The true story of England’s vanished regiment is revealed. It is one of the most compelling and curious legends of the First World War. Led by Captain Frank Beck (David Jason), a favorite agent of King George V (David Troughton, Madame Bovary), Sandringham Company was comprised entirely of servants, grooms and gardeners from the King’s Norfolk Estate. On August 12, 1915 the unit marched into battle against the Turks in Gallipoli and simply vanished, never to be heard from again. Queen Alexandra, played by Dame Maggie Smith (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, A Room with a View), was the driving force behind the investigation into the real fate of the battalion. But despite her extensive inquires, no trace of the men was ever discovered. Now, All the King’s Men brings the details of what really happened in 1915 to the screen for the first time. It tells the story of these amateur soldiers, the idyllic life and loves they left behind in the quintessential English country estate and the horrors of an ill-prepared campaign to which they were subjected.

In this 1971 film, fans of lighter-than-air transport are able to experience what it must have been like to operate a “zepp” in wartime. The effects and attention to detail will please even the most jaded aficionado of dirigibles. Unfortunately, the rest of the audience will find Zeppelin wanting. Neither Michael York nor Elke Sommer manages to be very convincing. While Sommer’s Frau Altschul is mere window dressing, York seems torn between playing British spy Richter-Douglas as either an inexperienced bumbler or a Bond-like man of action (York’s close-quarters combat with a radio operator seems strikingly similar to a fight sequence in From Russia with Love). Despite the problems, the film still somehow manages to satisfy at least 70 percent of the time. And how many recent films can you think of that feature action aboard a World War I zeppelin? –Mark Savary

In 1915, during World War I, a doomed campaign was fought by the Allies against German-affiliated Turkish forces in the Dardanelles. (This devastating conflict was also the inspiration for the 1981 Australian film Gallipoli.) The Fifth Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment, composed wholly of servants, grooms, and gardeners from King George V’s estate at Sandringham, was sent into the fray and, legend has it, vanished without a trace into a mysterious mist. This deeply affecting Masterpiece Theatre production, All the King’s Men, tells the horrifying true story of what really happened to these men. From paradise on an English country estate, we follow them into the chaotic hell of war on blistering foreign shores. The pathos of the innocence and optimism of these boys, some as young as 14, as they march off to battle is tremendous. Before shipping out, Sergeant Ted Grimes (William Ash) celebrates a joyous wedding to his childhood sweetheart, plucky Peggy Batterbee (Emma Cunniffe), assuring her of his swift return. Gallant Captain Frank Beck (David Jason) has trained his boys well in the principles of loyalty and duty. Tragically, they soon learn that these niceties are worse than useless during wartime. Performances by a large ensemble cast are superb in this engrossing TV film. Dame Maggie Smith is a standout, exuding marvelous warmth and wisdom as the Queen Mother Alexandra, who mounts an extensive inquiry to determine the real fate of her beloved lads. –Laura Mirsky

Gallipoli is Australian director Peter Weir’s (The Truman Show, Witness) story of how the irresistible lure of adventure and the unknown, combined with national pride, bring two young men (Mel Gibson and Mark Lee) together in the Australian army in 1915. They cross continents and great oceans, climb pyramids and walk through the ancient sands of Egypt to join their regiment at the fateful battle of Gallipoli. The echoes of history blend with the friends’ compelling destiny as they become part of a legendary World War 1 confrontation between Australia and the German allied Turks- a battle that is to Australians what the Alamo is to Americans.

It was the War to end all wars – well not quite. For with the ricochet of one bullet, the entire course of human history was changed forever…Now, for the first time, Academy Award®-winner Richard Attenborough’s* directorial debut is available on DVD. Based on the stage musical by the same name, Oh! What a Lovely War features a stellar cast that includes Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, John Mills, John Gielgud, Maggie Smith, Vanessa Redgrave, Ian Holm, Dirk Bogarde and Susannah York. By fusing the surreal with the factual and juxtaposing savagely funny satire with quiet sorrow, Attenborough has created the oddest and most outstanding film ever made about the “game” that became World War One.

What Price Glory is a 1952 World War I film based on a 1924 play by Maxwell Anderson and Laurence Stallings,[1] though it used virtually none of Anderson’s dialogue. Originally intended as a musical, it was filmed as a straight comedy, directed by John Ford and released by 20th Century Fox on 22 August 1952 in the U.S. It starred James Cagney and Dan Dailey as US Marines in World War I.

