Name your favorite films based on true stories.

[GHT]

Here's a guilty secret, I loved Mrs Henderson Presents:

Recently widowed well-to-do Laura Henderson is at a bit of a loose end in inter-war London. On a whim she buys the derelict Windmill theatre in the West End and persuades impresario Vivian Van Damm to run it, despite the fact the two don't seem to get on at all. Although their idea of a non-stop revue is at first a success, other theatres copy it and disaster looms. Laura suggests they put nudes in the show, but Van Damm points out that the Lord Chamberlain, who licenses live shows in Britain, is likely to have something to say about this. Luckily Mrs Henderson is friends with him.

Taking my wife to see the new musical, of the same name, at the Noel Coward Theatre, at the end of February, as a birthday treat.

 

[JimWagner]

The Glenn Miller Story.

 

[p51]

One I haven't seen listed here already is, "Waterloo", the 1969 Anglo/Soviet production. A little oddly written but still an amazing spectacle.

 

[Diamondback]

The Great Raid. And who could forget the two big '70s military biopics, George C. Scott's Patton and Gregory Peck's MacArthur?

 

[Bushman]

The Revenant is a new favorite. Technically, it's based on a fictional book, but the fictional book is based on a true story. Interestingly enough, the "fictional story", despite having the fictional son in the picture, is actually less embellished in the graphic portrayal of Hugh Glass's struggle than the original story.

 

[DavidJones]

1964 Cy Enfield's "ZULU"

 

[HudsonHawk]

Bridge on the River Kwai

I recently got to visit the actual bridge that is the inspiration for the novel and movie. Like everything else in southeast Asia these days, it's overrun with Japanese tourists taking selfies. But also nearby is the "Death Railway" Museum and Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, which is quite sobering. War is hell.

 

[DNO]

Three off the top of my head:

Breaker Morant (1980)
Gallipoli (1981)
The Railway Man (2013)

 

[Stanleybwheeler]

Lawrence of Arabia
Shout at the Devil
Out of Africa
Ghost in the Darkness
Rough Riders
Jeremiah Johnson

Sure there's more but that's what I can come up with quickly.

 

[Bushman]

Ghost in the Darkness

Ah, yes, I had forgotten about this one. I loved this movie growing up. It's a good one.

 

[Stearmen]

I recently got to visit the actual bridge that is the inspiration for the novel and movie. Like everything else in southeast Asia these days, it's overrun with Japanese tourists taking selfies. But also nearby is the "Death Railway" Museum and Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, which is quite sobering. War is hell.

I remember watching a documentary about the bridge many years ago. Three things all the survivors agreed on, The building of the bridge was far better then the rest of the railroad, because they had a more permanent base and there were far less deaths then in the jungle. The second thing was, Lieutenant Colonel Philip Toosey never collaborated with the Japanese to build the bridge. Last, the real camp commandant, Lieutenant Seizo Tanaka, made Sessue Hayakawa look like a Girls Scout! Tanaka was executed by the British in 1946 for his war crimes.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I remember watching a documentary about the bridge many years ago. Three things all the survivors agreed on, The building of the bridge was far better then the rest of the railroad, because they had a more permanent base and there were far less deaths then in the jungle. The second thing was, Lieutenant Colonel Philip Toosey never collaborated with the Japanese to build the bridge. Last, the real camp commandant, Lieutenant Seizo Tanaka, made Sessue Hayakawa look like a Girls Scout! Tanaka was executed by the British in 1946 for his war crimes.

The Japanese were exceptionally brutal and inhumane to POWs. A great many of the guards and officers from the Railway were subsequently tried and executed for crimes against humanity. Many more received life with hard labor. Then there was one guard who was sentenced to one day in prison.

 

[DavidJones]

"People Will Talk", 1951; Cary Grant as Doctor Noah (Ludwig) Pretorius. The Scene where he is running his electric trains, with his father-in-law, and the Professor is one funny scene to watch.

 

[Fading Fast]

"People Will Talk", 1951; Cary Grant as Doctor Noah (Ludwig) Pretorius. The Scene where he is running his electric trains, with his father-in-law, and the Professor is one funny scene to watch.

I love this movie. It is probably my favorite not-well-known Cary Grant move and the scene you reference is wonderful. The entire movie has a whimsey to it that doesn't cross over into mawkishness or silliness, which is hard to do.

 

[Stanleybwheeler]

Oh.....one that must be mentioned. Northwest Passage with Spencer Tracy. Partial story of Rogers Rangers!

 

[MisterCairo]

The Life of Brian.

 

[Stearmen]

Since I am still eyeball deep in a remodel of my Victorian house, I would have to say Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)

 

[Fading Fast]

Since I am still eyeball deep in a remodel of my Victorian house, I would have to say Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)

Fantastic movie - it was on last week and, once again, I watched it. As we are, too, restoring an old - in our case - apartment, too much of the movie rings true. The picking of the paint color thing is humbling, crazy and silly. If you think you are a cool, confident decision maker, picking paint colors will undo that opinion.

Sure it sounds ridiculous, but, for example, there are innumerable whites and they have different underlying hues, sheens, etc. that - as my girlfriend demonstrated to a suspicious me - really do look meaningfully different when painted on a wall (as we tested several similar whites and saw substantial differences). So, yup, we debated shades of white (white!); up until this, I would have told you white comes in one color, "white."

Make fun of me if you will (I would have prior to this event), but then paint a few different whites on your wall and tell me they aren't noticeably different. Anyway, while exaggerated in the scene you captured - as is a lot of the movie - it does wonderfully capture the insanity of all the decisions, costs, contractors, colors, and on and on that one has to go through to get to the end.

 

[DNO]

The Japanese were exceptionally brutal and inhumane to POWs. A great many of the guards and officers from the Railway were subsequently tried and executed for crimes against humanity. Many more received life with hard labor. Then there was one guard who was sentenced to one day in prison.

The film, 'The Railway Man', deals with the true story of a former POW confronting his Japanese torturer many years after the war. A powerful film and well worth watching.

 

[DNO]

Beneath Hill 60 (2010). The Australians make some excellent films.