plot-wise.

The film is set during World War I. The story focuses on the war between the French and the Germans. General Mireau (George Macready) sends his division headed by Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas) on a suicidal mission to take over a prominent German position called "Anthill". Initially Mireau is reluctant to carry out this task, but is enticed by an offer of promotion from his superiors. With this in mind, he practically forces Dax to begin with the mission. Col. Dax, also aware of the danger associated with the mission, points the same out to Mireau but Mireau does not relent.

"Paths of Glory" was just a modest success commercially, I've read. It comes as a surprise, considering the screenplay by Stanley Kubrick, Calder Willingham and Jim Thompson is spell-binding, to say the least. Kubrick directs with his touch of genius and creates a tremendous impact. The first scene of attack on Anthill is so masterfully shot, you actually feel you are in the field of battle! Ditto for the rest of the film when things take an unexpected turn for some of the less fortunate soldiers. Every frame of this picture is gripping, right 'til the final one.

Kubrick allows us to see the entire range of what humanity is capable of, from the cruelest of Injustices to the most beautiful of moments. Stanly Kubrick's first Masterpiece, and definitely one to watch. 

2. Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)

 

 ***An Epic Masterpiece As You've Never Seen It Before!***

"A mighty spectacle of action and adventure!"

"Mr. Dryden: If we've told lies, you've told half-lies and a man who tells lies, like me, merely hides the truth, but a man who tells half-lies has forgotten where he put it.

T.E. Lawrence: The truth is I'm an ordinary man. You might have told me that, Dryden, and I want an ordinary job, sir. That's my reason for resigning. It's personal."

"Lawrence of Arabia" is a remarkable labor, a masterful mixture of fact and artistry, a masterpiece of intimate moment and spectacular largesse, a film that literally excites the senses. In a visual sense, Lean combines a sure sense of place with an approach to the action that he borrows from an unlikely source— John Ford… Lean turns his vast desert canvas into another Monument Valley, and when his Bedouins ride across it, they are not far removed from Ford's cavalry. In many of the early scenes, the stately gait of the camel's walk gives the film a slower pace, and this is precisely what Lean is trying to achieve. Lean even manages to surpass Ford with his understanding of the relationship between his characters and the landscape; how the desert changes those who go into it.

The photography, the script and the acting are so superb that "Lawrence of Arabia" becomes a lavish epic winner of 7 Academy Awards for Best Picture, Directing, Color, Cinematography, Sound, Musical Score and Film Editing.

3. All Quiet On The Western Front (1930) 

***A Moving, A Detailed And A Very Powerful Film***

"Paul Bäumer: You still think it's beautiful to die for your country. The first bombardment taught us better. When it comes to dying for country, it's better not to die at all. "

"This story is neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war..."

"All Quiet on the Western Front"  tells the story of a handful of school boys who leap at the opportunity to join the army at the beginning of World War I and kill the enemy. By the end they are disillusioned and dead. We know they have lost hope not only because they tell us so but because the director (Lewis Milestone) and the writer show us a few of the details by which ideals are lost.

The battle scenes shook me more than several of the more gory, explosion-riddled war scenes that I have seen. When the French are advancing on the Germans, and they come charging across the field only to be picked off one by one by machine guns, they are nothing more than targets. It is a frightening mentality that is shown, when all the soldiers could concentrate on was bullet--man dead. Bullet--another man dead. Another, and another.

The ending was perfect for this movie. The acting was a little faulty at times, but the rest of the film more than made up for it. 'All Quiet on the Western Front' does an amazing job of showing the feelings experienced during war. A must-see antiwar movie.  

4. The African Queen (1951) 

 

***A Great Classic And A Wonderful Movie***

"Charlie Allnut: I don't know why the Germans would want this God-forsaken place.

 Rose Sayer: God has not forsaken this place, Mr. Allnut, as my brother's presence here bears witness. "

 "Charlie: All this fool talk about The Louisa. Goin' down the river...

Rose: What do you mean?

Charlie: I mean we ain't goin' to do nothin' of the sort.

Rose: Why, of course we're going! What an absurd idea!

