I don't think most of us would feel all that heroic in the trenches. And we have a sense of what it was like. The soldiers of the time had no clue whatsoever what they were getting into. They had been raised in proper Victorian society and the next minute, they're living in what basically turns into dug up graves. I have read about them throwing their friends bodies to the bottom of the trench and throwing boards on them and walking over them and putting body parts into fortifications to act as cover.

I started a thread on the OT about a month ago about asking what the worst war was and I have to go with WW1.

This post was edited on 5/24/14 at 4:33 am

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Posted by H-Town Tiger

Member since Nov 2003

59104 posts

Posted on 5/24/14 at 11:31 am to cattus

quote:
Just was not a fun war to be in or watch,

yeah, cause other wars are "fun"

The irony is that WWI started off with the romanticized vision of a glorious, heroic war. Failure to take heed to the lessons that should have been learned at Gettysburg about how technology had changed warfare.

Paths of Glory is the best war movie period, imo.

This post was edited on 5/24/14 at 11:42 am

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Posted by Jim Rockford

Member since May 2011

98181 posts

Posted on 7/26/14 at 2:19 am to theGarnetWay

Oh What a Lovely War was on TCM tonight. I had never seen it before. It was odd, but compelling. LINK

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Posted by SoFla Tideroller

South Florida

Member since Apr 2010

30091 posts

Posted on 7/26/14 at 5:52 am to Jim Rockford

Read The Social History of the Machine Gun. It talks about how some of the military commanders, at the early development of the machine gun, thought that it would work against uncivilized peoples like in Africa or Asia but not against gentlemen of Europe.

They learned the hard way.

ETA: The Blue Max and Gallipoli were good.

This post was edited on 7/26/14 at 6:41 am

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Posted by Ace Midnight

Between sanity and madness

Member since Dec 2006

89514 posts

Posted on 7/26/14 at 7:28 am to Baloo

quote:
Gallipoli
All quiet on the Western Front
Paths of Glory
Johnny Got His Gun
Lawrence of Arabia

Hella good list - perhaps a great essential list.

As far as a newer film, the OP said he watched Lost Battalion.

For a silent film much closer to the time of the event, What Price Glory? from 1926 is a good exemplar. John Ford remade this film in Technicolor in 1952 with Jimmy Cagney as the lead. It is also worthy of a watch or rewatch.

John Ford's 1934 remake of The Lost Patrol is good, as is the original British silent film from 1929. Howard Hughes' Hell's Angels and Howard Hawks' Dawn Patrol (both from 1930) are interesting companion pieces because Hughes sued saying they plagiarized his film.

A Farewell to Arms is good. Howard Hawks The Road to Glory is good. Obviously it is different kind of film, and one of the best films of all time, regardless of genre, but others have mentioned The African Queen.

One I haven't seen, but I've been meaning to is The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. This is a British film made about WWI during the Second World War.

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Posted by upgrayedd

Lifting at Tobin's house

Member since Mar 2013

134860 posts

Posted on 7/26/14 at 5:27 pm to Ace Midnight

The WWI show debuting on History tonight should be interesting. I hope it meets my expectations.

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Posted by tigerfan in bamaland

Back Home now

Member since Sep 2006

61099 posts

Posted on 7/26/14 at 7:17 pm to theGarnetWay

quote:
didn't like War Horse

I liked it.

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Posted by SoGaFan

Member since Jan 2008

5956 posts

Posted on 7/26/14 at 8:41 pm to tigerfan in bamaland

All Quiet on the Western Front is truly one of the great modern novels. The second novel he wrote, The Road Back is a great post-modern novel, years before there was post-modernism.

I read it in college and just was gutted by the end of it.

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