My Top 5 WW1 Military Movies of All Time
The following is a guest post by Charles Holmes, an Army MAJ-turned-civilian and creator of Part-Time-Commander.com
I’m a big military movie buff. I love watching movies from many different time periods. While the WW2 Movies are normally my favorite type of war movies, I’m also a big fan of WW1 Movies. In the paragraphs below, I want to share my top 5 WW1 Military Movies of all time.
# 5 Sergeant York
This great movie covers the story of Sergeant Alvin C. York, one of the most decorated Soldiers during WW1. Sergeant York
received the Congressional Medal of Honor for almost single-handedly capturing 32 machine guns, killing 28 German Soldiers, and taking
132 German prisoners. The movie was first released in 1941 and stars Gary Hooper, who won an Oscar® for his role.
# 4 The Last Voices of WW1: A Generation Lost
This movie is a six part documentary featuring interviews and stories from more than 100 WW1 veterans. It also provides some amazing footage from the
war. This series won several awards and was released sometime around 2008. While it isn’t as “exciting” as some of the other Hollywood titles on this list,
the interviews and footage are absolutely amazing. If you are a history buff, or really want to learn what WW1 was like, this is the movie for you.
# 3 War Horse
This Steven Spielberg movie War Horse was released in 2012 and stars Jeremy Irvine and Peter Mullan. It highlights a story of a horse
brought into battle during WW1. The movie is emotional and captivating. I watched it in the movie theater and thoroughly enjoyed it.
# 2 The Red Baron
If you like airplanes and fight scenes, you will love The Red Baron. Released in 2008, this great WW1 Aviation Movie highlights German
fighter pilot Manfred von Richthofen’s battles in the sky. While the acting and dialogue aren’t the best, the fight scenes are what make this movie my # 2 pick.
# 1 The Lost Battalion
This masterpiece covers the men of the 308th Infantry Battalion of the 77th Infantry Division. Surrounded by troop in the Argonne Forest,
the battalion must fight or die! Fighting for five days with no food, water, communication or re-supply the battalion holds off the Germans.
I’ve watched this movie several times now and enjoy it immensely.
Final Thoughts
Thanks for checking out my top 5 WW1 Military Movies of all time. If you have a favorite WW1 Movie that isn’t on this list, please leave a comment and tell me about it.
Charles Holmes is a former Army Major. He is the author of 12 books and creator of the popular website Part-Time-Commander.com. His website provides helpful leadership tips and training advice for Soldiers in the Army National Guard and Army Reserves. Charles spent 15 years in the Army as an enlisted man and officer. He served on Active Duty, in the Army National Guard and in the Army Reserves. Some of his previous duty assignments include Platoon Leader, Company XO, Battalion S4, Shop Officer, G4 Plans Officer, Fuels Officer, Company Commander, Brigade S4 and Brigade S3. He is currently the owner of Holmes Internet Marketing, a company that specializes in internet marketing and affiliate marketing.
The Blue Max?
Robert,
I’ve never watched “The Blue Max” but will definitely check it out.
Thanks for the comment.
Chuck Holmes
No ‘Kelly’s Heroes’?
Jason,
“Kelly’s Heroes” was a classic movie, but I believe it was WW2, not WW1.
Chuck Holmes
Paths of Glory, Wings, All Quiet on the Western Front. All Academy Award winners. Kelly’s Heroes is World War 2 not 1.
Bob,
I’ve never watched any of those three movies, but I will now. Thanks for sharing them with me. I appreciate your input.
Chuck Holmes
I haven’t seen The Blue Max. I’ll have to check that one out.
That makes two of us, Preston. I will add it to my list though.
Chuck Holmes
Grand Illusion?
I don’t know this one either… man. I’m missing out.
I haven’t watched that yet, Mark. But I will add it to my list. Thanks.
Chuck
1.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2kGpKckzlw
2.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOq7DVcrVR8
3.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_EwaYVEArc
4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiObc2XmVqw
5.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy4e0P6DNWw
Paths of Glory and Le Grande Illusion.
