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PODCAST

War Movie Theatre | for Fans of Classic War Films and Cinema History

Robert Hutton & Duncan Weldon - War Film Fans

Love classic war movies? So do we. From Troy to World War II to Vietnam to Aliens, we analyse which war films work and what they say about us.Banned from watching old war movies by their families, writers Robert Hutton and Duncan Weldon meet in their secret basement to discuss why the navy don"t simply sail round the other side of Navarone, and why everyone is too old in Saving Private Ryan. Each week, a different film, sometimes brought along by a guest. From Powell and Pressburger"s Colonel Blimp

tv & film film reviews

All Episodes

1:08:56

The Cockleshell Heroes

War Movie Theatre | for Fans of Classic War Films and... ·

2026/01/15

Kayaks! Commandos! Courage! José Ferrer and Trevor Howard pull out their paddles as they set off to blow up blockade-running boats, in this loosely-based-on-a-true-story tale of wartime derring-do. It's also a story of a culture clash between two quite different men, and of someone branded a coward seeking redemption.On top of that, it's the film that links much post-war British cinema, from James Bond to The Go Between. Find out what Daniel Craig owes to a 1950s tax break.Next week: Dad's Army. The

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1:22:19

Under Siege - with Joe Twyman

War Movie Theatre | for Fans of Classic War Films and... ·

2026/01/08

"I'm just a lowly cook." To mark Arrow Video's release of Under Siege in 4K UHD, we're watching the indisputable high point of Steven Seagal's career for the first time since we were teenagers. Will the bit we remember still be in there? Is his acting still terrible? Has there ever been stronger competition for the Dam Buster's Dog Prize For Most Problematic Moment? Joining us is Joe Twyman of DeltaPoll, to explain why you really have to be a 14-year-old boy in 1993 to appreciate this film.Next

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1:17:06

A Few Good Men - with Hadley Freeman

War Movie Theatre | for Fans of Classic War Films and... ·

2026/01/01

You want answers? You think you're entitled? You can't handle the truth! This week we're marking the death of Rob Reiner by watching the closest thing he made to a war movie: A Few Good Men. Was Tom Cruise ever snappier? Was Jack Nicholson ever shoutier? How many of those medals did any of the characters deserve? Joining Rob is Hadley Freeman, Sunday Times journalist, author, and interviewers of everyone who made a film in the 80s.Next week, we're enlisting the aid of a Playboy model to retake our

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1:16:14

Bedknobs and Broomsticks - with James Kettle

War Movie Theatre | for Fans of Classic War Films and... ·

2025/12/25

What could be more Christmassy, or more war-y, than Angela Lansbury punching Nazis? This week, we're off down Portobello Road and away under the briny sea as we watch the Disney classic war movie-witchcraft crossover Bedknobs and Broomsticks. We're joined by comedy writer James Kettle, whose hits include The Life I Lead, a play about Bedknobs actor James Tomlinson.Next week, in memory of Rob Reiner, we're watching A Few Good Men.Help us out by doing our listener survey:

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1:12:34

The Boys From Brazil - with Jack Blackburn

War Movie Theatre | for Fans of Classic War Films and... ·

2025/12/18

Laurence Olivier! Gregory Peck! Baby Hitler! Excited by the news that scientists have finally - finally! - managed to sequence the Fuhrer's DNA, Rob and Duncan are joined by Times history correspondent Jack Blackburn, a young man with a disturbing resemblance to... no, that can't be right. They're watching The Boys From Brazil, the Nazi buffet-crashing, father-murdering Nazi-cloning thriller comedy classic. With a smorgasbord of Nasty Nazis and tremendous deaths, the awards section is wide open in

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1:15:10

Malta Story - with Matthew Doyle

War Movie Theatre | for Fans of Classic War Films and... ·

2025/12/11

This week, Rob and Duncan are stranded in the Mediterranean, holding out against constant bombing, and starving under siege conditions, watching Malta Story. They're joined by former Downing Street Director of Communications Matthew Doyle, who since we recorded has joined the House of Lords - the second peer to come on the show. Jack Hawkins is as good as ever, but how is Alec Guinness as a romantic reconnaissance pilot? Is it fair to the people of Malta for the film to spend quite so much time

