Publisher's Synopsis
Set of five classic war films. 'The Bridge On the River Kwai' (1957) is David Lean's classic British epic based on the novel by Pierre Boulle. A group of British POWs are forced to build a bridge in Burma for the Japanese. Led by Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness) they not only build the bridge but organise the whole building programme and are proud of the final result. However, unbeknownst to the POWs, a British commando team has been given a mission to destroy it. In 'Sands of Iwo Jima' (1949), hard-bitten sergeant John M. Stryker (John Wayne) earns the enmity of the recruits he trains for action in the Pacific. New recruit Peter Conway's (John Agar) dislike for his commander turns to respect, however, when the latter saves him from a grenade. The squad are forced to show their mettle when they are sent into Iwo Jima to take Mount Suribachi whilst under constant fire from the Japanese. John Wayne's performance earned him his first Oscar nomination. 'The Guns of Navarone' (1961), set in 1943, tells of a group of mismatched Allied soldiers who are sent to sabotage two powerful Nazi guns situated on a Greek island. If their mission fails, the guns will wipe out the 2,000 British soldiers who are attempting to evacuate civilians further down the coast. The mission is led by the dispassionate Captain Mallory (Gregory Peck), whose clinical approach does not find favour with explosives expert Corporal Miller (David Niven). Meanwhile, the group's Greek patriot guide Andrea Stavros (Anthony Quinn) is nursing a grudge against Mallory for an old injustice. 'All Quiet On the Western Front' (1930) is Lewis Milestone's epic screen adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's anti-war novel starring Lew Ayres as one of a group of German teenagers who enlist for World War I after hearing a stirring speech from their professor. They soon discover that war is less about noble ideas and sacrifice than it is about pain, humiliation, suffering and death. Wolfgang Petersen directs 'Das Boot' (1981), a gripping account of a German U-96 submarine in action during World War Two. The crew's long periods of boredom are contrasted with the claustrophobic terror they experience when engaging the enemy.