Sunset Boulevard - Memorial Day edition

For Memorial Day, and in honor of all those men and women who have served in times of peace and war, I decided to put together a playlist of great war films which I think do a fantastic job of tracing our country’s history, not through subject alone, but through tone. In order to keep myself sane, I decided to focus on WWI films – from just after WWI to present day.

What were the resounding themes of these classic films and how did that reflect the mood and tone of the nation at that time in history?

1927 - WINGS

The first film to with the Academy Award for Best Picture, this silent film starring Clara Bow, Charles Rogers, Richard Arlen, and Gary Cooper features two fighter pilots vying for the love of one girl. It is light and triumphant, reflecting the mood of the country in the late 20s before the depression hit.

1930 – ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

#54 on the AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies list, this film, released at the beginning of the depression, was a much more realistic account of real battle, standing in contrast to the fun fighter pilot moves and romance of “Wings.” This also won an Oscar for Best Picture.

1937 – LA GRANDE ILLUSION

This is not an American war film, but rather a French film by Jean Renoir, but I believe it epitomizes the feeling of the late thirties in the years preceding the start of WWII. In it, two French officers are captured during WWI and placed in a POW camp where they plot their escape. I am simplifying it for summary purposes, but it has a powerful anti-war message and uses WWI as a means to criticize the rise of fascism and European politics leading up to the war.

1940 – THE FIGHTING 69^TH

With the tagline “Jammed With Action ! . . Loaded With Excitement ! . . . And Every Thrill-Packed Word Is True!” this film was made after the beginning of WWII when audiences needed war to be romantic and redemptive instead of harsh, realistic, and sour. It focuses on a group of soldiers from New York fighting in the first World War, one of whom is an arrogant and foolish misfit, and after making many fatal mistakes, finally gets a chance to redeem himself, thus leaving audiences with a good feeling that reinforces the humanity in the world at a time that they might be tempted to feel otherwise.

1941 – SERGEANT YORK

Such a great war film is this that as I started writing, I managed to find this in my TV Guide listings playing today – what a perfect memorial day movie. This film canonizes Sergeant York (played by Gary Cooper), who started as a ne’er do-well and after a religious turnaround became the most decorated American soldier of WWI. It glorifies war and being a soldier, and was the highest-grossing film of 1941.

1957 – PATHS OF GLORY

One of Stanley Kubrick’s many troubled masterpieces, this is a classic anti-war film based on the story of five French soldiers executed for mutiny, and the aftermath as their families struggled to get compensation after the executions were ruled unfair. Definitely reflective of a darker mood that began gripping the country in the late 50s.

1969 – OH, WHAT A LOVELY WAR!

“Oh, What a Lovely War!” began as a stage production and became a film musical. A musical about war? Well, in the late 60s, with the counterculture was in full swing, it seemed the perfect juxtaposition. A film light in tone but heavy in meaning about the ills of war, using WWI as a backdrop to, by extension, make a powerful statement about war in general.

1971 – JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN

In keeping with the dark, anti-war sentiment of the era, this film is about an American soldier who loses all of his limbs, his mouth, his nose, and his eyes, but remains conscious and becomes a prisoner of his own mind until he finds a way to communicate with those around him.

I have to admit I had trouble coming up with WWI films of more recent years (as in, the 80s and 90s), perhaps because the inevitable focus became the Vietnam War or even WWII. If you can think of any, please let me know and I’ll add it to the list. 

In any case, this should give you a good start, and I’ll add more as people suggest. You can do the same thing with any genre – tracing the tone and sentiment through history, and you see how powerful film is, and how much it reflects the era in which it was conceived.

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Alex M., Movie Correspondent

Alex's column, Sunset Boulevard, published every Friday to Gather Essentials: Movies, is a weekly summary of the movie industry's biggest stories.

Alex is a film school grad working at a production company in Hollywood. She's been passionate about movies since she knew what they were and always has an opinion (for better or worse).

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