Movi Hub

John Ford Goes to War

2002

When World War II broke out, John Ford, in his forties, commissioned in the Naval Reserve, was put in charge of the Field Photographic Unit by Bill Donavan, director of the soon-to-be-OSS. During the war, Field Photo made at least 87 documentaries, many with Ford's signature attention to heroism and loss, and many from the point of view of the fighting soldier and sailor. Talking heads discuss Ford's life and personality, the ways that the war gave him fulfillment, and the ways that his war films embodied the same values and conflicts that his Hollywood films did. Among the films profiled are "Battle of Midway," "Torpedo Squadron," "Sexual Hygiene," and "December 7."

6.6

The Final Countdown

1980

During routine manoeuvres near Hawaii in 1980, the aircraft-carrier USS Nimitz is caught in a strange vortex-like storm, throwing the ship back in time to 1941—mere hours before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

7.5

The Thin Red Line

1998

The story of a group of men, an Army Rifle company called C-for-Charlie, who change, suffer, and ultimately make essential discoveries about themselves during the fierce World War II battle of Guadalcanal. It follows their journey, from the surprise of an unopposed landing, through the bloody and exhausting battles that follow, to the ultimate departure of those who survived.

7.2

Operation Petticoat

1959

A World War II submarine commander finds himself stuck with a damaged sub, a con-man executive officer, and a group of army nurses.

0.0

I Wish I Were a Pigeon

1990

The story of German minority members who, after escaping from Wehrmacht, form a partisan unit named "Ernst Thalmann" in eastern Croatia. The focus is a family whose members fight on different sides of the barricade.

6.1

The Case of Bruno Lüdke

2021

The incredible story of Bruno Lüdke (1908-44), the alleged worst mass murderer in German criminal history; or actually, a story of forged files and fake news that takes place during the darkest years of the Third Reich, when the principles of criminal justice, subjected to the yoke of a totalitarian system that is beginning to collapse, mean absolutely nothing.

8.0

Une vie avec Oradour

2011

0.0

Home Front

1940

This short documentary is part of the Canada Carries On series of morale-boosting wartime propaganda films. In Home Front, the various WWII-era social contributions of women are highlighted. From medicine to industrial labour to hospitality, education and domesticity, the service these women provided to their country is lauded.

5.0

Steps Through the Mist

1967

After breaking the enemy's rings, a partisan batch is left only with three wounded and two healthy fighters. Through his binoculars, the German captain Anders monitors the surviving soldiers who are walking through the fog in an effort to reach their brigade. Anders quietly starts a manhunt on wounded while anticipating their physical and mental exhaustion.

7.4

Eagles Fly Early

1966

A group of kids from the Bosnian village often run away from school from the terror of Pepper, a teacher who got his nickname because of his red nose. Soon they formed a brigand division, but have been discovered and caught. The sudden arrival of year 1941 turns their game into reality.

7.3

Kelly's Heroes

1970

A misfit group of World War II American soldiers goes AWOL to rob a bank behind German lines.

4.8

The Battle of the Damned

1969

A small band of misfit American commandos are assigned to head across the North African desert to blow up a huge German fuel depot.

6.9

The Dam Busters

1955

The story of the conception of a new British weapon for smashing the German dams in the Ruhr industrial complex and the execution of the raid by 617 Squadron 'The Dam Busters'.

7.4

Lifeboat

1944

During World War II, a small group of survivors is stranded in a lifeboat together after the ship they were traveling on is destroyed by a German U-boat.

7.1

Max Manus: Man of War

2008

Max Manus is a Norwegian 2008 biographic war film based on the real events of the life of resistance fighter Max Manus (1914–96), after his contribution in the Winter War against the Soviet Union. The story follows Manus through the outbreak of World War II in Norway until peacetime in 1945.

6.8

Defiance

2008

Based on a true story, during World War II, four Jewish brothers escape their Nazi-occupied homeland of West Belarus in Poland and join the Soviet partisans to combat the Nazis. The brothers begin the rescue of roughly 1,200 Jews still trapped in the ghettos of Poland.

6.7

Katyn

2007

On September 1st, 1939, Nazi Germany invades Poland, unleashing World War II. On September 17th, the Soviet Red Army crosses the border. The Polish army, unable to fight on two fronts, is defeated. Thousands of Polish men, both military and government officials, are captured by the invaders. Their fate will only be known several years later.

7.3

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence

1983

Island of Java, 1942, during World War II. British Major Jack Celliers arrives at a Japanese prison camp, run by the strict Captain Yonoi. Colonel John Lawrence, who has a profound knowledge of Japanese culture, and Sergeant Hara, brutal and simpleton, will witness the struggle of wills between two men from very different backgrounds who are tragically destined to clash.

6.3

Windtalkers