War Movie Theatre

Live from the Imperial War Museum's Podcast Festival, we kick off Great War Month by watching Sam Mendes's men-with-a-mission trench-running bonanza, 1917, with John Crace of the Guardian. Is this the operation that changed the course of the Great War? Should they have searched that farmhouse? Might there, in fact, be a better way to get the message through? All this and more.

Adored by Stanley Kubrick and studied at the Pentagon, 1966's The Battle of Algiers is a film quite unlike any other. Is it a guide to how to run an insurgency, or how to fight one? Supported by the newly independent Algerian government, it doesn't shy away from the violent realities of the independence movement's terrorist campaign. There's never been anything quite like it.Next week, we'll be watching 1917, if we can successfully record our appearance at the Imperial War Museum's podcast festival.

Is this the film that changed the course of the SAS? Helicopters on the roof as we watch some of the worst spying in cinema history, followed by some of the best embassy-storming. Released as "The Final Option" in the US, this is the film that failed to turn Lewis Collins into James Bond. We're joined by Paul Bavill of the History Rage podcast, and he's not even the angriest person featured. That turns out to be listener Russell Phillips, who got in touch to complain about one scene in the film before we'd even recorded the episode. You can read his blog on the film here. Next week: The Battle of Algiers.

This week, we're hunting Nazis through Canada as we watch Powell and Pressburger's 1941 breakthrough movie 49th Parallel. Would the submarine crew on the run have made it further if they hadn't felt the need to kill everyone who was rude about Hitler? And what was the frankly appalling reason the US censor demanded so many cuts? We're joined by Terry Stiastny, author of Believable Lies: The Misfits Who Fought Churchill's Secret Propaganda War.Next week, we're storming the US embassy in Who Dares Wins.

This week, a Booker-winning novel that becomes an Oscar-winning film. A tale of war and love in the desert, based, very loosely on a real World War 2 espionage mission. Rob and Duncan are joined by the author and psychotherapist Lucy Beresford, to talk about her relationship with war movies, why she loves this film, and whether it would have been better if the studio had got their way and cast Demi Moore in the lead.

A 1964 film about accidental nuclear war from a legendary director and featuring a German scientist with homicidal ideas? That's right, it's Dr Strangelove... hang on, no, it's Fail Safe. Overshadowed on release because of a lawsuit from a rival film (you can guess which), this parable from Sidney Lumet has come to be regarded as a classic, with fans including George Clooney.The Ocean's 11 star couldn't be with us to make the case for it himself, so we're joined by a man known to many as the Clooney of British politics, Mark Pack: polling expert, Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords and Total Nerd.You can watch the film on DVD, by streaming, or here: https://archive.org/details/fail-safe-1964_202408Next week, we're back in the desert for a story of betrayal and sand: The English Patient.

Is this going be a bug hunt, or a stand-up fight? Rob is joined by Brian Raftery to talk about James Cameron's 1986 magnificent take on the Alien universe. Has there ever been a better sequel? Is it really a Vietnam allegory? And after all that time in hyper-sleep, shouldn't Ripley's savings be worth more?Next week, it's Cold War countdown Fail Safe.The podcast series by Brian mentioned in the show are "Do We Get To Win This Time?" and "Mission Accomplished", from Ringer podcasts.

Rob and Duncan have done their job for Uncle Sam. Now they're podcasting for themselves. This week we're watching the 1990 movie Memphis Belle and the 1944 documentary that inspired it: The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress. Is the crew going to finish its 25th mission? Which of them will go on to save Frodo? And would Eric Stoltz have had a better career if he'd realised Back To The Future was a comedy?You can watch the 1944 documentary here: https://youtu.be/DW4F_ZMrS3A?si=g7HPQtEnXfQkdMxzNext week, we're watching Aliens.