The Tough Ones

The Burmese Harp

January 1956 •Japanese

In Burma during the closing days of WWII, a Japanese soldier separated from his unit disguises himself as a Buddhist monk to escape imprisonment as a POW.

Taxi for Tobruk

May 1961 •French

During World War II, French Commandos join forces with a German officer in order to survive the African desert.

Akitsu Hot Springs

June 1962 •Japanese

Just after WW2, a romance between an innkeeper and a man with tuberculosis unravels near a thermal spring.

Human Lampshade: A Holocaust Mystery

September 2012 •English

This story follows one man's quest to uncover the origins and reveal the mysteries of a possible Holocaust artifact some historians now say never existed: lampshades made of human skin. When the flood waters of Hurricane Katrina receded, they left behind a wrecked New Orleans and a strange looking lamp that an illicit dealer claimed was 'made from the skin of Jews.'

The Day Hitler Died

December 2015 •English

The story of Hitler’s final hours told by people who were there. This special features exclusive forgotten interviews, believed lost for 65 years, with members of Hitler’s inner circle who were trapped with him in his bunker as the Russians fought to take Berlin. These unique interviews from figures such as the leader of the Hitler Youth Artur Axmann and Hitler’s secretary Traudl Junge, have never before been seen outside Germany. Using rarely seen archive footage and dramatic reconstruction, this special tells the story of Adolf Hitler’s final days in his Berlin bunker.

The Battle of Monte Cassino

April 2024 •Polish

The story of the legendary battle through the eyes of Jedrek - a boy who went through the hell of the gulag and left Russia with the Polish Army as one of thousands of polish orphans. Soon a decisive attack on a monastery located on the hills of Monte Cassino is to take place at the front - this spectacular battle will decide the lives of many soldiers and the fate of the Allied offensive in Italy, and will change Jedrek's life forever.

The Russians Are Coming

February 1968 •German

It’s the spring of 1945 in a small resort town on the Baltic. Günter is 16 and firmly believes that the Germans will win the war. During the hunt for a forced labourer who is on the run, Günter catches him and watches as he is shot to death. He proudly accepts the award of an Iron Cross before being shipped to the nearby front as part of the last contingent of troops. He is quickly captured by Soviet soldiers, but manages to escape and return home. When the town is occupied by the Red Army, Günter is arrested for the murder of the forced labourer. The film was banned in 1968 before it was completed, and a large portion of the negative was later destroyed.

For Love of Liberty: The Story of America's Black Patriots

January 2010 •English

This High Definition, PBS miniseries uses letters, diaries, speeches, journalistic accounts, historical text and military records to document and acknowledge the sacrifices and accomplishments of African-American service men and women since the earliest days of the republic.

Boží soud

January 1972 •Czech

Two Thousand Women

November 1944 •English

During the Second World War, three downed English airmen hide out with women's internment camp in France.

Evening Bells

January 1986 •

Trials and tribulations of a Croatian communist intellectual in the turbulent years before, during and after the Second World War.

Fires on the Plain

November 1959 •Japanese

In the closing days of WWII, a Japanese soldier afflicted with tuberculosis is abandoned by his company and left to wander the Philippine island of Leyte.

Ivan's Childhood

May 1962 •Russian

In WW2, twelve year old Soviet orphan Ivan Bondarev works for the Soviet army as a scout behind the German lines and strikes a friendship with three sympathetic Soviet officers.

Uprising

November 2001 •English

In the Warsaw ghetto in 1943, Jews rise against the Nazis.

MacArthur

July 1977 •English

The film portrays MacArthur's life from 1942, before the Battle of Bataan, to 1952, the time after he had been removed from his Korean War command by President Truman for insubordination, and is recounted in flashback as he visits West Point.

Ike: Countdown to D-Day

May 2004 •English

The story of the senior-level preparations for the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944 from the time of Dwight D. Eisenhower's appointment as the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, to the establishment of the beachhead in Normandy.

In the Name of the Motherland

July 1943 •Russian

The film deals with a Russian battalion under siege by the Germans during the Second World War.

Hell Is for Heroes

June 1962 •English

World War II drama where the action centers around a single maneuver by a squad of GIs in retaliation against the force of the German Siegfried line. Reese joins a group of weary GIs unexpectedly ordered back into the line when on their way to a rest area. While most of the men withdraw from their positions facing a German pillbox at the far side of a mine-field, half a dozen men are left to protect a wide front. By various ruses, they manage to convince the Germans that a large force is still holding the position. Then Reese leads two of the men in an unauthorized and unsuccessful attack on the pillbox, in which the other two are killed; and when the main platoon returns, he is threatened with court-martial. Rather that face the disgrace, and in an attempt to show he was right, he makes a one-man attack on the pillbox.

The Secret War of Harry Frigg

February 1968 •English

When 5 allied generals are captured in Italy in WWII, it is a propaganda nightmare for the allies. The generals are all 1 star and refuse to take orders from each other in order to plan an escape. Harry Frigg is a private who has escaped from the guard house dozens of times. He is promoted to Major General and ordered to get the generals out once he is captured. Harry is willing to escape, but then he meets the countess...

Attack

September 1956 •English

Battle of the Bulge, World War II, 1944. Lieutenant Costa, an infantry company officer who must establish artillery observation posts in a strategic area, has serious doubts about Captain Cooney's leadership ability.