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James Clive Matthews is the author of two books of film criticism, a reviewer for the Times Literary Supplement and blog editor for the BBC's Pocket Films site. Here he picks five classic war films every home should have. Click to view Top 5 Greatest War Films.
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Best for WWII (The Guns of Navarone - 1961) |
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 The Guns of Navarone not only combines many of the best aspects of the early years of Second World War movies, but it also inspired a new cinematic sub-genre – the misfit group of flawed heroes battling against the odds. As a staging post in cinematic history it's a worthy addition to any collection. |
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By the early 1960s, films about the Second World War had been being churned out like clockwork for two decades, and the formula was well and truly fixed. Having arisen as propaganda during the conflict itself, the majority were much of a muchness – good-looking Allies showing pluck, courage and determination in the face of the enemy’s daunting military might. Almost without exception, Allied soldiers were portrayed as good, noble and heroic, their enemy evil, dishonourable and cowardly.
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On the surface, the presence of Gregory Peck’s rugged, manly good looks as the principal hero of The Guns of Navarone might not appear that different; the initial voice-over’s comparison of the soldiers of the Second World War to the “demi-gods and heroes” of Greek myth is like any number of earlier pseudo-propaganda pieces. Many of the genre clichés are also there, from the “good German” to the evil Gestapo man, the beautiful Resistance girl to David Niven’s eccentric upper class Englishman, tense moments evading capture to the deaths of some of the lesser heroes to add to the poignancy of the final victory. Even the plot – a small group of men infiltrating a heavily-fortified German facility to destroy their secret weapon and rescue thousands of trapped soldiers – could sound like fairly standard stuff.
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 Yet it is in the characters that the shift comes – a shift that would, in its turn, inspire a slew of new war films based around a similar central core of flawed misfits, from The Dirty Dozen right up to the modern likes of Saving Private Ryan. Never before would you have had the handsome lead threaten to kill a woman in cold blood for the good of the mission, never before would you have had the same hero set up one of his injured comrades to be captured knowing that under torture he would reveal a false plan that could save the day, and never before would you have had a central group of heroes so riven with mistrust, dislike, and murderous intent towards each other.
For the first time in a Second World War film, The Guns of Navarone portrayed the Allied heroes as flawed, capable both of making mistakes and of being cruel. For the first time the success of the mission is in doubt – not because of the enemy, but because of the heroes themselves. In short, we finally had some heroes who were also human.
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 While the action and adventure of The Guns of Navarone ranks it up there with the best of them for spectacle and suspense, it is this character innovation which really marks it out. Because, while watching John Wayne lead cavalry charges against the Indians may have its own thrill, such cinematic heroes are simply too heroic to really work in the context of films made about a real war.
For a real war, you need to show that there were real people involved, or risk lessening the impact of their deeds. For a “demi-god” to storm a Nazi fortress and save the day is nothing; for a regular human being, it is a truly spectacular feat. The flaws make the heroics all the greater – a discovery first made with this film, and that would be repeated in almost all war movies that followed. The Guns of Navarone really earns its place on your DVD shelf.
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