List of World War II films
Films made during the Second World War -- 1940
Table:
Country

Main title
(Alternative titles)

Original title
(Original script)

Director

Battles, campaigns, events depicted

United States

Arise, My Love

Mitchell Leisen

Romantic comedy. Spanish Civil War through French capitulation, 1940

Nazi Germany

Attention! The Enemy Is Listening! †

Achtung! Feind hört mit!

Arthur Maria Rabenalt

Foreign spies in a German armaments factory

United Kingdom

The Big Blockade

Charles Frend

Economic blockade of Germany

Japan

The Blazing Heavens † (The Burning Sky / Flaming Sky)

Moyuru ōzora (燃ゆる大空)

Yutaka Abe

Action-drama. Imperial Japanese Army Air Service during Sino-Japanese War

Italy

The Cavalier from Kruja †

Il cavaliere di Kruja

Carlo Campogalliani

Adventure. An Italian journalist gets involved in the Albanian opposition to King Zog and is finally saved by the Italian invasion of Albania

United States

Comrade X

King Vidor

Spy drama. US journalist in the Soviet Union moonlights as spy.

United Kingdom

Convoy

Pen Tennyson

Battle of the Atlantic

Nazi Germany

Enemies †

Feinde

Viktor Tourjansky

Invasion of Poland justified by Polish persecution of ethnic Germans

United States

Foreign Correspondent

Alfred Hitchcock

Spy thriller. American reporter tries to expose spies in Britain on the eve of World War II.

United States

The Great Dictator

Charlie Chaplin

Satire. Dictator Adenoid Hynkel is replaced by identical Jew

United States

The Long Voyage Home

John Ford

Battle of the Atlantic

United States

The Man I Married (I Married a Nazi)

Irving Pichel

Drama. American woman's German husband develops Nazi sympathies

United Kingdom

Night Train to Munich (Gestapo)

Carol Reed

Mystery-thriller. Inventor and daughter kidnapped by Gestapo then rescued by British agent

United States

The Phantom Submarine

Charles Barton

Action-mystery. Journalist and US Navy frogman investigate U-boat terror

Nazi Germany

Request Concert

Wunschkonzert

Eduard von Borsody

Luftwaffe airmen fighting over Poland and then the Atlantic

United States

Ski Patrol

Lew Landers

Olympians oppose each other again in the Winter War

Japan

The Legend of Tank Commander Nishizumi

Nishizumi senshacho-den (西住戦車長伝)

Kōzaburō Yoshimura

Japanese tank commander fights in the Sino-Japanese War and dies in the Battle of Nanking

United Kingdom

Ten Days in Paris

Jeremy Brown

Comedy mystery.

United States

Waterloo Bridge

Mervyn LeRoy

Called-up British officer reminisces over World War I romance [4]

United States

Women in War

John H. Auer

Action-drama. Allied nurses on pre-Dunkirk Battle of France front

Considering the accompanying table and the passages listed.

Solve the question: What pact was signed one week prior to the events of the a film whose sets were designed by Gerbert Hochreiter , Alfred Metscher and Julius von Borsody ? Return your answer as JSON: {"answer": "YOUR ANSWER"}. Base your answer solely on the given information.

