This short documentary on the battle that was the major turning point of the Pacific front during World War Two was filmed by Hollywood director John Ford for the War Department. It won an Oscar for best documentary.

Picture Pearl Harbour in 1941. The army base is far from a tropical paradise. In the months before the Japanese attack the most pressing problem is winning the army boxing championship. When a new soldier arrives and refuses to box for the glory of the unit his superiors persecute him until he pays the ultimate price. Meanwhile the wife of the commanding officer (Deborah Kerr) is suffering in a loveless marriage. She has an affair with a career soldier who risks everything to be with her. The inevitable attack provides a stunning climax to the film.

From Here to Eternity scooped the Oscars in 1953, earning 8 awards. This film is thought-provoking and brilliantly made; even if Deborah Kerr's beach scene was extremely shocking in 1953.

A group of school friends enlist in the German Army during World War I. Gradually they learn the horror of War and the fragility of Life.

When it was first released, All Quiet on the Western Front had an effect not dissimilar to Saving Private Ryan today. It was, and still is, a chilling tale of people at war, told from the loser's point of view. Perhaps the gore does not hit you in the face, but the deathly resignation and slow lingering deaths are haunting, and tell of a very different war, and a different time. Ryan leaves us thinking that there may be some purpose to war, All Quiet on the Western Front leaves no such promise.