Thanks, Carl.
I will add those to my list as well.
All the best.
Chuck
What was the movie about the Galipoli landings? I thought that one was really good. And AQotWF is my favorite, by far.
The movie is called Gallipoli. Another good one is The Lighthorsemen.
Thanks for hunting down some good clips for us, Sean.
Oh, a good movie about flying post WWI is The Great Waldo Pepper. It is about WWI flyers after the Great War. Very sad.
Never heard of it before, Kevin. I’m going to add it to my NetFlix que tonight! Thanks.
Chuck
I’m going to be doing some poking around on Netflix tonight for sure. Hopefully they have some of these available online.
I may have missed it going through the replies, but hat about “Gallipoli”, which I consider one of the best war movies of all time. There was also “All the King’s Men” from 1999 that tells the tale of the execution of The King’s Own 1/5th Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment at the hands of Ottoman Turks….Oh yeah, how could I forget “Lawrence of Arabia”?
Le Grande Illusion. The Gallipoli movie is called Gallipoli, stars a very young Mel Gibson.
I’ll be sure to add this to my list of movies to watch. Thanks.
Chuck
Joyeaux Noel, about the Christmas truce of 1914.
I’ll ad “Joyeaux Noel” to my NetFlix list too. Thanks.
Chuck
Great choices! All of them! As fan of WWI aviation movies I suggest you all check out “Hell’s Angels”. It was directed by Howard Hughes and had a budget so large it just about bankrupt him making it. Aside from being just a flat out great movie, all the pilots in the film were genuine WWI air combat veterans. It was also one of the first ever movies filmed with audio. Check it out, last I knew Netflix had it on DVD. Also a large part of the movie Aviator is about making the film.
On another note check out Deathwatch it’s a pretty good 2002 horror film set place in the trenches of WWI. It’s a pretty twisted psychological horror film as I recall.
I’ll check out “Hell’s Angels” next time I update NetFlix. Thanks.
Chuck
If I may suggest My Boy Jack. A BBC production that was shown on Masterpiece Theatre. The story of Rudyard Kipling and his son Jack. Very moving story.
I’m very fond of Sgt York. Blue Max is a good movie, but an ultimately unsatisfying story. Gallipoli is a really well told story from the Oz point of view. Young Mel Gibson and Bryan Brown. Also, while not World War One, Breaker Morant is another awesome Oz movie, only about the Boer War.
I’ll add “My Boy Jack” to the my list of movies to watch. Thanks for the recommendation.
Chuck
My Top 5 WW1 Military Movies of All Time | Delta Bravo Sierra http://t.co/EkIiDVhR http://t.co/fXEowg0v
You missed one of the best: Paths of Glory. This tells the truth about the French Army and was banned in France for several years.
I’ve never seen Paths of Glory but I will check it out.
Thanks,
Chuck
I think that would be “Gary Cooper” starring as Sgt. York.
“Last Voices” sounds like a good one. I’ll look it up.
Mike
It’s been mentioned, but I have to restate ‘Lawrence of Arabia’.
If anyone is interested in a recent fine book about WWI, let me recommend ‘Three Day Road’ by Joseph Boyden. About a pair of young Cree (Native Americans). Raised as hunters, they’re such good shots they became snipers in the trench war – and the toll that took on them. It won a lot of awards – and my recommendation.
I realize we’re talking about movies – but this book is worth bending a rule.
That sounds like a good read. Thanks for the recommendation, Carl.
I’ll have to check that movie out too. Thanks for sharing.
Chuck
I will have to add Lawrence of Arabia to my list of movies to watch. Thanks for the comment.
Chuck
[...] My Top 5 Civil War Military Movies of All Time The following is a guest post by Charles Holmes, an Army MAJ-turned-civilian and creator of Part-Time-Commander.com It is his second article for DBS in his series on military movies. Check out the first here [...]