Wasn't sure where to stick this thread...I guess "Multimedia" is close: List of favorite naval combat movies. In Harms Way Midway Tora Tora Tora Enemy Below They Were Expendable Run Silent Run Deep Note that "Hunt for Red October", while one of my favorite "naval" movies, doesn't qualify here since I'm sticking to the time period of our hobby Not really combat movies, but still favorites: Operation Petticoat And I didn't put "Sink the Bismark" in b/c I'm always rooting for the "villian" One that I WISH they'd make (and the tech is now in place to be able to) is Jutland What are some of your favorites?
I got a very strong recommendation for Saka no Ue Kumo ("Clouds over the Hills"), a Japanese historical drama about a family during the modernization of Japan until the end of the Russo-Japanese War. Its kinda like Band of Brothers or The Pacific, only Japanese. I have not yet seen it myself, but my brother said it was excellent. Here's a video. There is also an old movie from the late 50' or early 60's called Nihon-kai Dai-Kaisen (great sea battle of the sea of japan) that covers the Russo-Japanese war. Its got some great footage with large scale models, and covered some aspects of the war that I was not aware of. The only clip I could find on Youtube appears to have been dubbed in spanish or portuguese. The Russian movie Admiral is another good movie. The opening battle sequence is amazing. Unfortunately, that is the majority of the naval combat footage, although there is a scene supporting a land attack and a scene about the Battle of Moon Sound (I think). Here's the trailer. While looking for footage of Admiral to share, I found this movie about Admiral Yamamoto, which warrants further investigation. I have also heard of a German movie about the Emden, but again I have not seen it yet. I'd also like to add the anime Zipang to the list. A modern Japanese cruiser is transported back to WW2 and the crew must decide whether and how to affect history. It has some excellent animated ships and an interesting story. If you enjoy anime, this is a must-see. If not, take a look anyway.
Does The Final Countdown count? It's one of my favorite movies. The part where the tomcats are dogfighting the zeroes is hilarious. You can tell the zekes are hauling balls, and the tomcats are barely staying in the air.
If you haven't seen the movie, the USS Nimitz gets timewarped back to December 6, 1941 off Hawaii. So F-14 Tomcats (think Top Gun) vs the Pearl Harbor raiders. My favorite line "Since when does the US Navy name ships for serving Admirals?"
The movie about the Emden is great, but there is no english dub. Doesn't bother me, but some find reading the dialog annoying. Some of the on-ship scenes were filmed on the Russian cruiser Aurora, some on the Mikasa, some on full-size mock-ups. Very historically accurate details but some events are more dramatized than others.
I am surprised nobody picked my favourite Naval Warfare Film... All you destroyer fans and smaller combat ship fans would love the movie THE CRUEL SEA.
