Help me with my thesis: Films about Trauma & World War One
 

Hey guys! Before I say anything, no, this isn't another one of those "do my homework for me" threads. At least, I hope it doesn't come across that way.

Anyway, good news! I've been accepted onto a research Master's programme to start in January next year. It's a year long and I'll be required to research and write a 40,000 word thesis, which, without going into too much detail, will look at the traumatic effects of the First World War and its depiction in cinema.

With that much to do, no time is too early to get started. I've already done quite a lot of work during the proposal stage and have what I think is a good list of film examples (see below) to get started with. But, in the spirit of leaving no stone unturned, I thought it would be remiss of me not to throw the question out to the most knowledgeable film community on the web. I think I have a pretty exhaustive list of films that deal explicitly with the subject matter, but maybe not of those that depict it tangentially.

I want to know about any film or TV show I may have missed in which the mental trauma of the First World War plays a part, large or small, literally or metaphorically, set during or after (or even before, if relevant) the war, made at any time and anywhere. There are no wrong answers, basically.

Thanks in advance for anything you guys can come up with. Here's the list so far, hopefully it will give you a good idea of the broadness of the search at this point:

A Farewell to Arms (1932)
A Very Long Engagement (2004)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
All Quiet on the Western Front (TV Movie, 1979)
The African Queen (1951)
The Battle of the Somme (1916)
The Big Parade (1925)
Black and White in Color (1976)
Blackadder Goes Forth (TV 1989)
Blighty (1927)
The Blue Max (1966)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Captain Conan (1996)
Dawn (1928)
The Dawn Patrol (1930)
The Dawn Patrol (1938)
Deathwatch (2002)
Die andere Seite (The Other Side, 1931)
Die Frau und der Fremde (The Woman and the Stranger, 1985)
Douaumont - Die Holle von Verdun (1931)
For Me and My Girl (1942)
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
Fragments of Antonin (2006)
The Good Soldier Schweik (1960)
The Great War (TV Mini-Series, 1964)
The Guns of Loos (1928)
Hearts of the World (1918)
Hedd Wyn (1992)
The Hireling (1973)
Homecoming (1928)
The Hours (2002)
J'accuse (1919)
J'accuse (1938)
Journey's End (1930)
Journey's End (TV Movie, 1988)
Journey's End (2011)
Joyeux Noel (2005)
The Kaiser, the Beast of Berlin (1918)
King & Country (1964)
King of Hearts (1966)
Kreuzer Emden (1926)
La Grande Illusion (1937)
Legends of the Fall (1994)
Life and Nothing But (1989)
The Lost Battalion (TV Movie, 2001)
Mademoiselle from Armentieres (1927)
Mrs Dalloway (1997)
My Boy Jack (TV Movie, 2007)
Niemandsland (1931)
The Officer's Ward (2001)
Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
Parade's End (TV Mini-Series, 2012)
Paths of Glory (1957)
Private Peaceful (2012)
Random Harvest (1942)
Regeneration (1997)
The Return of the Soldier (1982)
The Road to Glory (1936)
Shellshock (2011)
Shoulder Arms (1918)
Tannenberg (1932)
Testament of Youth (2014)
The Tin Drum (1979)
The Third Squadron (1926)
To Serve Them All My Days (TV Mini-Series, 1980)
The Trench (1999)
Verdun, visions d'histoire (1928)
War Horse (2011)
Westfront 1918 (1930)
What Price Glory (1952)
Wings (1927)
Woman to Woman (1923)
Woman to Woman (1929)
Woman to Woman (1946)
Wooden Crosses (1932)

Re: Help me with my thesis: Films about Trauma & World War One
 

Behind the Lines (1997) based on the book by Pat Barker, a look at soldiers (a mix of fictional and real life characters, including poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon) suffering from shell shock at a hospital.
Edit: I see you already have this listed under the alternate title of Regeneration, never mind!

Testament of Youth is also a 1979 miniseries

Peaky Blinders is a recent TV series which is set just after the war and has characters dealing with the effects of it.