Arise , My Love is a 1940 American romantic comedy film directed by Mitchell Leisen and starring Claudette Colbert , Ray Milland and Dennis O'Keefe . It was made by Paramount Pictures and written by Billy Wilder , Charles Brackett and Jacques Théry . Notable for its interventionist message , it tells the love story of a pilot and a journalist who meet in the latter days of the Spanish Civil War and follows them through the early days of World War II . Colbert once said that Arise , My Love was her personal favorite film of all the ones she had made . [ Note 1 ] Arise , My Love is based on the true story of Harold Edward Dahl . During the Spanish Civil War Dahl , who was fighting as a pilot for the Spanish Republican Air Force , was shot down and taken as prisoner of war . Initially sentenced to death , there were some diplomatic movements to free Dahl . His first wife , Edith Rogers , a known singer of impressive beauty , was said to have visited Francisco Franco herself to plead for his life . He remained in prison until 1940 and then returned to the United States .
Mitchell Leisen ( October 6 , 1898 - October 28 , 1972 ) was an American director , art director , and costume designer .
The Armistice of 22 June 1940 was signed at 18:36 near Compiègne , France , by officials of Nazi Germany and the French Third Republic . It did not come into effect until after midnight on 25 June . Signatories for Germany included senior military officers like Wilhelm Keitel , the commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht ( the German armed forces ) , while those on the French side were more junior , such as General Charles Huntziger . Following the decisive German victory in the Battle of France ( 10 May - 21 June 1940 ) , this armistice established a German occupation zone in Northern and Western France that encompassed all English Channel and Atlantic Ocean ports and left the remainder free to be governed by the French . Adolf Hitler deliberately chose Compiègne Forest as the site to sign the armistice due to its symbolic role as the site of the 1918 Armistice with Germany that signaled the end of World War I with Germany 's surrender .
Arthur Maria Rabenalt ( 25 June 1905 - 26 February 1993 ) was an Austrian film director . He directed more than 90 films between 1934 and 1978 . His 1958 film That Wo n't Keep a Sailor Down was entered into the 1st Moscow International Film Festival . Two years later , his 1960 film Big Request Concert was entered into the 2nd Moscow International Film Festival .
The Big Blockade is a 1942 British black-and-white war propaganda film in the style of dramatised documentary . It is directed by Charles Frend and stars Will Hay , Leslie Banks , Michael Redgrave and John Mills . It was produced by Michael Balcon for Ealing Studios , in collaboration with the Ministry of Economic Warfare . At one stage , the film was known as Siege .
Charles Frend ( 21 November 1909 , Pulborough , Sussex - 8 January 1977 , London ) was an English film director and editor , best known for his films produced at Ealing Studios . He began directing in the early 1940s and is known for such films as Scott of the Antarctic ( 1948 ) and The Cruel Sea ( 1953 ) .
The Blockade of Germany ( 1939-1945 ) , also known as the Economic War , was carried out during World War II by the United Kingdom and France in order to restrict the supplies of minerals , metals , food and textiles needed by Nazi Germany - and later Fascist Italy - in order to sustain their war efforts . The economic war consisted mainly of a naval blockade , which formed part of the wider Battle of the Atlantic , and included the preclusive buying of war materials from neutral countries to prevent their sale to the enemy . There were four distinct phases of the blockade . The first period was from the beginning of European hostilities in September 1939 to the end of the Phoney War , during which the Allies and Axis Powers both intercepted neutral merchant ships to seize deliveries en route to the enemy . The blockade was rendered less effective because the Axis could get crucial materials from the Soviet Union until June 1941 , while harbours in Spain were used to import war materials for Germany . The second period began after the rapid Axis occupation of the majority of the European landmass which gave them control of major centres of industry and agriculture . The third period was from the end of 1941 after the beginning of hostilities between the United States and the Empire of Japan . The final period came after the tide of war finally turned against the Axis after heavy military defeats up to and after D-Day , which led to a gradual withdrawal from the occupied territories in the face of the overwhelming Allied military offensive .
Yutaka Abe ( 阿部 豊 , Abe Yutaka , February 2 , 1895 in Yamoto , Miyagi - January 3 , 1977 in Kyoto ) was a Japanese film director and actor . He went to America along with a younger brother to visit an uncle living in Los Angeles . There he enrolled in an acting school and upon hearing that Thomas H. Ince was looking for Japanese extras to work in his studios he applied and was accepted in 1914 . He appeared in such films as The Wrath of the Gods and The Cheat with Sessue Hayakawa . He was often billed as Jack Abbe or Jack Yutake Abbe . He returned to Japan in 1925 , finding work at the Nikkatsu studio , and soon made his debut as a director . Among his early works was the 1926 silent film The Woman Who Touched the Legs ( Ashi ni sawatta onna ) , a comedy about a writer and a woman thief . This film , along with most of Abe 's early work , is now lost . Before and during World War II , Abe directed a number of nationalistic propaganda films including Moyuru ōzora ( Flaming Sky ) and Ano hata o ute ( Fire on That Flag ) . After the war , he directed the 1950 film adaptation of Jun'ichirō Tanizaki 's The Makioka Sisters , a film which brought him commercial success . His later films include the 1959 satirical comedy Season of Affairs ( Uwaki no kisetsu ) .
