WWII Aviation movies you would like to see.

[Waynos]

I wish I could.

I think fi I did it I'd go the 'theoretical' route and make it about the Germans knowing that an invasion will not take place, but wanting to force Britain out of the war to leave them in peace to go after Russia.

Which probably would be a bit boring and why I'm not a screen writer

 

[Marcel]

I would like to see the conquering of the west, Germanycutting through the French and English positions (and other armies for that matter).

Another one would be the Finnish airwar against Russia.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I would like to see the conquering of the west, Germanycutting through the French and English positions (and other armies for that matter).

I think that would be interesting as well.

The Battle of France

Other neat ones would be:

A modern movie about the North African Campaign or the Operation Husky. But then again those are not really Aviation I guess.

 

[thor]

the hartman story would be cool taking in the post war stuff as well

 

[ToughOmbre]

Operation "Tidal Wave"

TO

 

[proton45]

I don't mean to get all technical and everything (lol)...but a movie about an historical event still needs a character at the heart of it. Its very unlikely that a movie would be made without some type of human drama at the heart of it. I also think that the idea of just slapping some story into the movie and hoping that it will work is a fools idea.

QUESTION? When someone says that they would like to see a movie made about operation "Bodenplatte" or the defense of Malta, what are you expecting to see? Are you expecting to see the proper aeroplanes battling each other? Or are you expecting to see the Generals getting worked up about their war plans and then the drama of how it all plays out? I'm curious? (really I'm)

 

[Waynos]

I realise its not to everyones taste but I like the way the Battle of Britain did it. The operation is the central theme of the movie, but the narrative is moved along by focusing on particular human characters involved with different elements of the overall story and how it affected them personally, while still showing the overall picture.

Without building genuine human interest you don't have a movie, you have a lecture

 

[BikerBabe]

Battle Of Britain, seen from both sides, as I think the original movie is a bit messy and too simple for something so complex as that particular event in history. The 60's hairstyles and wooden acting sorta ruins it for me, although the flying scenes saves it a bit in my opinion.
And yes, I'll admit that I've gotten too used to good quality, well-researched, well-made WW2 dramas, with films and tv-series like Band Of Brothers, Der Untergang, Das Boot and such.
Compared with these, the original BoB don't hold up very well in my opinion, when it comes to the quality of acting.
I'll agree with Waynos about the way the movie is constructed, that that's a good way to do it, but the rest...oh dear.

I'd like to see a film about Hans Ulrich Rudel and his service during WW2 - that would be some action-packed adventure/war drama!
Bader, Stanford-Tuck or any other british/german ace could be fun/interesting to watch too.

 

[proton45]

Battle Of Britain, seen from both sides, as I think the original movie is a bit messy and too simple for something so complex as that particular event in history. The 60's hairstyles and wooden acting sorta ruins it for me, although the flying scenes saves it a bit in my opinion.
And yes, I'll admit that I've gotten too used to good quality, well-researched, well-made WW2 dramas, with films and tv-series like Band Of Brothers, Der Untergang, Das Boot and such.
Compared with these, the original BoB don't hold up very well in my opinion, when it comes to the quality of acting.
I'll agree with Waynos about the way the movie is constructed, that that's a good way to do it, but the rest...oh dear.

I'd like to see a film about Hans Ulrich Rudel and his service during WW2 - that would be some action-packed adventure/war drama!
Bader, Stanford-Tuck or any other british/german ace could be fun/interesting to watch too.

I have a soft spot for the "BoB" movie...but I would agree with most of your criticisms on the film. On a side note, I read somewhere that most of the actors involved in the movie, "BoB", felt a great responsibility on their shoulders as they portraying these "real life" ( in some cases still living) hero's. I think that, to some degree, this accounts for their "wooden" performances...the actors didn't want to put to much of themselves into interpreting the actions of these real people. As far as the "composite" characters are concerned...the people involved felt a reverence for the subject.

This is one reason why a (re-booted_lol) Battle of Britain movie "could" be better...