Flagg and Quirt are veteran United States Marines whose rivalry dates back a number of years. Flagg, now a captain, is in command of a unit on the front lines of France during World War I. Sergeant Quirt is assigned to Flagg’s unit as the senior non-commissioned officer. Flagg and Quirt quickly resume their rivalry which this time takes its form over the affections of Charmaine, the daughter of the local innkeeper. However, Charmaine’s desire for a husband and the reality of war give the two men a common cause.

John Huston made better, more powerful films than The African Queen, but none so universally beloved, on first appearance and over the decades since. In this adaptation of the C.S. Forester novel, Humphrey Bogart (who would win the best-actor Oscar®) and Katharine Hepburn costar as an unlikely pair thrown together in German East Africa during the First World War. He’s the gin-soaked skipper of what we might call the title character, a none-too-reliable steam launch chugging along the backwaters of the ‘Dark Continent.’ Hepburn’s a straitlaced Methodist missionary who, following the demise of her bachelor brother (Robert Morley) and the burning of their village by Kaiser Wilhelm’s troops, determines that the Queen should be used to attack the Königin Luise, a large German gunboat patrolling a lake downriver. It’s an absurd proposition. Then again, John Huston and the absurd were always on familiar terms.

It wasn’t until he got to the Congo that the director realized what a funny picture The African Queen was going to be, thanks to the odd coupling of Bogie and Kate: ‘One brought out a vein of humor in the other, and this comic sense, which had been missing from the book and screenplay, grew out of our day-to-day shooting.’ Within the gunwales of a not-very-large boat, Huston managed to devise myriad ways to keep his two leading characters on separate visual planes even as circumstance and tender emotional urgency conspired to push them together. This was Huston’s first feature film in Technicolor, and the peerless Jack Cardiff (The Red Shoes) was there to shoot it. Unfortunately, neither of them could do anything about the process-screen technology needed for, and glaringly inadequate to, the sequence of Bogart and Hepburn shooting the rapids–just about the only lapse in an enchanting fairy tale for adults. The script is credited to Huston and James Agee; the uncredited Peter Viertel, summoned to the African locations to write some additional material, would later fictionalize the experience as White Hunter, Black Heart, a savage roman à clef.

A cocky recruit in the 69th Regiment during WWI becomes a hero and loses his life in the process.

[Non-U.S. Format (PAL) Region 2 U.K. DVD - This will not play on U.S./Canada DVD players or those from most other countries outside of Europe. You would need a "multi-region" or "region-free" PAL compatible DVD player or computer.] From the director of THE MEDUSA TOUCH, this moving war drama tells of the futility of war, focusing here on the needless deaths of young pilots. It features stunning aerial photography.

(1936) In 1919, a naval detachment defends the city of Petrograd from White forces with the fate of the Revolution at stake. 88 minutes.

The incredibly prolific exploitation film producer and director, Roger Corman, tries his hand at a war film with Von Richthofen and Brown, about WWI air battles between German icon Baron Manfred Von Richtofen (John Phillip Law), and his alleged captor, Canadian Lt. Roy Brown (Don Stroud). With a slowly unfolding plot that may be tedious to anyone but war buffs trolling for historical accuracy, the film is mostly about its flight sequences, as it should be. Von Richthofen and Brown shows The Red Baron’s rise to glory and his noble downfall, while building sympathy for the opposing forces who plan revenge on his unbeatable German team. Interpretive scenes during which he snidely paints his squadron’s planes, including his own conspicuous red, and later depicting his controversial death, during which he is shot mid-air but somehow lands his plane, are the most arresting to those not aircraft-obsessed. Tension built between Von Richthofen and Brown is half-baked, making further argument for the film’s battle-scene priority. War aficionados will appreciate this film, while Corman fans will yearn for more sex, gore, melodrama, and classic Corman action. –Trinie Dalton

An outstanding drama, Gallipoli resonates with sadness long after you have seen it. Set during World War I, this brutally honest antiwar movie was cowritten by director Peter Weir. Mark Lee and a sinfully handsome Mel Gibson are young, idealistic best friends who put aside their hopes and dreams when they join the war effort. This character study follows them as they enlist and are sent to Gallipoli to fight the Turks. The first half of the film is devoted to their lives and their strong friendship. The second half details the doomed war efforts of the Aussies, who are no match for the powerful and aggressive Turkish army. Because the script pulls us into their lives and forces us to care for these young men, we are devastated by their fate. –Rochelle O’Gorman