Great WWII suggestions from Twitter

On Twitter @WWIIToday posted a link to Time Out London's "50 Best WWII Films" only to see a big response from followers mentioning a host of WWII films they felt deserved more recognition, or higher ranking. Follower Petrov Dempski @petrovdempski kindly compiled the list below. What do you think? You can follow the conversation @WWIIToday, search Twitter #WWIIflix or just note them here. I'll add more as they come in.

12 O'clock HIgh
633 Squadron
Battleground
Best Years of Our Lives
Casablanca
Cross of Iron
Das Boot
Enemy at the Gates
Europa Europa
Germany Year Zero
GI Joe
Grave of the Fireflies
Guadalcanal Diary
Hell in the Pacific
Heroes of Telemark
Judgement at Nuremberg
Kelly's Heroes
Memphis Belle
Mrs Miniver
Night & Fog
Objective Burma
Operation Daybreak
Patton
Pearl Harbor (2001)
Plate
Rats of Tobruk
Sahara
Saints and Sinners
Saving Private Ryan
Since You Went Away
So Proudly We Hail!
Stalingrad (1992)
The Battle of Britain
The Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the River
The Big Red One
The Longest Day
Tora Tora Tora
The Cockleshell Heroes
The Cruel Sea
The Dambusters
The Glenn Miller Story
The Great Escape
The Life and Times of Colonel Blimp
The Train
Too Late The Hero
When Trumpets Fade
Where Eagles Dare
Windtalkers

Are These WWII's 50 Best?

Magazine editors love these stories. This one is right up this blog's alley. “The 50 Greatest WWII Movies” published recently in the London edition of Time Out magazine with commentary by Inglorious Basterds director Quentin Tarantino, features some surprises – Casablanca is not even in the Top 10. As for their Number One choice, the film is unknown to me (but now in my NetFlix queue). To make it easy for you, I’ve hot linked the pages. Take a look. What do you think of the rankings?

Numbers 2-10
Numbers 11-20
Numbers 21-30
Numbers 31-40
Numbers 41-50

The Great Lake

Broolyn-born blonde actress Veronica Lake (1922-1973) was known for her signature peek-a-boo hair cut (one tress over the eye). The much-imitated style created nightmares for safety officers at war plants where women could get their hair caught in machinery. In a gesture of patriotism Veronica cut her hair. The event created a sensation. Here it is on film:

Lake never saw the same fame she did in the war years. Find out what happened to her.

The Stars Do Their Part

It's War and Hollywood enlists. This slideshow contains a delightful montage of photos showing the stars doing their part for the war effort.

Working Girls

Do your part. Ginger Rogers (left) starred in the 1943 Home Front drama Tender Comrade. The plot has four diverse yet ordinary women moving into a big house to save money while working in a defense plant. The themes of share and share alike, making do and patriotism connected to wartime audiences who made the movie a hit. Its Soviet-sounding title came from a Robert Louis Stevenson poem. The script was penned by Dalton Trumbo, who would be blacklisted for his left-wing politics in the postwar Red Scare. Rogers said later some of the script's lines took a more "communistic turn" which she claimed upset her. Two other actors in the movie, Kim Hunter and Mady Christians, were also blacklisted.

Keen for the Canteen

Built in an old barn at 1451 Cahuenga Boulevard, the Hollywood Canteen operated from 1942 to 1945. It was staffed with the studio's A-list stars, who entertained the servicemen and women passing through Los Angeles. This 1944 clip has young Dinah Shore giving a tour of the club, introducing Lana Turner and Marlene Dietrich among others. The canteen concept is even making a comeback. The National World War II Museum is opening a Stage Door Canteen and Victory Theater on their premises in November 2009.

Hollywood on the Brink

Leave it to Looney Tunes animators to capture a pantheon of stars dining at Ciro's, a famous nightclub, in 1941 on the eve of America's entrance into WWII. Jimmy Stewart, the Marx Brothers and Bing Crosby are a few of the stars caricatured. See how many you can identify.

You Must Remember This

It's the trailer from Casablanca, the 1942 classic that almost cast Ronald Reagan and Ann Sheridan, not Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in the starring roles. How the movie got made is a fascinating story of Hollywood at war. More to come.

... And One From the Past

Benny Goodman plays and Peggy Lee sings in 1943's wartime hit Stage Door Canteen.

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo

The movie trailer speaks for itself.

Chemistry Lessons

Sometimes an old-fashioned soundtrack makes it hard to pick up on the mutual attraction generated by shrewd casting in WWII movies. This clip proves you don't have to be explicit to generate heat. Astaire and Hayworth set sparks flying dancing to an updated soundtrack from the 1980s movie Dirty Dancing.