Charlie: What an absurd idea! What an absurd idea! Lady, I may be a born fool, but you got ten absurd ideas to my one, an' don't you forget it! "

"The African Queen" blends all these elements flawlessly into one phenomenal film. The film, for the most part, features just two characters on a thirty-foot boat. The story is more about the relationship between Rose and Allnut than about the journey of the `African Queen' itself -- where these two characters travel emotionally is far more important than where they go physically. Allnut starts out as a world-weary traveler, content with his comfortable life of piloting his boat and drinking his gin. It takes meeting someone like Rose to make him realize that there might be more wonderful things in his life that he might be missing. In a similar way, Rose is an extremely sheltered woman, committed to the missionary and to her brother; when those things are stripped away from her, she is forced to see what else the world might hold for her. 

Director John Ford does a great job with the film as well -- the shots of the `African Queen' going down the rapids are simply breathtaking, and an eerie (and somewhat repulsive) scene involving Allnut and some leeches is skillfully handled as well. Equally impressive, though, is how Ford handles the scenes between Bogart and Hepburn are fantastic as well.  There's easily a dozen or so small touches like this throughout `The African Queen' that set it slightly above other great films, and into the realm of the masterpiece.

5. Johnny Got His Gun (1971) 

 

***An Astonishing And Effective Film Ever Made***

"The most shattering experience you'll ever live."

This wrenching tale about a basket case in which a young American soldier named Johnny -Timothy Bottoms - is hit by a bomb on the last days of the WWI . The story takes place in the mind of a quadruple amputee who has also lost his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. As the deaf and dumb Joe is limbless , faceless and confined to a semi-existence and he attempts to communicate with the staff -Edward Franz- and caretakers . Regaining consciousness, 20 and some year-old Joe Bonham slowly learns that while his brain is healthy and able to reason, the rest of his body is irreparably shattered, leaving him forever tied within the confines of his own imagination. Regarded as a vegetable and stuck in a light-less hospital utility room , he fantasizes and dreams about life before and after the artillery shell . He struggles valiantly to find some way to communicate with the outside world . Tapping his head on the pillow in Morse code he breaks through and pleads with his nurse -Diane Varsi- to be put on display as a living example of the cost of war. 

Make no mistake. This is a highly disturbing film which will resonate in some part of your mind forever. 

6. A Very Long Engagement (2004)

 

***Passionate, Poetry And Jaw Droopingly Brilliant***

"Tina Lombardi: I regret nothing. Except my hair."

"Narrator: Mathilde leans back against her chair, folds her hands in her lap, and looks at him. In the sweetness of the air, in the light of the garden, Mathilde looks at him. She looks at him... She looks at him... "

"A Long Engagement" is by the same director as "Amelie," Jean-Pierre Jeunet. It also features the same Audrey Tautou in the lead role. But whereas "Amelie" played like an amusing soufflé, "A Long Engagement" is darker and earthier, like truffles dug out of French soil.

Tautou plays a crippled girl who won't give up searching for her fiancée, reportedly killed by his own troops for self-mutilation during World War I. The scenes in the trenches of the Somme are some of the most horrific war scenes ever. The setting of the First World War was what drew me to the movie. The "Great War" has been overshadowed, in history and certainly in cinema, by the Second World War. But as director Jeunet shows so powerfully in "A Long Engagement," it was a war with unique terrors and a story we have yet to understand.

It shows the love French people have for the art of movie making--a love which shows on every frame of "A Long Engagement." 

7. Joyeux Noel (2005)

 

***Christmas Miracle And Insanities Of War***

"Christmas Eve, 1914. On a World War I battlefield, a Momentous Event changed the lives of soldiers from France, Germany and England."

"Without an enemy there can be no war."

"Joyeux Noël" is a dramatization with fictional characters and situations of a true event of a Christmas' miracle and Insanities of war. The story is extremely beautiful and recalls one of those masterpieces of Frank Capra, with a magnificent anti-war message.

On the Christmas Eve of 1914, in the Western Front in France in World War I, the Scottish, the German and the French troops have a moment of truce and share moments of peace and friendship. When the soprano Anna Sorensen (Diane Krüger) succeeds in convincing the Prussian Prince to join her tenor husband Nikolaus Sprink (Benno Fürmann) to sing for the German high command, Sprink brings her to the front to sing for his comrades in the trench. The Scottish Lieutenant Gordon (Alex Ferns) and the French Lieutenant Audebert (Guillaume Canet) have an informal and unauthorized meeting with the German Lieutenant Horstmayer (Daniel Brühl) and negotiate a truce for that night, and the priest Palmer (Gary Lewis) celebrates a mass for the soldiers. When their superiors become aware of the event, they have to pay for the consequence of their armistice.