P.S. Its not an aviation film, but what do people thing of sweeping war epics like "The Longest Day"...I honestly go "back-and-forth" on this movie. I try not to compare it to "Band of Brothers" (lol)...before I ever saw "Private Ryan" "Band of brothers" I kind'a liked it. One thing I liked was how it showed all the small personal experiences that made up the "D-Day" event...

 

[mudpuppy]

I thought about a film of Joachim Marseille right off, and I know its been suggested at least once already...but I think it would make a very good story.
A very realistic portrayal of the female aviators in the VVS would make an excellent film as well.
If a filmmaker could avoid the hollywood trap of morphing a historic event into some modern day morality play; there are a lot of amazing stories of WWII yet to be told.

 

[paradoxguy]

My ideas for WW2 Aviation movies would be:

The Blond Knight: Erich Hartmann (his story from beginning to capture to release)
BoB from the Germans point of view.
Operation Bodenplatte
The Star of North Africa: Marseille

Yeah I know these are all from the German's point of view. There are so many from the allied POV, I would love to see some from the Germans point of view.

I agree wholeheartedly that we need some WWII war films that show the perspective from the non-Allied side. I'm impressed and glad that Clint Eastwood had the initiative to make Letters from Iwo Jima, the Japanese perspective of the Iwo Jima campaign at the same time of Flags of our Fathers, and thought at the time of its release I wish more filmmakers would follow his lead.

The battles and campaigns I would like to see in cinema are:

Biography of Hans-Joachim Marseille - depict his beginnings as a shaky undisciplined fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain who shot down 7 British aircraft but lost 4 Bf 109s doing so, his CO Johannes Steinhoff "palming him off" on JG 27 and future glory, his days of multiple shoot-downs (of course), his last grueling battle with a Spitfire lasting over 15 minutes and upon landing he could barely get out of his Bf 109 due to exhaustion and nerves, and which could serve as a foreshadowing of his demise the following day, the dramatic last flight and demise of Marseille, which could also serve as a metaphor for the Germans losing control of North Africa--both the Luftwaffe and Rommel.

Battle of Schweinfurt and Regensburg Aug 17, 1943 -- the loss of over 60 B-17's in a two-pronged unescorted mission and USSAF commanders' subsequent loss of faith in B-17's being able to fend for themselves would be very dramatic in itself, but the film could also show the beginning of the end of the Luftwaffe fighter force, as depicted by the loss of Wilhelm "Wutz" Galland in the epic air battle.

Bodenplatte - too many dramatic moments to list easily, would easily make a great film provided filmmakers did a fair amount of study on the real history of the situation and did not try to make this into a pro-US/pro-Allied feel-good movie.

Biographical films of one of the many German or Japanese fighter aces - Erich Hartmann, Heinrich Baer, Georg-Peter Eder (shot down 17 times while battling the USSAF and RAF in the latter, harder stages of WWII), Saburo Sakai, Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, Erich Rudorffer (allegations of false claims may make this a difficult proposition), Adolf Galland (his life could be a mini-series; his autobiography title The First and the Last sums up his exciting life well), Werner Moelders, Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer, Helmut Lent, Heinrich Wittgenstein (one of the two night fighter princes), Josef Priller (including his lone attack on the Allied forces on D-day), among others.

 

[proton45]

I'm sorry to flood this thread with my comments, but I have a quick question regarding the film "Battle of Britain". In the scene where Trevor Howard is explaining to the Group Commanders (?) how the early warning system works (marked by the comment, "don't blame the system because the system works...") their is an officer seated who has had reconstructive facial surgery done. I recognize him as being a burn survivor from the second world war (maybe even the BoB) and have seen him in a documentary...who is he?

 

[proton45]

I agree wholeheartedly that we need some WWII war films that show the perspective from the non-Allied side. I'm impressed and glad that Clint Eastwood had the initiative to make Letters from Iwo Jima, the Japanese perspective of the Iwo Jima campaign at the same time of Flags of our Fathers, and thought at the time of its release I wish more filmmakers would follow his lead.