Birdsong TV series (haven't seen it, doesn't have great reviews but for the sake of completeness might be worth a look)

I'm also racking my brains to remember the title, actors or anything about a tv movie/miniseries I saw back in the 90s or possibly early 2000s about a soldier with amnesia and people dying of flu after WWI.

The Hands Of Orlac (1924), Aces High, Hell's Angels (1930), Mata Hari, Galipoli, and Lawrence Of Arabia.

Re: Help me with my thesis: Films about Trauma & World War One
 

Johnny Got His Gun (71) would be essential.
Many Wars Ago (70)
7th Heaven (27)
Heroes for Sale (33)
The Dark Angel (35)
The Shopworn Angel (38)

More later.

Awesome. Thanks guys, keep them coming if you have them.

Very early in the process I decided I wasn't going to use this one, and right now I can't remember why. I'm thinking maybe it was when the proposal was in an earlier, different incarnation. Thanks for the reminder, anyway.

Re: Help me with my thesis: Films about Trauma & World War One
 

One of the best WWI films I've seen dealing with the aftermath, survivors guilt and national bigotry.
Broken Lullaby (1932) Lubitsch

Re: Help me with my thesis: Films about Trauma & World War One
 

Very interesting subject for your thesis Skep. I'd love to read that when you've finished :)


There's a children's story by Michael Foreman about his uncles who died in WW1 called War Game. It was made into an animated short In 2001.

Passchendaele (2008)

Re: Help me with my thesis: Films about Trauma & World War One
 

I've always wanted to see Many Wars Ago (Uomini Contro) as every film I've seen directed by Francesco Rosi I've really liked, but not got round to finding that one .

Re: Help me with my thesis: Films about Trauma & World War One
 

La grande illusion (1937)

Re: Help me with my thesis: Films about Trauma & World War One
 

Already on the list, thanks anyway though. :)

Re: Help me with my thesis: Films about Trauma & World War One
 

That feeling when you wanted to post about J'accuse, but it's already on the list!

Re: Help me with my thesis: Films about Trauma & World War One
 

Yup, beat you to the punch on that one. ;)

Re: Help me with my thesis: Films about Trauma & World War One
 

Just thought I'd post a quick update since you guys were so helpful in this thread.

It's done. 40,000 words and a year of my life. It ended up being a little different to what I originally planned, mainly due to space constraints, with the extended analyses focusing on a smaller group of especially relevant British and American films (All Quiet on the Western Front, The Battle of the Somme, Deathwatch, Hearts of the World, Journey's End, King & Country, Mrs Dalloway, Paths of Glory, Random Harvest, Regeneration, The Return of the Soldier, The Sun Also Rises, Testament of Youth, The Trench, War Neuroses, and Woman to Woman) with the rest consigned to incidental or very brief mentions.

I handed it in a couple of weeks ago and the examiners hope to get back to me with the result in the next couple of months. If anyone is curious to read it, I can post a link at some point after that.

So thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread and to the Movie Forums community as a whole. This probably never would have happened if you guys hadn't helped to nurture my budding film fanaticism when I joined five years ago.

Re: Help me with my thesis: Films about Trauma & World War One
 

Congrats dude! Does this mean we'll be seeing more of you?

Re: Help me with my thesis: Films about Trauma & World War One
 

Great job Skepsis, what an achievement. You're making me look lazy!

Re: Help me with my thesis: Films about Trauma & World War One
 

GET BACK TO WORK GATSBY!

I FINISHED TODAY'S WORK YA DUMMY!

Re: Help me with my thesis: Films about Trauma & World War One
 

Good work Skepsis. Looking forward to reading it :)

I should think so, since I've actually started watching movies for pleasure again. I've been thinking about them so much the past year in an academic sense I wanted to do anything but watch films in my leisure time.

Re: Help me with my thesis: Films about Trauma & World War One
 

Nice dude. Glad you're getting back into it. I can only imagine focusing so heavily on cinema in an academic sense would take it out of ya, but I'm glad that wasn't permanent.