The Imperial Japanese Army Air Service or Imperial Japanese Army Air Force ( IJAAS or IJAAF ) ( 大日本帝國陸軍航空部隊 , Dainippon Teikoku Rikugun Kōkūbutai ) or , more literally , the Greater Japan Empire Army Air Corps , was the aviation force of the Imperial Japanese Army ( IJA ) . Just as the IJA in general was modeled mainly on the German Army , the IJAAS initially developed along similar lines to the Imperial German Army Aviation ; its primary mission was to provide tactical close air support for ground forces , as well as a limited air interdiction capability . The IJAAS also provided aerial reconnaissance to other branches of the IJA . While the IJAAS engaged in strategic bombing of cities such as Shanghai , Nanking , Canton , Chongqing , Rangoon , and Mandalay , this was not the primary mission of the IJAAS , and it lacked a heavy bomber force . It did not usually control artillery spotter/observer aircraft ; artillery battalions controlled the light aircraft and balloons that operated in these roles . The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service was responsible for long-range bomber and attack aircraft , as well as strategic air defense . It was not until the later stages of the Pacific War that the two air arms attempted to integrate the air defense of the home islands .
The Cavalier from Kruja ( Italian : Il cavaliere di Kruja ) is a 1940 Italian war film directed by Carlo Campogalliani and starring Doris Duranti , Antonio Centa and Leda Gloria . The film portrays the 1939 Italian invasion of Albania . It was made as a propaganda work in support of the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini .
Carlo Campogalliani ( 10 October 1885 - 10 August 1974 ) was an Italian screenwriter , actor and film director . Campogalliani directed around eighty films during his career and acted in another fifty . He directed the 1934 sports film Stadio . He was married to the actress Letizia Quaranta who appeared in several of his films .
Zog I , King of the Albanians ( Albanian : Naltmadhnija e tij Zogu I , Mbreti i Shqiptarëve , IPA : [ ˈzɔɡu ] ; 8 October 1895 - 9 April 1961 ) , born Ahmet Muhtar Zogolli , taking the surname Zogu in 1922 , was the leader of Albania from 1922 to 1939 . He first served as Prime Minister of Albania ( 1922-1924 ) , then as President ( 1925-1928 ) , and finally as the first and only King ( 1928-1939 ) .
The Italian invasion of Albania ( April 7-12 , 1939 ) was a brief military campaign by the Kingdom of Italy against the Kingdom of Albania . The conflict was a result of the imperialist policies of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini . Albania was rapidly overrun , its ruler , King Zog I , forced into exile , and the country made part of the Italian Empire as a protectorate in personal union with the Italian crown .
Comrade X is a 1940 American comedy spy film directed by King Vidor and starring Clark Gable , Hedy Lamarr , and Oskar Homolka .
King Wallis Vidor ( /ˈviːdɔːr/ ; February 8 , 1894 - November 1 , 1982 ) was an American film director , film producer , and screenwriter whose career spanned nearly seven decades . In 1979 , he was awarded an Honorary Academy Award for his incomparable achievements as a cinematic creator and innovator . He was nominated five times for a Best Director Oscar , and won eight international film awards during his career . Vidor 's best known films include The Big Parade ( 1925 ) , The Crowd ( 1928 ) , Stella Dallas ( 1937 ) , and Duel in the Sun ( 1946 ) . Contrary to common belief , he is not related to fellow director Charles Vidor .
Convoy is a 1940 British war film , produced by Ealing Studios , directed by Pen Tennyson and starring Clive Brook , John Clements and Edward Chapman . Convoy was Tennyson 's last film before he was killed in an aircraft crash , while serving in the Royal Navy .
Frederick Penrose Pen Tennyson ( 26 August 1912 - 7 July 1941 ) was a British film director whose promising career was cut short when he died in a plane crash . Tennyson gained experience as an assistant director to Alfred Hitchcock in several of his British films during the 1930s . Tennyson directed three films between 1939 and his death in 1941 .
The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous military campaign in World War II , running from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 , and was a major part of the Naval history of World War II . At its core was the Allied naval blockade of Germany , announced the day after the declaration of war , and Germany 's subsequent counter-blockade . It was at its height from mid-1940 through to the end of 1943 . The Battle of the Atlantic pitted U-boats and other warships of the Kriegsmarine ( Navy ) and aircraft of the Luftwaffe ( Air Force ) against the Royal Canadian Navy , Royal Navy , United States Navy , and Allied merchant shipping . Convoys , coming mainly from North America and predominantly going to the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union , were protected for the most part by the British and Canadian navies and air forces . These forces were aided by ships and aircraft of the United States beginning September 13 , 1941 . The Germans were joined by submarines of the Italian Regia Marina ( Royal Navy ) after their Axis ally Italy entered the war on June 10 , 1940 . As an island nation , the United Kingdom was highly dependent on imported goods . Britain required more than a million tons of imported material per week in order to be able to survive and fight . In essence , the Battle of the Atlantic was a tonnage war : the Allied struggle to supply Britain and the Axis attempt to stem the flow of merchant shipping that enabled Britain to keep fighting . From 1942 onward , the Axis also sought to prevent the build-up of Allied supplies and equipment in the British Isles in preparation for the invasion of occupied Europe . The defeat of the U-boat threat was a prerequisite for pushing back the Axis .
Enemies ( German : Feinde ) is a 1940 German drama film directed by Viktor Tourjansky and starring Brigitte Horney , Willy Birgel and Reinhold Lütjohann . The film was a Nazi propaganda work , attacking Poland which Germany had invaded the year before . The film 's sets were designed by Gerbert Hochreiter , Alfred Metscher and Julius von Borsody .
