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[KingSparta]

Since It Was My Birthday - I Bought The Following DVDs

1. Crash Dive:

Filmed as the actual battle for the Atlantic was taking place is the 1943 drama "Crash Dive" starring Tyrone Powers. These types of movies are a common phenomenon during wartime to help lift peoples spirits on the homefront and drum up patriotic fervor. Here the American sailors are fighting the good fight against the despicable Nazi war machine.
However, this DVD offers a surprise. It is actually a very well made and entertaining adventure movie with enough splashes of romantic subplot and action to keep everyone in the family happy.
Powers plays a PT boat crewmember who is unwillingly transferred as executive officer aboard a submarine based out of the New London, Conn. base. Initially he gets along well with his new captain until he realizes that the two of them are in love with the same woman. The two must learn to trust one another and work together to investigate a mysterious ship in the mid-Atlantic and destroy the secret German island base that is being used by the Nazi's as a staging point for attacks on the Allied shipping lanes.
Filmed on location with the full cooperation of the War Department the movie is presented in technicolor and although the color on the DVD transfer is somewhat saturated it is still relatively clear of blemishes. Where the DVD is lacking however is in special features merely offering a selection of trailers of the other Fox war titles.

2. Operation Pacific:

If not a seminal World War II submarine picture, then Operation Pacific is at least an entertaining one. John Wayne stars as "Duke" Gifford, first officer of the submarine Thunderfish. Patricia Neal is Duke's ex-wife, and when they meet again after four years, the couple tries to recapture "that old zing." Complications arise when Duke goes on a mission with dud torpedoes, and his best friend's younger brother goes after Neal. Fans will be pleased with Wayne's role, as the Gifford character is one of Wayne's simplest, but most honest performances. Wayne regulars Ward Bond and Jack Pennick are on hand as well; Bond plays sub captain "Pop" Perry, and Pennick the sub's Chief. The scene in which Pop tells his crew to "Take 'er down!" came from real life; a sub skipper uttered the famous command during a desperate surface action.

Product Description
World War II rages across the Pacific and Lt. Cmdr. Duke E. Gifford is in the thick of it. He evacuates children from enemy-held islands. Oversees the development of torpedoes at Pearl Harbor. And prowls the depths in the submarine Thunderfish for a chance to aim his improved "tin fish" - torpedoes - at the enemy. John Wayne plays Gifford in Operation Pacific. "I'm no theory man. I'm a line officer," Gifford barks. He backs it up with lots of bite in several feverish sea battles. He's also a man of heart with a loving wife at home (fellow Academy AwardO winner* Patricia Neal). Vice Adm. Charles Lockwood, World War II commander of all U.S. Pacific submarines, was technical advisor for this adventure packing real you-are-there thrills!

3. Destination Tokyo:

The offbeat casting of Cary Grant as a submarine captain pays off in this tense WWII underwater picture; he ably trades in his sophistication for the sweaty close quarters of an action movie. The mission? Infiltrate the mined harbor of Tokyo itself, a feat bookended by a brief confrontation in the Aleutians and a depth-charge chase through the open sea. Skipper Grant is supported by the usual stock crew of Navy melting-pot types, with John Garfield drawing duty as the resident dame-crazy fantasist. (Somebody forgot to put the saltpeter in his chow, apparently.) The solid action alternates with dialogue that tends toward the schmaltzy or jingoistic (the movie's become somewhat notorious for its unusually nasty propagandistic jabs at the Japanese enemy). Destination Tokyo was the directing debut of Delmer Daves, who would later excel in smart Westerns such as 3:10 to Yuma.

Product Description
World War II submarine the U.S.S. Copperfin must complete a secret mission in Japanese waters. Film is as much about the relationship between the naval men as it is about their heroic mission. John Forsythe's film debut.

4. The Longest Day:

This special collector's commemorative edition has been issued in honor of the June 6, 1944 Allied invasion of France, which marked the beginning of the end of Nazi domination over Europe. The attack involved 3,000,000 men, 11,000 planes and 4,000 ships, comprising the largest armada the world has ever seen.
The Longest Day is a vivid, hour-by-hour recreation of this historic event. Featuring a stellar international cast, and told from the perspectives of both sides, it is a fascinating look at the massive preparations, mistakes, and random events that determined the outcome of one of the biggest battles in history. Winner of two 1962 Oscars® (Special Effects and Cinematography), The Longest Day ranks as one of Hollywood's truly great war films.

