World War 2 and Cinema on Sky Arts - Episode 3 - D-Day, The Holocaust and The Atomic Bomb

 

This is the final episode in the short series about how cinema has portrayed the second world war. Ian Nathan is back at RAF Duxford and talked about how the fighter command and bomber command became as an important factor at the final stages of the war as they had been at the beginning. Operation Overlord or D-Day is portrayed in 1962's The Longest Day. An all star cast includes John Wayne telling his subordinates that as Americans, they were "newcomers" to the action .Bonnie Greer explained how the film showed both sides with the Germans speaking their own language with subtitles. Simon Heffer said it was a film "full of integrity".

Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan in 1998 showed the brutality and death on the beaches. Derek Malcolm said those first 45 minutes were so realistic: "beautifully made and acted" and at the same time "terrifying". 

THE VI AND V2 ROCKETS

Operation Crossbow from 1965 showed Germany fighting back with flying bombs targeting London and the ports. 

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

A film I did not know was Is Paris Burning? from 1966. Simon told us that this was based on a book about the liberation of Paris in 1944. Charles de Gaulle insisted that the French army went in first to liberate the city. Hitler had wanted it to have been laid to waste but that did not happen. We then see  a clip from The Train, a 1964 film with Paul Schofield that I remember well.

   THE WAR IN GERMANY

In 1965 came Battle of the Bulge, which showed the retreating German army launching  counter offensive in The Ardennes. Ian Nathan calls this a "terrific war movie in terms of entertainment", if not fanciful in part. Patton from 1970 had George C Scott in the title role, Simon telling us that this is "a film about leadership". 

THE HOLOCAUST

The 1958 movie The Young Lions was an adaptation of the book of the same name from 1948. An all star cast included Marlon Brando, Dean Martin and Montgomery Clift. Americans and Germans meet outside a concentration camp at the end of the war. The Stranger from 1946 was directed by Orson Welles who starred alongside Edward G Robinson where a high ranking Nazi is tracked down in Connecticut. 1961's Judgement at Nuremberg included documentary footage shown at the trial. Derek Malcolm thought it was a pretty accurate picture of what happened there. Schindler's List from 1993 was Steven Spielberg's epic drama starring Liam Neeson. The Zone of Interest was too new to have been included.

THE END OF THE WAR IN EUROPE

In 2004 came Downfall, the final days of Hitler and the Third Reich starring Bruno Ganz. Despite much criticism, this for me is a masterpiece as it documents the end of the world's greatest tyranny. Simon agrees when he says it is "stunning... an utterly brilliant film" with Ganz giving a "tremendously effective representation". The clip shows Hitler furious with all his generals and everyone else. Superb.

THE END OF THE WAR IN ASIA

In 2006 came Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, based on the book and both directed by Clint Eastwood. He wanted to show the battle for the island shown from both sides, the first from the American and the second (in the language of) the Japanese. And last of all Empire of the Sun from 1987 directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Tom Stoppard from the book by J.G. Ballard, set i China at the end of the war with the Japanese surrender at the very end.