WWI and march to WWII movies

A wonderful film (Hawks nailed it again). For once Gary Cooper is perfect as a big-yet-slightly-slow-on-the edge peasant from a desperately poor part of the US who becomes a war hero. I particularly like the first part in the countryside which looks much more 1850s than 1917 giving it a somewhat timeless touch.

Wonderful French war movie. One of the greatest. Tough, stripped of that humane touch that modern war movie try to develop. Yet, you'll never be quite as disgusted by war as during the mine episode when a platoon has to hold a position for hours knowing full-well that the enemy has put tons of explosives underneath and is about to blow it up. Brilliant, just hope we'd be able to make such wonderful movies nowadays.

Excellent movie, dark, realistic and unique. In a way it is quite refreshing to see the other side of the gangster movies. Instead of the countryman arriving in the big city and becoming an outlaw, the outlaw goes back to the countryside. It is also intensely moving as all the evils of this world fall on the family. Save for the last lines of Henry Fonda that came straight from Steinsbeck's Stalinist brain, the film is also precious in its way of being American. The American dream may not become reality for everybody all the time, but one just got to keep trying. It is also very interesting to see it in the middle of the subprime crisis? nothing new under the sun.

My favorite Hitchcock