Share
War Movie Theatre
Where Eagles Dare – with special guest Tim Shipman
Season 3, Ep. 2
•
Watching the war movies that made us the men* we are today, with authors Rob Hutton and Duncan Weldon. This time: “Broadsword calling Danny Boy!” It’s the big one as we skydive in on the Platonic ideal of the war-action pic, the 1968 classic Where Eagles Dare. Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton must break Allied asset General Carnaby out of Nazi prison the Schloß Adler with the pulchritudinous aid of Mary Ure. But is all what it seems? Sunday Times chief political commentator Tim Shipman joins us to let out the rallying cry: “Dad, they’re on the cable car!”
* and occasionally women
Written and presented by Rob Hutton and Duncan Weldon. Audio production by Simon Williams. Art by Jim Parrett. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. War Movie Theatre is a Podmasters production
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Drop us a line! Send comments and suggestions to warmovietheatre@gmail.com.Would you like to know more? See the list of films we'd like to do? Buy merch? Visit our website: https://warmovietheatre.com
More episodes
View all episodes
10. Postbag Episode
01:10:24||Season 7, Ep. 10What films do we wish were war films? What has most surprised us over the course of 100 war movies? Do British people watch different war films from Americans? Which battles really need a film?Yes, for one week only, we're answering your questions. Next week, normal service resumes with The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936).
9. The Way Ahead - with Mark Wallace and George Cochrane
01:09:35||Season 7, Ep. 9In a war movie so classic that it informed much of what came after it, David Niven is given the job of turning raw recruits into fighting men. Released in 1944, The Way Ahead is like a Rosetta stone for understanding much of what came afterwards in British film and TV, from Dad's Army to, arguably, Are You Being Served? It was written by Eric Ambler and Peter Ustinov, and directed by Carol Reed, a dream team that turns this army propaganda film into something special. Joining Rob to discuss it are Mark Wallace of the Total Politics Group and culture journalist George Cochrane.Next week, it's our mailbag episode.
8. Went The Day Well - Again! - With Jonathan Boff
01:10:34||Season 7, Ep. 8Fan Service Month continues with a second look at a 1942 British film that was largely ignored at the time but has since come to be regarded as a stone cold classic. The inspiration for The Eagle Has Landed, it sees English villagers fight off Nazis disguised as British soldiers. Can there be anything more fun that watching Thora Hird pick up a rifle? We're joined by Prof Jonathan Boff of Birmingham University, to talk about what the film reveals about Britain, then and now.Next week: The Way Ahead.
7. Mrs Miniver
01:00:03||Season 7, Ep. 7Fan Service Month continues with the film that Winston Churchill said was worth its weight in battleships, Mrs Miniver was intended by director William Wyler to be propaganda, but good. Incredibly popular on release, it told America about the British home front from the point of view of Greer Garson's upper middle-class housewife. But the real Mrs Miniver's life was far more complicated, and Garson herself made a surprise bid for the Dam Buster's Dog Prize For Most Problematic Moment.Next week: Went The Day Well? - Again!
6. Carve Her Name With Pride
01:05:48||Season 7, Ep. 6As classic a war movie as classic war movies get! For what people are already calling "Fan Service Month", Rob and Duncan are parachuting into occupied France to help the resistance, in this much-loved retelling of the true story of Violette Szabo, who won a posthumous George Cross for her courage. The poem from the film became famous, but the real author was kept secret for decades. Will we be sobbing by the end?Next week: Mrs Miniver.
5. Heartbreak Ridge
01:01:31||Season 7, Ep. 5As Happy Birthday America Month draws to a close, Rob and Duncan take on the job of instilling discipline in a podcast that's got sloppy as they watch Clint Eastwood directing and starring in Heartbreak Ridge. The year was 1986, Reagan was in the White House, and audiences were ready to see their military kick some butt. They were rewarded with the stirring tale of the Marine Corp's against-the-odds invasion of - have we got this right? - Grenada. Has a bigger movie ever been made about a smaller war? Did the Marines hope to get a Top Gun recruitment effect? Had they misunderstood their appeal to young men? Next week, Fan Service Month kicks off with Carve Her Name With Pride.
4. Top Gun: Maverick - with Joe Twyman
01:31:26||Season 7, Ep. 4BONG! BONG! Three and a half decades after Tom Cruise felt the need, the need for speed, he was back with the best of the best, turning and burning through the canyons of an unidentified rogue state to take our breath away. The cameras were better, but what about the script? Was everyone missing Charlie? And what are we to day to the babies around the world named Maverick? As Happy Birthday America Month continues, Rob and Duncan are joined by Joe Twyman to discuss the return of Pete "Maverick" Mitchell.Next Week: Heartbreak Ridge.
3. Independence Day - with Jonn Elledge
01:09:21||Season 7, Ep. 3It's an alien invasion, and they're not messing about. Happy Birthday America Month continues with a film so American that they could barely be bothered to show the rest of the world being blown up. BUT WE DON'T MIND. Joining us to watch the White House being destroyed is super-nerd Jonn Elledge, whose new book 31 Inventions That Built Our World explains quite a lot about the New York that the aliens destroyed. Learn about the alternative bit of casting that would have taken this film to a much less wholesome place, and marvel as we discuss whether the US would actually elect a war veteran as president. Next week: Top Gun Maverick.
2. Gettysburg
01:20:55||Season 7, Ep. 2"I have no division." Happy Birthday America Month continues with a film about the greatest battle fought on US soil, as Martin Sheen's Robert E Lee tries to draw the Union army into a fight that will leave the way open to Washington. Has Duncan persuaded Rob that it's worth the four hours it takes to tell the story? Would Russell Crowe have been better than Jeff Daniels? And, um, are one side in this the baddies?Next week: Independence Day.