Uncle Steve’s Fav Video List
Documentary
1. RNHF Sea Fury video, obviously. Excellent display at Portland by John Beattie.
2. Any and all of the Legends, Old Warden, OSH, Wanaka, Reno, etc. airshow videos. Just like being there when the snow starts falling.
3. Roaring Glory Warbirds, by Steve Hinton and the late Jeff Ethell. DVDs and some videos with I believe the P-51, B-17 and B-25. The first half of every show is a walk around and cockpit checkout, followed by a flight. The second half is a lame drama with some kid sitting in the airplane making machine gun noises. A must have series, with excellent footage.
4. Night Bombers. The story of a Lancaster bombing mission. This is to the British what the “Memphis Belle” wartime documentary is to the Americans. Stunning footage (in color!) of the work up and execution of a bombing mission over Germany. It does not get any better than real.
5. The World at War. Especially the episode “Whirlwind” which includes interviews with Sir Arthur Harris, but they’re all fantastic and memorable.
6. The Fighting Lady. The story of the USS Lexington. Wartime color footage of carrier ops.
7. Frozen in Time, the story of the Kee Bird. Darrel Grennemeyer’s recovery of a B-29 from Greenland.
Drama
1. Battle of Britain. For my American friends get the PAL version, with all the goodies. You can buy a DVD player on Ebay for $100 that will handle all the different regions and PAL/NTSC conversion.
2. Piece of Cake. Just so I can quote lines back to Moggy. I enjoy Piece of Cake, even with all the “leaps of faith” one must make to accept Spitfires in the Battle of France. Well made, with good actors and a decent screen play.
3. The Dambusters. Excellent film, with a politically incorrect black lab.
4. Reach for the Sky. The story of Douglas Bader, with Kenneth More.
5. Sink the Bismark. Any war movie with Kenneth More is a good thing.
6. The Bridges at Toko-Ri. Any war movie with Grace Kelley is a good thing. Also, the F9F Panthers footage is excellent.
7. 12 O’Clock High, with Gregory Peck. One of my absolute favorites, I can watch this over and over (as Mrs. P will attest).
8. Band of Brothers. Hey, it’s got C-47s! I got this for Christmas last year and watched it straight through. Captivating.
9. Saving Private Ryan. Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg need to make aviation movies.
10. A Bridge too Far. Is it Neil Anderson in the Spitfire?
11. The Right Stuff. The scene near the end of the F-104 takeoff is one of the best surround sound moments you can experience. The rest of the movie doesn’t suck.
12. The Blue Max. Not my favorite, but a must have.
13. Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines. Just before a visit to Old Warden, viewing this is a must.
14. 633 Squadron and Mosquito Squadron. Oooh, bit dodgy. Cliff Robertson’s British accent is as bad as **** Van Dyke’s in “Mary Poppins” .
15. The Great Escape. Not much flying, but a classic.
16. 30 Seconds Over Tokyo. Spencer Tracy and Van Johnson are superb.
17. Dark Blue World. I really enjoyed this, and my wife even watched and approved of the love story element. As someone else pointed out, if you can get past the mountains in Kent this is extremely well made with a strong story line.
18. Strategic Air Command. Jimmy Stewart flies the B-36 and the B-47. It’s in color, and you can always fast forward whenever June Allyson is on screen.
19. Lawrence of Arabia. A Perfect Movie.
20. The Bridge on the River Kwai. Excellent cast. Also, David Lean never made a bad movie, so watch Dr. Zhivago while you’re at it.
21. Das Boot, the directors cut. Watch this and be thankful for the Air Force.
22. From the Earth to the Moon. The real story of the Apollo project.
23. Conspiracy. This HBO movie, with Kenneth Branagh and Stanley Tucci should be required viewing in school. Opening sequence has a Fieseler Storch.
24. Tora Tora Tora and Midway. The war in the Pacific.
That’s all I could think of while sitting in my office…
It’s obviously a busy day at Progress Instruments!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 😉 🙂
We’re still waiting for a decent Great War flying film.
You also missed The Cruel Sea. There’s a very small aviation content there too. Wonderful, wonderful film.
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