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Since I don't have cable, and I don't often feel like connecting the DVD player to the TV, I usually watch stuff on Youtube. (company phone, unlimited data) So, aside from clips on how to stick various pieces of metal together and make something meaningful from them, I like to watch old Hammer horror flicks and WW2 movies, especially British-made ones. (Hollywood in the post war years seldom made anything that had any accuracy in it). I watched "The Way Ahead" last night, not the first time I'd seen it, nor the first time I'd seen the complete British version (Hollywood cut it down for US consumption), but a good story and some good acting. I watched one the other night called "Yesterday's Enemy", which, according to IMDB, was filmed entirely on sound stages. You would quickly forget that once you start watching, as the characters are engrossing and the story is -supposedly- based on fact and pretty good. The Japanese officer (Philip Ahn) is, unfortunately, kind of stereotypical of the "enemy" as portrayed at the time, but, in light of true events, probably not far off. I also watched "The Fighting Lady", a US Navy produced documentary of the early days of the USS Yorktown, narrated by Robert Taylor. In color, it's fascinating to see gun camera footage of aerial combat and attacks on ships from several thousand feet up to near sea-level. Of course, it's patriotic to the Nth and rightly so for the time. Being a Navy vet, I enjoy good history portrayed on film, and, if while I'm watching something, I find it becoming just too idiotic or formulaic, I give up and try a different one. Most of the worst examples of these, as well as westerns, come from the mid- to late-fifties, when America (and the rest of the world) was beginning to examine their recent history and found some of it distasteful, so they started making films with flawed heroes (The War Lover comes to mind; an excellent movie but fictional) instead of good men doing the best they could under stressful circumstances. Anyways, rant/rave over. Comment as you feel the need.

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Who knew so much time involved in building a car is spent simply staring at the pile of parts you've accumulated?

I grew up on WWII movies and television series like Victory at Sea. They were mainstays of TV back in the 50's and early 60's. However, I don't know a lot of British ones, mostly just American movies.

As for modern WWII movies ones go, I liked "Thin Red Line" with Nick Nolte quite a bit. It's a little grim, but good. "From Here to Eternity" is another good one. You've probably seen the Vietnam era movie, "Full Metal Jacket", already but it's good too.

After we spent 3 years in West Germany in the early 50's (Sh*t happened every week with the Russians and East Germans), I became interested in Cold War/Spy movies. Two excellent British ones are "A Dandy in Aspic" and "Smiley's People" if you get curious about that genre.

Cheers,

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

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Maybe not what you are looking for but if you've not seen the "Why we fight" series, they are worth watching. They were US propaganda films meant to extol the virtues of the US allies during the war. Kind of interesting and actually more accurate than many US war documentaries. They are available online from various sources.

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My wife buys me all the ww2 DVDs she finds in thrift stores, so I have the Victory at Sea set, and it's fascinating. I have a couple of volumes of the history of the US Navy in ww2 and it's a good read. I'm a history buff, I wanted to teach history but lack of funding and life got in the way.

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Who knew so much time involved in building a car is spent simply staring at the pile of parts you've accumulated?

Found one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrKDBFJoo2w

There are other's about Battle of Britain, China, etc. All very good. The Chinese/Russian ones are interesting in that it's pre-Cold War so doesn't have the anti-Red slant that many US documentaries have.

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