Frankly Clint Eastwood is the only person who could have made this movie and still escaped the criticism of "going easy" on the Japanese...

 

[claidemore]

QUESTION? When someone says that they would like to see a movie made about operation "Bodenplatte" or the defense of Malta, what are you expecting to see? Are you expecting to see the proper aeroplanes battling each other? Or are you expecting to see the Generals getting worked up about their war plans and then the drama of how it all plays out? I'm curious? (really I'm)

For some of the pivotal battles like Midway and Battle of Britain, a movie that includes the Generals as well as some of the participants is fine, perhaps even preferred. But for something like Malta, I'd want it to be about one or two participants. Geroge Beurlings story would be great, his attitude and problems with authority would be gleefully accepted by audiences. Heavily weighted on the main character storyline, with the story of the actual defence of Malta woven into it.
I'd want proper planes (and a good mix of types) , which means some kind of animation and/or very good modeling.
It's got to be historically accurate, from uniforms to hairstyles.

 

[proton45]

For some of the pivotal battles like Midway and Battle of Britain, a movie that includes the Generals as well as some of the participants is fine, perhaps even preferred. But for something like Malta, I'd want it to be about one or two participants. Geroge Beurlings story would be great, his attitude and problems with authority would be gleefully accepted by audiences. Heavily weighted on the main character storyline, with the story of the actual defence of Malta woven into it.
I'd want proper planes (and a good mix of types) , which means some kind of animation and/or very good modeling.
It's got to be historically accurate, from uniforms to hairstyles.

I would agree that seeing the hardware (aeroplanes) is a big part of (air) a good war movie. One area that I seem to differ from other people in is that I will usually prefer to see "real" aeroplanes flying on the screen (over CG effects). Take, for example, the "Battle of Britain" movie, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the Spitfires buzzing around the screen even though they where not the proper Mk used in the "BoB". But it seems that their are some people here that can't enjoy the terrific flying vintage planes if its historical inaccurate...they would prefer to see computer generated aeroplanes instead of real planes and pilots doing their thing.

 

[Waynos]

Although 'its been done' and is thus not an original idea I have often wondered how a modern First of the Few would come out. With the veil of wartime secrecy now long lifted maybe it could be woven into some sort of Alex Henshaw/Jeff Quill biopic?

Pre war racing - 'heroic' test flying - post war flood rescues - and thats just Henshaw, lo, Quill also flew on combat opsl.

 

[BikerBabe]

I thought about a film of Joachim Marseille right off, and I know its been suggested at least once already...but I think it would make a very good story.
A very realistic portrayal of the female aviators in the VVS would make an excellent film as well.
If a filmmaker could avoid the hollywood trap of morphing a historic event into some modern day morality play; there are a lot of amazing stories of WWII yet to be told.

Marseille - agreed.

Second point:...or even worse, a sickening love story, like Pearl Harbour.
I like PH for the combat and flying scenes, definitely not for the Barbara Cartland-like love triangle/love story stuff...there's one word that fits nicely in describing my feeling for that: YUCK!!!

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

QUESTION? When someone says that they would like to see a movie made about operation "Bodenplatte" or the defense of Malta, what are you expecting to see? Are you expecting to see the proper aeroplanes battling each other? Or are you expecting to see the Generals getting worked up about their war plans and then the drama of how it all plays out? I'm curious? (really I'm)

I think there could be a bit of both. It really is not a far fetched or bad idea...

 

[Colin1]

...there is an officer seated who has had reconstructive facial surgery done. I recognize him as being a burns survivor from the second world war (maybe even the BoB) and have seen him in a documentary...who is he?

Sounds like Tom Gleave
I'll see if I can dig up a photo

 

[BikerBabe]

Second man from the left, standing.

Here's a link to the article, which is located a little bit down on the web page:
Vulch's Heroes of World War II