5. In Harm's Way:

Otto Preminger's sprawling World War II drama packs a lot into its 165 minutes, beginning with the attack on Pearl Harbor (which Preminger re-creates in amazing detail) and ending a couple of years later with America's return to the South Pacific in force. John Wayne and Kirk Douglas star as a career naval captain and his self-pitying commander in the peacetime navy who are thrust into battle when Pearl Harbor is bombed while they are on maneuvers. Minutes into WWII, they are already scapegoated and demoted by the embarrassed military brass. Wayne romances a WAVE nurse (Patricia Neal) and attempts a reconciliation with his estranged, spoiled son (Brandon de Wilde) while Douglas sinks into the bottle after the death of his cheating wife until the American fleet rebuilds and calls upon Wayne to lead one of the initial invasion forces. Henry Fonda makes a brief but commanding appearance as the fleet admiral. Burgess Meredith is a former writer turned witty commander, Dana Andrews a showy but indecisive admiral, and Stanley Holloway a genial Australian scout working with the American invasion forces. Tom Tryon and Paula Prentiss play newlyweds torn apart by the war, and also appearing are Franchot Tone, Carroll O'Conner, Slim Pickens, George Kennedy, Bruce Cabot, and Larry Hagman, among many, many more. Loyal Griggs's handsome black-and-white photography is topped only by Saul Bass's impressive closing credits sequence, a rising cascade of crashing waves and rough surf reportedly paced to mirror the dramatic rhythm of the film.

6. Battle Of The Bulge:

The German offensive in December 1944 became the basis for this all-star Hollywood take on the Battle of the Bulge. Henry Fonda is an officer who predicts the assault, Robert Ryan and Dana Andrews are Army brass skeptical of his intuitions, and Robert Shaw (his hair dyed yellow and his eyes glinting with malice) is a German officer leading the tank attack. Shaw is certainly the most compelling thing about the film, especially in his philosophical debates with ambivalent underling Hans Christian Blech. Elsewhere, the movie jumps around to sidebar stories (cowardly James MacArthur becomes a leader, wheeler-dealer Telly Savalas falls in love) while messing around with the historical facts of the battle. There are interesting episodes, such as the Malmedy massacre of American POWs and the Germans' use of English-speaking spies, but overall Battle of the Bulge has the feeling of having been patched together from different scripts. On the physical level the movie comes up short, with the Spanish locations rarely suggesting the wintry misery of the battle, and the use of models and studio sets highly inadequate. A number of war films from this era are compelling on their own terms, but in the wake of Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, this one looks antique.

Product Description
Nazi Panzer forces stage a last-ditch Belgian front offensive that could turn the tide of WWII. Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw and Robert Ryan in the spectacular recreation of a crucial campaign. Year: 1965

7. Tora! Tora! Tora!:

"Sir, there's a large formation of planes coming in from the north, 140 miles, 3 degrees east." "Yeah? Don't worry about it." This is just one of the many mishaps chronicled in Tora! Tora! Tora! The epic film shows the bombing of Pearl Harbor from both sides in the historic first American-Japanese coproduction: American director Richard Fleischer oversaw the complicated production (the Japanese sequences were directed by Toshio Masuda and Kinji Fukasaku, after Akira Kurosawa withdrew from the film), wrestling a sprawling story with dozens of characters into a manageable, fairly easy-to-follow film. The first half maps out the collapse of diplomacy between the nations and the military blunders that left naval and air forces sitting ducks for the impending attack, while the second half is an amazing re-creation of the devastating battle. While Tora! Tora! Tora! lacks the strong central characters that anchor the best war movies, the real star of the film is the climactic 30-minute battle, a massive feat of cinematic engineering that expertly conveys the surprise, the chaos, and the immense destruction of the only attack by a foreign power on American soil since the Revolutionary War. The special effects won a well-deserved Oscar, but the film was shut out of every other category by, ironically, the other epic war picture of the year, Patton.

Product Description
"Tora! Tora! Tora!" is the Japanese signal to attack - and the movie meticulously recreates the attack on Pearl Harbor and the events leading up to it. Opening scenes contrast the American and Japanese positions. Japanese imperialists decide to stage the attack. Top U.S. brass ignore it's possibility. Intercepted Japanese messages warn of it - but never reach F.D.R.'s desk. Radar warnings are disregarded. Even the entrapment of a Japanese submarine in Pearl Harbor before the attack goes unreported. Ultimately the Day of Infamy arrives - in the most spectacular, gut-wrenching cavalcade of action-packed footage ever. You'll see moments of unsurpassed spectacle and heroism: U.S. fighters trying to take off and being hit as they taxi; men blasted from the decks of torpedoed ships while trying to rescue buddies; savage aerial dogfights pitting lone American fliers against squadrons of Imperial war planes. It's the most dazzling recreation of America's darkest day - and some of her finest hours.

8. MidWay:

Six months after the Japanese destroyed the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, the Americans discovered the Japanese were planning to seize the Naval base at Midway Island--a perfect staging point for invading Hawaii or the mainland. Outnumbered four to one, the Americans won a surprise victory and shattered the backbone of the Japanese Imperial Navy. This 1976 film feels more like a history lesson than a drama, but World War II buffs will appreciate the attention to historical fact (especially the way in which fate and a few bad decisions turned the tide), as well as the generous use of actual battle footage. The all-star cast includes Robert Mitchum, James Coburn, and Cliff Robertson in cameos and a whole slew of familiar TV faces in supporting roles. Hal Holbrook is fun as an oddball intelligence officer.

[PaulSinnema]

I friend of mine always called it 'The Bottle of the Belge' 

[Magic_Randy]

Happy birthday KingSparta

My birthday must be earlier than yours - I already have all of these DVDs.

[KingSparta]

Sep 20th

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