After the first episode in this series, we are now into the 1940's with the Battle of Britain and The Blitz. Derek Malcolm tells us his story of being evacuated as a boy. Ian Nathan introduces the programme from the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. First up is Angels One Five from 1952. Simon Heffer tells us this is a rare film from those early days of the war. Later came Battle of Britain from 1969 with an all star international cast. Then comes a strange choice. Malta Story from 1953 stars Jack Hawkins about how the island was protected.
AMERICA ENTERS THE WAR
That fateful day 7th December 1941 when the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbour. From Here To Eternity in 1953 starred Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr and newcomers Donna Reed and Frank Sinatra. Those last two both won supporting Oscars. Bonnie Greer said it was a great film, mainly showing the build up to that day.
A sudden turn to Alan Turing and the codebreakers at Bletchley Park. The Imitation Game from 2014 starred Benedict Cumberbatch and was about breaking the Enigma code. The first major film to tell the story of the genius who was Alan Turing. Then another turn to spies in Europe in the shape of Odette from 1950 starring Trevor Howard and Anna Neagle and also 1958's Carve Her Name With Pride with Virginia McKenna. Simon was very impressed with the latter.
THE WAR IN AFRICA
We are in 1942 and the Western Desert Campaign in North Africa. Sea Of Sand from 1958 starred James Mason and Richard Attenborough. The same year saw Ice Cold In Alex with John Mills, Anthony Quinn and Sylvia Simms. An ambulance crew in a road movie or, should I say, Sahara Desert movie. More familiar to me came 1953's The Cruel Sea with the impressive (Derek Malcolm says) Jack Hawkins. It is set on ships in the Atlantic fighting U-Boats. Then onto the Pacific and Run Silent, Run Deep from 1958. Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster are on a submarine. Bonnie Greer tells us this was the first film she saw at the cinema.
Cary Grant starred in Destination Tokyo from 1943. Many would say that the greatest war film of all time was 1953's The Bridge on the River Kwai. Alec Guinness gives "one of his best performances" and the rest of the cast was excellent. One of the great films about prison camps in World War 11. For 1953's Stalag 17, William Holden won the Oscar. Billy Wilder directed. Then in 1963 came the blockbuster that was The Great Escape. Another all star cast headed by Steve McQueen.
THE TURNING OF THE TIDE
I was ten when we went to see The Dam Busters in 1955. Richard Todd starred in a film where many crew from bomber command were lost. Overall, this service lost 55,000 lives during the war. The Dirty Dozen from 1967 was directed by Robert Aldrich. Again an all star cast playing prisoners who were given the chance to go behind enemy lines. The siege of Stalingrad has been brought to the screen many times. Enemy At The Gates from 2001 is quite familiar, but not the German movie Stalingrad from 1993 which showed the destruction of their own army. From the Eastern Front came Sam Peckinpah's 1977 film Cross of Iron starring Lee Marvin. It actually showed the fighting from the view of German soldiers so very unusual for an American film. But Ian Nathan called it "classic Peckinpah".
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