Victor Tourjansky ( born Viatcheslav Tourjansky ; 4 March 1891 , Kiev - 13 August 1976 , ( Munich ) ( Russian : Вячеслав Туржанский ; Ukrainian : В'ячеслав Туржанський ) ) was a Russian actor , screenwriter and film director who emigrated after the Russian Revolution of 1917 . He worked in France , Germany , Italy and the USA .
The invasion of Poland ( September campaign , Polish : Kampania wrześniowa , 1939 defensive war , Polish : Wojna obronna 1939 roku , Poland campaign , German : Polenfeldzug ) , marked the beginning of World War II . The German invasion began on 1 September 1939 , one week after the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union , and one day after the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union had approved the pact . The Soviets invaded Poland on 17 September . The campaign ended on 6 October with Germany and the Soviet Union dividing and annexing the whole of Poland under the terms of the German-Soviet Frontier Treaty . German forces invaded Poland from the north , south , and west the morning after the Gleiwitz incident . Slovak military forces advanced alongside the Germans in northern Slovakia . As the Wehrmacht advanced , Polish forces withdrew from their forward bases of operation close to the Germany-Poland border to more established defense lines to the east . After the mid-September Polish defeat in the Battle of the Bzura , the Germans gained an undisputed advantage . Polish forces then withdrew to the southeast where they prepared for a long defence of the Romanian Bridgehead and awaited expected support and relief from France and the United Kingdom . Those two countries had pacts with Poland and had declared war on Germany on 3 September ; in the end their aid to Poland was very limited , however France invaded a small part of Germany in the Saar Offensive . On 17 September , the Soviet Red Army invaded Eastern Poland , the territory beyond the Curzon Line that fell into the Soviet sphere of influence according to the secret protocol of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact ; this rendered the Polish plan of defence obsolete . Facing a second front , the Polish government concluded the defence of the Romanian Bridgehead was no longer feasible and ordered an emergency evacuation of all troops to neutral Romania .
Germans ( German : Deutsche ) are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe , who share a common German ancestry , culture and history . German is the shared mother tongue of a substantial majority of ethnic Germans . The English term Germans has historically referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages . [ note 3 ] Ever since the outbreak of the Protestant Reformation within the Holy Roman Empire , German society has been characterized by a Catholic-Protestant divide . Of approximately 100 million native speakers of German in the world , roughly 80 million consider themselves Germans . [ citation needed ] There are an additional 80 million people of German ancestry mainly in the United States , Brazil ( mainly in the South Region of the country ) , Argentina , Canada , South Africa , the post-Soviet states ( mainly in Russia and Kazakhstan ) , and France , each accounting for at least 1 million . [ note 4 ] Thus , the total number of Germans lies somewhere between 100 and more than 150 million , depending on the criteria applied ( native speakers , single-ancestry ethnic Germans , partial German ancestry , etc. ) . Today , people from countries with German-speaking majorities which were earlier part of the Holy Roman Empire , ( such as Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein and other historically-tied countries like Luxembourg ) , most often subscribe to their own national identities and may or may not also self-identify as ethnically German .
Foreign Correspondent ( a.k.a . Imposter and Personal History ) is a 1940 American spy thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock . It tells the story of an American reporter who tries to expose enemy spies in Britain who are involved in a fictional continent-wide conspiracy in the prelude to World War II . It stars Joel McCrea and features 19-year old Laraine Day , Herbert Marshall , George Sanders , Albert Bassermann , and Robert Benchley , along with Edmund Gwenn . Foreign Correspondent was Hitchcock 's second Hollywood production after leaving the United Kingdom in 1939 ( the first was Rebecca ) and had an unusually large number of writers : Robert Benchley , Charles Bennett , Harold Clurman , Joan Harrison , Ben Hecht , James Hilton , John Howard Lawson , John Lee Mahin , Richard Maibaum , and Budd Schulberg , with Bennett , Benchley , Harrison , and Hilton the only writers credited in the finished film . It was based on Vincent Sheean 's political memoir Personal History
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock , KBE ( 13 August 1899 - 29 April 1980 ) was an English film director and producer . He is one of the most influential and extensively studied filmmakers in the history of cinema . Known as the Master of Suspense , he directed over 50 feature films [ a ] in a career spanning six decades , becoming as well known as any of his actors thanks to his many interviews , his cameo roles in most of his films , and his hosting and producing of the television anthology Alfred Hitchcock Presents ( 1955-1965 ) . His films garnered a total of 46 Oscar nominations and six wins . Born in Leytonstone , Essex , Hitchcock entered the film industry in 1919 as a title card designer after training as a technical clerk and copy writer for a telegraph-cable company . He made his directorial debut with the silent film The Pleasure Garden ( 1925 ) . His first successful film , The Lodger : A Story of the London Fog ( 1927 ) , helped to shape the thriller genre , while his 1929 film , Blackmail , was the first British talkie . Two of his 1930s thrillers , The 39 Steps ( 1935 ) and The Lady Vanishes ( 1938 ) , are ranked among the greatest British films of the 20th century . By 1939 Hitchcock was a filmmaker of international importance , and film producer David O. Selznick persuaded him to move to Hollywood . A string of successful films followed , including Rebecca ( 1940 ) , Foreign Correspondent ( 1940 ) , Suspicion ( 1941 ) , Shadow of a Doubt ( 1943 ) , and Notorious ( 1946 ) . Rebecca won the Academy Award for Best Picture , although Hitchcock himself was only nominated as Best Director ; he was also nominated for Lifeboat ( 1944 ) and Spellbound ( 1945 ) , although he never won the Best Director Academy Award . The Hitchcockian style includes the use of camera movement to mimic a person 's gaze , thereby turning viewers into voyeurs , and framing shots to maximise anxiety and fear .
