‘Days of Classic Cinema’ launches a new thematic cycle, this time with great war film titles: ‘Patton’ (February 21), ‘Twelve from the gallows’ (February 28), ‘El submarine (Das Boot)’ (March 7), ‘Paths of Glory’ (March 14) and ‘MASH’ (March 21). From the First World War to the Korean War, the cycle offers a cinephile journey through the great battles of the 20th century portrayed by the masters of cinema. Cult works, masterpieces, from different eras and styles, that address all aspects of war and human beings.
Directed by Francis J. Schaffner in 1970, with a script by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H Nord, opens the cycle this Monday 21 ‘Patton’, the biography of the American general, extravagant and charismatic, and his exploits during the Second World War. His leading lady George C. Scott won the Oscar for best actor for his extraordinary performance, an award he refused and never collected. In total, the film won 7 awards from the Hollywood Academy, one of them for the Spanish Gil Parrondo for the best Artistic Direction. The film was partly shot in Almería.
On Monday 28, ‘Doce del scaffold’, directed by Robert Aldrich in 1967, another exponent of war cinema. Also set in World War II, it tells the story of a suicide mission: the brilliant Commander Reisman is given the task of storming a Nazi fortress and killing its occupants. To carry it out he must train 12 convicts, whom he will subject to harsh training. It has a stellar cast led by Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, John Cassavetes and Ernest Borgnine.
Also in World War II, we find the claustrophobic ‘El submarine (Das Boot)’ whose action takes place inside a submarine. Directed by the German Wolfgang Petersen in 1981, it will show a group of young Germans embarking on what would also be a suicide mission. The film achieved 6 nominations for the Oscars, of which it did not achieve any, but it did open the big door of Hollywood for its director.
‘Paths of glory’ takes us to World War I at the hands of Stanley Kubrick (1957), in a cult work with Kirk Douglas as the protagonist. Shot in black and white, a group of soldiers face a terrible court-martial, accused of cowardice, after failing in a hellish mission.
And from the world wars, to the Korean War with ‘MASH’, which closes the cycle on March 21, and changes tone. Directed by Robert Altman in 1970, it focuses the action on the work of a group of doctors during the war, narrated with acid humor and debunking the greatness of the US Army.
The documentary vision of the war
La 2 will accompany the war film cycle with great documentary productions that rigorously portray and audiovisual materials of great historical value some of the battles also reflected through the cinema. Series such as the prestigious ‘Apocalypse: World War II’, which can be seen again on Monday nights in the coming weeks. Or the documentary ‘Kubrick por Kubrick’, by Gregory Monro, which La 2 will premiere on March 14 after ‘Paths of Glory’. A French production that, through exclusive recordings with the director, gets closer than ever to the legacy of the legendary filmmaker.
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