8. Gallipoli (1981)

 

***A Top Australian Drama And A Great Anti-War Movie***

"From a place you never heard of...a story you'll never forget."

"Sgt. Sayers: As you all know, this morning's exercise involves a frontal assault on an enemy trench, the enemy being some "gentlemen" from the Light Horse. These "gentlemen," presumably because their asses are higher from the ground that ours, tend to assume airs of superiority. But, they won't have their horses with them today, so I want you to go out there this morning, and short of actually killing them, show them the stuff the infantry is MADE OF!  "

"Gallipoli" is one of a select few of films that let's the war come to us. A film of awesome power, intelligence, and design, Gallipoli proves to be one of the best films on the human spirit during war time. With a cast of no names and a story focusing around a battle nearly forgotten to history, it looked as if Gallipoli would either be a major flop or a film that would inspire those who saw it to remember the Great War and also to realize the futility of war. 

The Battle of Gallipoli is hauntingly realistic and unsettling. Peter Weir held nothing back in filming his battle sequences. The battles are filled blood, gore, and violence. What makes the battle scenes work is not the realistic action but the acting and the musical score playing during the whole sequence.  

Mel Gibson is quite young in this one. He was barely 25 in this and along with Mad Max, this helped propel him into the public spotlight and made him the star he is today. The first half of the film he seems like a dry character but we are all misunderstanding him. He never wanted to be on the front, he never wanted to go to war, and that is all revealed during the battle as the characters lose their innocence about the reality of war. 

Gallipoli is a terrific film. Its power and awe is unmatched by any other war film. Peter Weir created a masterpiece when he made the film Gallipoli. This film is a triumph and one of the greatest war films I have ever seen.

9.  War Horse (2011)

 

 ***A Uplifting And A Pure Cinematic Experience***

"Separated by war. Tested by battle. Bound by friendship."

"Commander: "It is an honor to ride beside you. Let every man make himself, and his country, proud. Be brave!"

The time of the story in set in Devon, England. To his wife Rose's (Emily Watson) dismay war injured and silenced farmer Ted Narracott (Peter Mullan) buys a thoroughbred horse rather than a plough animal that might save their leased farm form landowner Lyons (David Thewlis), but when his teenaged son Albert (Jeremy Irvine) trains the horse and calls him Joey, the two becoming inseparable, Albert does indeed manage to train Joey how to plough fields. When his harvest fails due to rain, Ted has to sell Joey to an army captain (Tom Hiddleston) who takes the horse into the battlefields of World War I the British cavalry and he is shipped to France. After a disastrous offensive he is captured by the Germans and changes hands twice more before he is found, caught in the barbed wire in No Man's Land four years later and freed in a scene between a British soldier and a German soldier that is one of the most memorable scenes in the film.

The breathtaking cinematography is by Janusz Kaminski and the at times lugubrious musical score is by longtime Spielberg associate, composer John Williams. The story aims for the heart and finds its mark - and there is nothing wrong with that. Perhaps this film is much needed right now. 

10. Legends of the Fall (1994)

***A Wonderful. Emotional Melodrama During And After World War I***

"The men of the Ludlow family. A woman's grace brought them together. Then her passion tore them apart."

"After the Fall from Innocence the Legend begins."

The sweeping, melodramatic saga of three brothers, their powerful father, and a beautiful woman, the popular period drama Legends of the Fall presents a romanticized view of rugged masculinity against lush Montana scenery. Based on a novel by Jim Harrison, the film covers decades in the lives of Alfred, Tristan, and Samuel Ludlow, the sons of retired military man William Ludlow. Legends of the Fall is an epic film based on the 1979 novella of the same title by Jim Harrison.It stars Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins and Aidan Quinn together with Julia Ormond,Henry Thomas,and Karina Lombard.The movie was directed by Edward Zwick.

Alfred(Aiden Quinn)the eldest who is calm and dutiful,Tristan(Brad Pitt)who is untameable and strong and Samual(Henry Thomas)the gentle youngest.Shortly after this the First World War begins and the Colonel is devastated when all three of his boys leave to do their duty.This is a very moving film about family,love,war and family ties that can never be broken.

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