The Great Dictator is a 1940 American political satire comedy-drama film written , directed , produced , scored by , and starring British comedian Charlie Chaplin , following the tradition of many of his other films . Having been the only Hollywood filmmaker to continue to make silent films well into the period of sound films , Chaplin made this his first true sound film . Chaplin 's film advanced a stirring condemnation of Adolf Hitler , Benito Mussolini , fascism , antisemitism , and the Nazis . At the time of its first release , the United States was still formally at peace with Nazi Germany . Chaplin plays both leading roles : a ruthless fascist dictator and a persecuted Jewish barber . The Great Dictator was popular with audiences , becoming Chaplin 's most commercially successful film . Modern critics have also praised it as an historically significant film and an important work of satire , and in 1997 , it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being culturally , historically , or aesthetically significant . The Great Dictator was nominated for five Academy Awards - Outstanding Production , Best Actor , Best Writing ( Original Screenplay ) , Best Supporting Actor for Jack Oakie , and Best Music ( Original Score ) . In his 1964 autobiography , Chaplin stated that he could not have made the film if he had known about the true extent of the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps at the time .
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin KBE ( 16 April 1889 - 25 December 1977 ) was an English comic actor , filmmaker , and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film . He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona , The Tramp , and is considered one of the most important figures in the history of the film industry . His career spanned more than 75 years , from childhood in the Victorian era until a year before his death in 1977 , and encompassed both adulation and controversy . Chaplin 's childhood in London was one of poverty and hardship , as his father was absent and his mother struggled financially , and he was sent to a workhouse twice before the age of nine . When he was 14 , his mother was committed to a mental asylum . Chaplin began performing at an early age , touring music halls and later working as a stage actor and comedian . At 19 , he was signed to the prestigious Fred Karno company , which took him to America . He was scouted for the film industry and began appearing in 1914 for Keystone Studios . He soon developed the Tramp persona and formed a large fan base . He directed his own films and continued to hone his craft as he moved to the Essanay , Mutual , and First National corporations . By 1918 , he was one of the best-known figures in the world . In 1919 , Chaplin co-founded the distribution company United Artists , which gave him complete control over his films .
Adolf Hitler ( German : [ ˈadɔlf ˈhɪtlɐ ] ( listen ) ; 20 April 1889 - 30 April 1945 ) was a German politician and leader of the Nazi Party ( Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei ; NSDAP ) . He rose to power as the chancellor of Germany in 1933 , and as Führer in 1934 . [ a ] During his dictatorship from 1933 to 1945 , he initiated World War II in Europe by invading Poland on 1 September 1939 . He was closely involved in military operations throughout the war and was central to the perpetration of the Holocaust . Hitler 's actions and ideology are almost universally regarded as evil . Hitler was born in Austria - then part of Austria-Hungary - and was raised near Linz . He moved to Germany in 1913 and was decorated during his service in the German Army in World War I . In 1919 , he joined the German Workers ' Party ( DAP ) , the precursor of the NSDAP , and was appointed leader of the NSDAP in 1921 . In 1923 , he attempted to seize power in a failed coup in Munich and was imprisoned . In jail , he dictated the first volume of his autobiography and political manifesto Mein Kampf ( My Struggle ) . After his release in 1924 , Hitler gained popular support by attacking the Treaty of Versailles and promoting Pan-Germanism , anti-semitism and anti-communism with charismatic oratory and Nazi propaganda . He frequently denounced international capitalism and communism as part of a Jewish conspiracy .
The Long Voyage Home is a 1940 American drama film directed by John Ford . It stars John Wayne , Thomas Mitchell and Ian Hunter . It also features Barry Fitzgerald , Wilfrid Lawson , John Qualen , Mildred Natwick , and Ward Bond , among others . The film was adapted by Dudley Nichols from the plays The Moon of the Caribbees , In the Zone , Bound East for Cardiff , and The Long Voyage Home by Eugene O'Neill . The original plays by Eugene O'Neill were written around the time of World War I and were among his earliest plays . Ford set the story for the motion picture , however , during the early days of World War II . While not one of Ford 's best-known works , The Long Voyage Home continues to be well received . Film critics and scholars have noted Gregg Toland 's distinctive cinematography , which serves as a precursor of the film noir aesthetic and would hint at his work for Orson Welles ' landmark film Citizen Kane ( 1941 ) .
John Ford ( February 1 , 1894 - August 31 , 1973 ) was an American film director . He is renowned both for Westerns such as Stagecoach ( 1939 ) , The Searchers ( 1956 ) , and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance ( 1962 ) , as well as adaptations of classic 20th-century American novels such as the film The Grapes of Wrath ( 1940 ) . His four Academy Awards for Best Director ( in 1935 , 1940 , 1941 , and 1952 ) remain a record . One of the films for which he won the award , How Green Was My Valley , also won Best Picture . In a career that spanned more than 50 years , Ford directed more than 140 films ( although most of his silent films are now lost ) and he is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation . Ford 's work was held in high regard by his colleagues , with Orson Welles and Ingmar Bergman among those who have named him one of the greatest directors of all time . Ford made frequent use of location shooting and long shots , in which his characters were framed against a vast , harsh , and rugged natural terrain .
