Films about the Age of First World War
This collection provides information on selected movies, TV productions and documentaries on the themes of gender, military and war in the period covered by the Oxford Handbook.
The most important wars for this period include:
- First World War (1914–18)
- Russian Civil War (1917–22)
- Irish War of Independence and Civil War (1919–23)
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Elizabeth of Ladymead is a 1948 British Technicolor drama film, charting the life of a British family between 1854 and 1945 and their involvement in four wars - the Crimean War (1853–1856), Boer War (1899–1902), First World War and ...
This French documentary traces the overlapping journeys of exceptional French and European women who were swept up in World War I, women like Marie Curie, Edith Wharton, Mata Hari, and Rosa Luxemburg. It explores the situation of women at...
A meditation on the personal consequences of nationalism and war, a French veteran of World War I seeks forgiveness from a German family. Adrien visits Frantz's family and fiancée pretending to be an old friend from school. Anna discovers Adrien'...
During the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921), a pair of IRA soldiers are ordered to guard two British prisoners, but face a dilemma when they bond with their captives and the enemy becomes human. This greatly worries the Irish leader, because...
Based on Frank O'Connor's 1931 short story about the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921). Irish insurgents guard their British prisoners-of-war in a remote farmstead. Gradually the opposing soldiers come to respect, even like each other. The...
Actor Kenneth Griffith provides a dramatic monologue of the life of Michael Collins (1890-1922), a prominent leader during the Irish War for Independence (1919-1923). Although usually classed as a documentary, the film more closely resembles a...
Hotel Imperial is a 1927 American silent war drama film directed by Mauritz Stiller, based on the 1917 Hungarian play of the same name by Lajos Bíró. The film is set in Austria-Hungary during World War I and starring Pola Negri as a...
A lightly fictionalized portrayal of Ernest Hemingway's experiences as an American ambulance driver in Italy during World War I, and the romance which inspired him to write his 1929 novel A Farewell to Arms. A story of desperate love and...
In 1922, the people of Ireland turned against each other in one of the bloodiest civil wars in history. In its wake, internecine feuding incited decades of terrorist atrocities. This program features interviews with participants in the Civil War...
Irish Destiny is a 1926 film made in the Irish Free State, directed by George Dewhurst and written by Isaac Eppel to mark the tenth anniversary of the Easter Rising in April 1916. The film follows an Irish Republican Army soldier who is...
J'accuse is a 1919 French silent film directed by Abel Gance. It juxtaposes a romantic drama with the background of the horrors of World War I, and it is sometimes described as a pacifist or anti-war film. Two romantic rivals put their...
In this remake of the 1919 film by the same title, director Abel Gance's depiction of the Battle of Verdun (February – December 1916) and the sacrifices made for it served as a stern warning to...
This latest version of the 1928 R. C. Sherriff play focuses on the men in the trenches during World War I. In 1918 in France, a group of war-weary British soldiers await a German attack. The officers and enlisted men try to maintain a semblance...
Nominated for best foreign language film at the 74th Academy Awards, Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas), directed by Christian Carion, depicts the remarkable true events of December 1914, when soldiers from both sides laid down their...
Juno and the Paycock is a 1930 British comedy film written and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on the successful 1924 play of the same name by Seán O'Casey. The film relays a tragicomic tale of the disintegration of one family during...
In this drama set during the Russian Civil War, Klavdia Vavilova, a Red Army cavalry commissar, is waylaid by an unexpected pregnancy. She stays with a Jewish family to give birth and is softened somewhat by the experience of family life. She...
The End of St. Petersburg is a 1927 silent film directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin. Commissioned to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution in 1917, The End of St Petersburg was to be one of Pudovkin's most famous...
During the First World War, before joining a squadron at the front in 1918, Herbillon (Jean-Pierre Aumont) has a liaison with Helene (Annabella), a married woman. The young man discovers that his mistress is none other than the wife of Maury (...
A young man and woman try to escape from the horrors of World War I. Antonin falls in love with Elisa, a young widow, after returning home from the front. He tries to injure himself to prevent returning to war, but he fails. Elisa travels to...
The horrors of modern warfare during World War I left men horrifically disfigured. This film recounts the story of Adrien, a handsome French soldier who becomes one of the gueules cassées (broken faces) after a German shell explodes in...