Movie Forums Top 100 War Movies - Group Watch

I meant to post this last night, but the next host is...

@John-Connor

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Can I pick one I haven't seen yet but planned on watching tonight?

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Yes

Nomination #23

I'll get to it either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Looking forward to it.

I was considering this for one of my group watch choices so glad to see it picked.

I seen it recently when I watched all of John Wayne's films. I'd consider this to be Wayne's best war film and of course it's directed by one of my favorite directors (and actor) Otto Preminger.

I'm going to watch this one again as I enjoyed it that much. I'll post my thoughts after I rewatch it.

I have a lot planned the next couple of days but I would like to find time for this.

In Harm's Way


This one was only ok.


Patricia Neal was great and I liked the score, which reminded me of Star Trek (of course, as it was by Jerry Goldsmith). The black and white cinematography was pretty good - I suppose the idea was to make it look like wartime, even with the otherwise 60sness of it all.


Overall it was overlong and melodramatic. The thing that bothered me most was the lack of reality - it was an imaginary mission, based vaguely on real events in the Pacific, in which they take an island from the Japanese (although no Japanese people appear to be there). The effects were frequently unconvincing (the model ships). Coincidences abound (the nurse Rock meets just happens to be the roommate of his son's girlfriend).


Worst of all, the characters don't really behave quite like real people, I was never quite convinced by any of them. The subplot in which one of the characters rapes another and then goes in some kind of semi-heroic suicide mission was bizarre and distasteful (the implication is that he becomes a rapist because his wife cheated on him and then died). John Wayne is always right, of course, because he is John Wayne.

In Harm's Way (Otto Preminger 1965)

Last night I seen a movie with Otto Preminger playing a Nazi, The Pied Piper (1942)...and the night before I seen In Harm's Way directed by Otto Preminger. Preminger is a solid, actor's director. He knows how to film human interaction effectively, while using fluid camera movement and framing that looks professional yet never obvious or 'showy'. I liked how his film is more about the people than the battle. I like spending time in Preminger's films as he has a way of making his stories seem more personable, than a glossy movie. And that's how I found my second watching of In Harm's Way to be, almost like a documentary more than a Hollywood film.

A large part of the realism is the filming aboard real navy ships...that makes all the difference. Also the posturing and social maneuvering within the the Navy's command hierarchy made the film seem like I was watching real events. I've seen enough WWII documentaries to know that one general or admiral could take the lion's share of war materials, leaving only secondary equipment to another general or admiral who's not the darling of headquarters command. The film looked great, except the ship models that were used for the destruction battle scenes. Obviously fake models and not even good fake models.

Trivia: the son of John Wayne's character is played by the actor who was the boy in Shane...Brandon De Wilde. And the blonde, cheating wife who gets killed in the car crash is Barbara Bouchet who had a starring role in the original Star Trek tv series in the episode By Any Other Name. And that's Hugh O'Brian doing the cheating with her.

One thing that really bugged me was when Kirk Douglas' character rapes a young nurse who then commits suicide over the rape. I guess the audience is then suppose to believe Douglas's motivation for going on an one way suicide mission. That self sacrifice Douglas makes doesn't redeem him and yet he's framed as dying like a hero....The rape scene would've been better framed as a consensual drunken love making act between the jilted nurse and ever horny Kirk Douglas...from there the rest of their stories could play out the same.

Like Thursday wrote, I also loved the score and usually I don't pay attention to scores but it was cool. And I really liked the end credit sequence with the crashing sea waves. Titles were by the legendary Saul Bass.

And Brandon de Wilde and Patricia Neal were both in Hud.

Hud, good film...been a long time since I seen that one. Did you know Patricia Neal and John Wayne did another WWII film? Operation Pacific (1951) I liked it and I've seen 'dud torpedoes' mentioned in several WWII submarine films.

I did know but haven't seen it. Would you recommend it?

Hmm...I'm guessing you might like it abit more that In Harm's Way, but I probably wouldn't whole heartily recommend it.

But you know what war film made me think that you might like...
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005) that's a link to my mini-review, spoiler free too.

And ScarletLion wrote this recently about it:

Just finished In Harm's Way, and I thought it was fine. Some of the effects (the model ships and smoke) were distracting, but overall, I felt the good outweighed the bad in that area. I also found the rape scene weirdly executed given the strange redemptive arc the film tried to tack on shortly afterwards. I did enjoy the exploration of the hierarchy of the military. Seeing various commanders/generals attempting to take over was engaging to watch and the dynamics between a few characters (mainly involving John Wayne's character) were decently memorable. Overall though, it won't make my ballot.

Nomination #24

Figured I'd go again.

Fires Were Started (1943)
"A tale of firefighters in London during the Blitz." IMDB


That sounds really interesting. I've never seen a film about the fires during the blitz but of course I've heard they were bad. Looking forward to it!

Sounds interesting. I might check it out.

I should be able to participate in this round. Looks like something I'd enjoy.

Fires Were Started is on the top 100 British films list. I watched it in 2017 in preparation for the 40's countdown. My memory of it is smoky but I know I was impressed. I gave it