The Man I Married ( alternative title I Married a Nazi ) is an American 1940 drama film starring Joan Bennett and Francis Lederer .
Irving Pichel ( June 24 , 1891 - July 13 , 1954 ) was an American actor and film director , who won acclaim both as an actor and director in his Hollywood career .
Night Train to Munich is a 1940 British thriller film directed by Carol Reed and starring Margaret Lockwood and Rex Harrison . Written by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder , based on the novel Report on a Fugitive by Gordon Wellesley , the film is about an inventor and his daughter who are kidnapped by the Gestapo after the Nazis march into Prague in the prelude to the Second World War . A British secret service agent follows them , disguised as a senior German army officer pretending to woo the daughter over to the Nazi cause .
Sir Carol Reed ( 30 December 1906 - 25 April 1976 ) was an English film director best known for Odd Man Out ( 1947 ) , The Fallen Idol ( 1948 ) , The Third Man ( 1949 ) , and Oliver ! ( 1968 ) . For Oliver ! , he received the Academy Award for Best Director . Odd Man Out was the first recipient of the BAFTA Award for Best British Film ; filmmaker Roman Polanski has repeatedly cited it as his favourite film . The Fallen Idol won the second BAFTA Award for Best British Film . The British Film Institute voted The Third Man the greatest British film of the 20th century .
The Phantom Submarine is a 1940 American adventure film directed by Charles Barton and written by Joseph Krumgold . The film stars Anita Louise , Bruce Bennett , Oscar O'Shea , John Tyrrell , Pedro de Cordoba and Victor Wong . The film was released on December 20 , 1940 , by Columbia Pictures .
Charles Barton ( May 25 , 1902 - December 5 , 1981 ) was a film and vaudeville actor and film director . He won an Oscar for best assistant director in 1933 . His first film as a director was the Zane Grey feature Wagon Wheels , starring Randolph Scott , in 1934 . Barton worked in various Hollywood B-movie units . From 1946 on , he was a principal director of the Abbott and Costello comedies , such as The Time of Their Lives , Buck Privates Come Home , Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein , and Africa Screams . He later directed Walt Disney films such as The Shaggy Dog and Toby Tyler . His extensive career directing on television included every episode of Amos ' n ' Andy in the 1950s , a total of 90 episodes of Dennis the Menace in the 1960s , and 106 episodes of Family Affair from 1967 to 1971 . One obituary said he directed 580 television episodes , 70 feature films and dozens of commercials .
A frogman is someone who is trained in scuba diving or swimming underwater in a tactical capacity that includes police or military work . Such personnel are also known by the more formal names of combat diver , combatant diver , or combat swimmer . The word frogman first arose in the stage name The Fearless Frogman of Paul Boyton in the 1870s [ citation needed ] and later was claimed by John Spence , an enlisted member of the U.S. Navy and member of the OSS Maritime Unit , to have been applied to him while he was training in a green waterproof suit . The term frogman is occasionally used to refer to a civilian scuba diver . Some sport diving clubs include the word Frogmen in their names . [ citation needed ] The preferred term by scuba users is diver , [ citation needed ] but the frogman epithet persists in informal usage by non-divers , especially in the media and often referring to professional scuba divers , such as in a police diving role . [ citation needed ] In the U.S. military and intelligence community , divers trained in scuba or CCUBA who deploy for tactical assault missions are called combat divers . [ citation needed ] This term is used to refer to US Army Special Forces ( aka Green Berets ) Combat Divers , Navy SEALs/Naval Special Warfare , operatives of the CIA 's Special Activities Center , elements of Marine Recon , Special Amphibious Reconnaissance Corpsmen , Army Ranger Regimental Reconnaissance Company members , Air Force Pararescue , Air Force Combat Controllers , United States Air Force Special Operations Weather Technicians , and the Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal ( EOD ) units . In Britain , police divers have often been called police frogmen . [ citation needed ] Some countries ' tactical diver organizations include a translation of the word frogman in their official names , e.g. , Denmark 's Frømandskorpset ; others call themselves combat divers or similar . Others call themselves by indefinite names such as special group 13 and special operations unit . [ citation needed ] Many nations and some irregular armed groups deploy or have deployed combat frogmen .
U-boat is an anglicised version of the German word U-Boot [ ˈuːboːt ] ( listen ) , a shortening of Unterseeboot , literally undersea boat . While the German term refers to any submarine , the English one ( in common with several other languages ) refers specifically to military submarines operated by Germany , particularly in the First and Second World Wars . Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships , they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ( commerce raiding ) and enforcing a naval blockade against enemy shipping . The primary targets of the U-boat campaigns in both wars were the merchant convoys bringing supplies from Canada and other parts of the British Empire , and from the United States to the United Kingdom and ( during the Second World War ) to the Soviet Union and the Allied territories in the Mediterranean . German submarines also destroyed Brazilian merchant ships during World War II , causing Brazil to declare war on both Germany and Italy on 22 August 1942 . Austro-Hungarian Navy submarines were also known as U-boats .
