War Movie Theatre | for Fans of Classic War Films and Cinema History
Love classic war movies? So do we. From Troy to World War II to Vietnam to Aliens, we analyse which war films work and what they say about us.Banned from watching old war movies by their families, writers Robert Hutton and Duncan Weldon meet in their secret basement to…
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 12
- Latest publication
- Sep 24, 2026
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- Jul 9, 2026
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Full Metal Jacket - with Sarah Ditum (opens the original)
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Near the top of any list of war films, Full Metal Jacket was Stanley Kubrick's bleak take on Vietnam. It gave us cinema's greatest drill sergeant, a script full of unforgettable lines, and an Asian country as it could only look if it had been filmed in an East London gasworks. Joining us is Sarah Ditum, who's been fascinated by the film since growing up near a military base where all the dads loved the movie. Her book Toxic: Women, Fame and The Noughties is about misogyny in culture. Will this f
The Hunt For Red October (opens the original)
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A rogue Russian submarine, heading for the US coast: does the captain plan to defect or start a nuclear war? Based on Tom Clancy's bestselling technothriller, this was a Cold War movie released just as the Cold War ended. Gripping from the first scene, it was a masterclass in film-making, helped by a stellar supporting cast, including Sam Neill and Tim Curry, both taken from us this year. Next week: Full Metal Jacket . Drop us a line! Send comments and suggestions to warmovietheatre@gmail.com .
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936) (opens the original)
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Errol Flynn! Olivia de Havilland! Horses! The only thing that's hard to understand about this swashbuckling 1930s epic is the decision to set a film about the most famous moment of the Crimean War in India. And to portray one of history's great military blunders as a strategic masterstroke. Just what was going on in Hollywood? Still, despite Rob struggling to process what he was watching, it's a wild ride. And Duncan learns how the poem of the charge of the movie might, conceivably, have changed
Postbag Episode (opens the original)
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What films do we wish were war films? What has most surprised us over the course of 100 war movies? Do British people watch different war films from Americans? Which battles really need a film? Yes, for one week only, we're answering your questions. Next week, normal service resumes with The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936). Drop us a line! Send comments and suggestions to warmovietheatre@gmail.com . Would you like to know more? See the list of films we'd like to do? Buy merch? Visit our websi
The Way Ahead - with Mark Wallace and George Cochrane (opens the original)
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In a war movie so classic that it informed much of what came after it, David Niven is given the job of turning raw recruits into fighting men. Released in 1944, The Way Ahead is like a Rosetta stone for understanding much of what came afterwards in British film and TV, from Dad's Army to, arguably, Are You Being Served? It was written by Eric Ambler and Peter Ustinov, and directed by Carol Reed, a dream team that turns this army propaganda film into something special. Joining Rob to discuss it a
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