The Classic War Collection – Bridge On The River Kwai/Das Boot/Guns Of Navarone/All Quiet On The Western Front/Sands Of Iwo Jima DVD – James Donald , Sessue Hayakawa

Set of five classic war films. ‘The Bridge On the River Kwai’ (1957) is David Lean’s classic British epic based on the novel by Pierre Boulle. A group of British POWs are forced to build a bridge in Burma for the Japanese. Led by Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness) they not only build the bridge but organise the whole building programme and are proud of the final result. However, unbeknownst to the POWs, a British commando team has been given a mission to destroy it. In ‘Sands of Iwo Jima’ (1949), hard-bitten sergeant John M. Stryker (John Wayne) earns the enmity of the recruits he trains for action in the Pacific. New recruit Peter Conway’s (John Agar) dislike for his commander turns to respect, however, when the latter saves him from a grenade. The squad are forced to show their mettle when they are sent into Iwo Jima to take Mount Suribachi whilst under constant fire from the Japanese. John Wayne’s performance earned him his first Oscar nomination. ‘The Guns of Navarone’ (1961), set in 1943, tells of a group of mismatched Allied soldiers who are sent to sabotage two powerful Nazi guns situated on a Greek island. If their mission fails, the guns will wipe out the 2,000 British soldiers who are attempting to evacuate civilians further down the coast. The mission is led by the dispassionate Captain Mallory (Gregory Peck), whose clinical approach does not find favour with explosives expert Corporal Miller (David Niven). Meanwhile, the group’s Greek patriot guide Andrea Stavros (Anthony Quinn) is nursing a grudge against Mallory for an old injustice. ‘All Quiet On the Western Front’ (1930) is Lewis Milestone’s epic screen adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s anti-war novel starring Lew Ayres as one of a group of German teenagers who enlist for World War I after hearing a stirring speech from their professor. They soon discover that war is less about noble ideas and sacrifice than it is about pain, humiliation, suffering and death. Wolfgang Petersen directs ‘Das Boot’ (1981), a gripping account of a German U-96 submarine in action during World War Two. The crew’s long periods of boredom are contrasted with the claustrophobic terror they experience when engaging the enemy.

This Box Set Includes: Bridge On The River Kwai (Dir. David Lean) (1957): Set in Burma during World War II the story tells of British P.O.Ws who are forced to build a large bridge for the Japanese while a British Commando team is sent to destroy it. Winner of seven Academy Awards. Das Boot (Dir. Wolfgang Peterson) (1981): Das Boot is a graphic and gripping tale that follows the daring patrol of U-96 one of the famed German U-Boats known as ‘The Grey Wolves’. Prowling the North Atlantic they challenged the British Navy at every turn. The crew abroad the U-96 is portrayed in a desperate life-and-death struggle coping with life beneath the waves quickly gives way to terror when confronting the enemy… Guns Of Navarone (Dir. J. Lee Thompson) (1961): Exciting war film based on a novel by Alistair Maclean which tells of the attempts of a British raiding team to sabotage two giant German guns on a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. Carl Foreman brought Allistar MacLean’s best-selling novel to the screen winning nominations for seven Academy Awards in 1961. All Quiet On The Western Front (Dir. Delbert Mann) (1980): A devastating story of war and a generation destroyed. In 1914 a group of German schoolboys idealistic and inflamed with youthful patriotism set off to fight in the “”glorious”” war. During their brutal basic training disenchantment begins. Then boarding a train for the front they see the wounded being rushed back to the hospitals and they begin to grasp the grim reality of war. On their first night in action they come under heavy attack. In the trenches they begin to fall. Their youth is stripped away by the violence and the boys become as sullen as veterans. Sands Of Iwo Jima (Dir. Allan Dwan) (1949): Blazing action and spectacle are on the menu as battle-toughened sergeant John M Stryker (John Wayne) prepares a group of soldiers for action in the Pacific. The men have got their biggest test ahead on Iwo Jima where they have to inch their way up Mt. Suribachi under constant Japanese fire.