Eduard von Borsody ( German : [ ˈboʁʒodi ] ; 13 June 1898 - 1 January 1970 ) was an Austrian cameraman , film editor , film director and screenplay writer .
The Luftwaffe [ N 2 ] ( German pronunciation : [ ˈlʊftvafə ] ( listen ) ) was the aerial warfare branch of the Wehrmacht during World War II . Germany 's military air arms during World War I , the Luftstreitkräfte of the Imperial Army and the Marine-Fliegerabteilung of theImperial Navy had been disbanded in May 1920 as a result of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles which stated that Germany was forbidden to have any air force . During the interwar period , German pilots were trained secretly in violation of the treaty at Lipetsk Air Base in Soviet Union . With the rise of the Nazi Party and the repudiation of the Versailles Treaty , the Luftwaffe 's existence was publicly acknowledged on 26 February 1935 , just over two weeks before open defiance of the Versailles Treaty through German re-armament and conscription would be announced on 16 March . The Condor Legion , a Luftwaffe detachment sent to aid Nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War , provided the force with a valuable testing ground for new tactics and aircraft . Partially as a result of this combat experience , the Luftwaffe had become one of the most sophisticated , technologically advanced , and battle-experienced air forces in the world when World War II broke out in 1939 . By the summer of 1939 , the Luftwaffe had twenty-eight Geschwader ( wings ) . The Luftwaffe also operated Fallschirmjäger paratrooper units . The Luftwaffe proved instrumental in the German victories across Poland and Western Europe in 1939 and 1940 . During the Battle of Britain , however , despite inflicting severe damage to the RAF 's infrastructure and , during the subsequent Blitz , devastating many British cities , the German air force failed to batter the beleaguered British into submission . From 1942 , Allied bombing campaigns gradually destroyed the Luftwaffe 's fighter arm . From late 1942 , the Luftwaffe used its surplus ground support and other personnel to raise Luftwaffe Field Divisions .
Ski Patrol is a 1940 American war film directed by Lew Landers , produced by Ben Pivar and Warren Douglas and released by Universal Pictures . Two rival skiers competing in the 1936 Olympics , one Russian and one Finn , are pitted against each other just a few years later , as the Russians attack the Finnish border in the Winter War , and the Finnish heroes defend a snow-laden mountain pass . The plot takes great historical liberties in its storyline . [ citation needed ] E.g . all Finnish uniforms and insignias are wrong .
Lew Landers ( born Louis Friedlander , January 2 , 1901 - December 16 , 1962 ) was an American independent film and television director .
The Winter War [ F 7 ] was a war between the Soviet Union ( USSR ) and Finland . It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939 , three months after the outbreak of World War II , and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peace Treaty on 13 March 1940 . The League of Nations deemed the attack illegal and expelled the Soviet Union from the organisation . The Soviets made several demands , including that Finland cede substantial border territories in exchange for land elsewhere , claiming security reasons - primarily the protection of Leningrad , 32 km ( 20 mi ) from the Finnish border . When Finland refused , the USSR invaded . Many sources conclude that the Soviet Union had intended to conquer all of Finland , and use the establishment of the puppet Finnish Communist government and the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact 's secret protocols as evidence of this , [ F 8 ] while other sources argue against the idea of the full Soviet conquest . [ F 9 ] Finland repelled Soviet attacks for more than two months and inflicted substantial losses on the invaders while temperatures ranged as low as −43 °C ( −45 °F ) . After the Soviet military reorganised and adopted different tactics , they renewed their offensive in February and overcame Finnish defences . Hostilities ceased in March 1940 with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty . Finland ceded 11 percent of its territory , representing 30 percent of its economy , to the Soviet Union . Soviet losses were heavy , and the country 's international reputation suffered . Soviet gains exceeded their pre-war demands and the USSR received substantial territory along Lake Ladoga and in northern Finland .
The Legend of Tank Commander Nishizumi ( 西住戦車長伝 , Nishizumi Senshachō Den ) , more known under the title The Story of Tank Commander Nishizumi , is a 1940 Japanese humanist war film directed by Kōzaburō Yoshimura .
Kōzaburō Yoshimura ( 吉村 公三郎 , Yoshimura Kōzaburō , 9 September 1911 - 7 November 2000 ) was a Japanese film director . Born in Shiga Prefecture , he joined the Shōchiku studio in 1929 . He debuted as director in 1934 , but continued working as an assistant director for such filmmakers as Yasujirō Ozu and Yasujirō Shimazu after that . It was the 1939 film Danryū that established his status as a director . During the Sino-Japanese war he directed a number of military dramas such as The Legend of Tank Commander Nishizumi ( 1940 ) , based on a true story , for which he toured the actual battlefields in China . His 1947 work , A Ball at the Anjo House , starring Setsuko Hara , was named the best picture of the year by Kinema Junpo . That film marked the start of a long relationship with the screenwriter and film director Kaneto Shindō . In 1950 , the two of them started the independent production company Kindai Eiga Kyokai . Yoshimura is credited with furthering the careers of such actresses as Fujiko Yamamoto , Machiko Kyō and Ayako Wakao . He directed over 60 films during his career , and received a Medal of Honor ( Purple Ribbon ) from the Japanese government in 1976 .
This article deals with the history and development of tanks of the Japanese Army from their first use after World War I , into the interwar period , during World War II , the Cold War and modern era .
The Battle of Nanking ( or Nanjing ) was fought in early December 1937 during the Second Sino-Japanese War between the Chinese National Revolutionary Army and the Imperial Japanese Army for control of Nanking ( Nanjing ) , the capital of the Republic of China . Following the outbreak of war between Japan and China in July 1937 , the Japanese government at first attempted to contain the fighting and sought a negotiated settlement to the war . However , after victory in the Battle of Shanghai expansionists prevailed within the Japanese military and on December 1 a campaign to capture Nanking was officially authorized . The task of occupying Nanking was given to General Iwane Matsui , the commander of Japan 's Central China Area Army , who believed that the capture of Nanking would force China to surrender and thus end the war . Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek ultimately decided to defend the city and appointed Tang Shengzhi to command the Nanking Garrison Force , a hastily assembled army of local conscripts and the remnants of the Chinese units who had fought in Shanghai . Japanese soldiers marched from Shanghai to Nanking at a breakneck pace , rapidly defeating pockets of Chinese resistance . By December 9 they had reached the last line of defense , the Fukuo Line , behind which lay Nanking 's fortified walls . On December 10 Matsui ordered an all-out attack on Nanking , and after less than two days of intense fighting Chiang decided to abandon the city . Before fleeing , Tang ordered his men to launch a concerted breakout of the Japanese siege , but by this time Nanking was largely surrounded and its defenses were at the breaking point . Most of Tang 's units simply collapsed , their soldiers often casting off their weapons and uniforms in the streets in the hopes of hiding among the city 's civilian population . Following the capture of the city Japanese soldiers massacred Chinese prisoners of war , murdered civilians , and committed acts of looting and rape in an event known as the Nanking Massacre . Though Japan 's military victory excited and emboldened them , the subsequent massacre tarnished their reputation in the eyes of the world .
Ten Days in Paris , also known as Missing Ten Days and Spy in the Pantry , is a 1940 British spy film directed by Tim Whelan and starring Rex Harrison , Kaaren Verne and C.V. France . The screenplay concerns a man in Paris who turns out to be a doppelganger of a spy operating in the French capital .
Jeremy Van Brown ( born October 25 , 1979 ) is an American former professional baseball catcher with the Oakland Athletics . He is also known for his place in Michael Lewis ' 2003 # 1 bestseller Moneyball .
Waterloo Bridge is a 1940 remake of the 1931 American drama film also called Waterloo Bridge , adapted from the 1930 play Waterloo Bridge . In an extended flashback narration , it recounts the story of a dancer and an army captain who meet by chance on Waterloo Bridge . The film was made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , directed by Mervyn LeRoy and produced by Sidney Franklin and Mervyn LeRoy . The screenplay is by S. N. Behrman , Hans Rameau and George Froeschel , based on the Broadway drama by Robert E. Sherwood . The music is by Herbert Stothart and cinematography by Joseph Ruttenberg . Gaby is a 1956 drama film with Leslie Caron and John Kerr . It is the third version of the play Waterloo Bridge , previously made into films in 1931 and 1940 . It is the only version of the play made in color . Waterloo Bridge stars Robert Taylor and Vivien Leigh . The film was a success at the box office and nominated for two Academy Awards - Best Music for Herbert Stothart and Best Cinematography . It was also considered a personal favorite by both Vivien Leigh and Robert Taylor .
Mervyn LeRoy /ləˈrɔɪ/ ( October 15 , 1900 - September 13 , 1987 ) was an American film director , film producer , author , and occasional actor .
Women in War is a 1940 American war film about the nurses of the British Voluntary Aid Detachment during the Battle of France . Directed by John H. Auer and starring Wendy Barrie , Elsie Janis and Patric Knowles , it was nominated for an Oscar for Best Visual Effects ( Howard Lydecker , William Bradford , Ellis J. Thackery , Herbert Norsch ) .
John H. Auer ( August 3 , 1906 in Budapest , Hungary - March 15 , 1975 in North Hollywood , Los Angeles ) was a Hungarian-born child actor who , on coming to the Americas in 1928 , became a movie director and producer , initially in Mexico but , from the early 1930s , in Hollywood .
The Battle of France , also known as the Fall of France , was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries during the Second World War . On 3 September 1939 France had declared war on Germany , following the invasion of its ally Poland . In early September 1939 , France launched the Saar Offensive , which stalled . By mid October , French troops had been withdrawn to their original start positions . In six weeks from 10 May 1940 , German forces defeated Allied forces by mobile operations and conquered France , Belgium , Luxembourg and the Netherlands , bringing land operations on the Western Front to an end until the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944 . Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940 and invaded France over the Alps . In Fall Gelb ( Case Yellow ) , German armoured units made a surprise push through the Ardennes , and then along the Somme valley , cutting off and surrounding the Allied units that had advanced into Belgium to meet the expected German invasion . When British , Belgian and French forces were pushed back to the sea by the mobile and well-organised German operation , the British evacuated the British Expeditionary Force ( BEF ) and French divisions from Dunkirk in Operation Dynamo . German forces began Fall Rot ( Case Red ) on 5 June . The sixty remaining French divisions and two British divisions made a determined resistance but were unable to overcome the German air superiority and armoured mobility . German tanks outflanked the Maginot Line and pushed deep into France , occupying Paris unopposed on 14 June . After the flight of the French government and the collapse of the French army , German commanders met with French officials on 18 June to negotiate an end to hostilities .