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51:27

The Desert Rats

War Movie Theatre | for Fans of Classic War Films and... ·

2025/12/04

For the second week running, we're with Australian troops, this time in the 1941 defence of Tobruk. Desert Rats took its name from a different unit, and quite a few liberties with the history, but it also delivered a some terrific scenes of commandos sneaking through the enemy lines on do-or-die missions, and caught Richard Burton as he was on the brink of stardom. And then of course there's James Mason, James Masoning. Next week: Malta Story.Help us out by doing our listener survey:

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1:05:10

Gallipoli - with Chris Kempshall

War Movie Theatre | for Fans of Classic War Films and... ·

2025/11/27

Peter Weir's 1981 Gallipoli set both him and Mel Gibson on a path to Hollywood glory, and also helped establish the popular narrative for a campaign that is crucial to Australia's national identity. Which is hardly a surprise, as it's one of the greatest films about the Great War. Even though -- or because -- it actually doesn't feature that much war. Rob and Duncan are joined by Chris Kempshall, historian of the First World War and Star Wars (though not both at once), and consultant on the

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1:04:26

Biggles: Adventures In Time - with Mark Wallace

War Movie Theatre | for Fans of Classic War Films and... ·

2025/11/20

A beloved British hero, an evil German, a super-weapon, and... a time-travelling 1980s New York executive? How did everyone get it so wrong when it came to putting WW1 flying ace Biggles on the big screen? It was supposed to be a rival to Raiders of the Lost Ark, then it was going to be the new Back to the Future. In the end it was a war crime. And that's before we get to the music. Rob and Duncan are joined by Biggles fanboy Mark Wallace to discuss what might have been, why Biggles stories are far

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54:13

All Quiet On The Western Front (1930)

War Movie Theatre | for Fans of Classic War Films and... ·

2025/11/13

Is this the war movie that explains all war movies? Rob and Duncan watch the first version of All Quiet On The Western Front, made barely a decade after the First World War ended. Somehow, it turns out to be a chance to talk about Starship Troopers again.[Apologies for a fat-finger error that led Rob to delete the first five minutes of this episode when we first uploaded it. All fixed now, we hope, and Duncan is working on a suitable punishment.]Next week, we continue Great War Month with

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55:25

1917 Live at the Imperial War Museum - with John Crace

War Movie Theatre | for Fans of Classic War Films and... ·

2025/11/06

Live from the Imperial War Museum's Podcast Festival, we kick off Great War Month by watching Sam Mendes's men-with-a-mission trench-running bonanza, 1917, with John Crace of the Guardian. Is this the operation that changed the course of the Great War? Should they have searched that farmhouse? Might there, in fact, be a better way to get the message through? All this and more. Help us out by doing our listener survey: http://bit.ly/warmovietheatre-surveySuggestions? Comments? Drop us a line at

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57:10

The Battle of Algiers

War Movie Theatre | for Fans of Classic War Films and... ·

2025/10/30

Adored by Stanley Kubrick and studied at the Pentagon, 1966's The Battle of Algiers is a film quite unlike any other. Is it a guide to how to run an insurgency, or how to fight one? Supported by the newly independent Algerian government, it doesn't shy away from the violent realities of the independence movement's terrorist campaign. There's never been anything quite like it.Next week, we'll be watching 1917, if we can successfully record our appearance at the Imperial War Museum's podcast festival

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1:08:46

Who Dares Wins - with History Rage's Paul Bavill

War Movie Theatre | for Fans of Classic War Films and... ·

2025/10/23

Is this the film that changed the course of the SAS? Helicopters on the roof as we watch some of the worst spying in cinema history, followed by some of the best embassy-storming. Released as "The Final Option" in the US, this is the film that failed to turn Lewis Collins into James Bond. We're joined by Paul Bavill of the History Rage podcast, and he's not even the angriest person featured. That turns out to be listener Russell Phillips, who got in touch to complain about one scene in the film

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57:23

49th Parallel - with Terry Stiastny

War Movie Theatre | for Fans of Classic War Films and... ·

2025/10/16

This week, we're hunting Nazis through Canada as we watch Powell and Pressburger's 1941 breakthrough movie 49th Parallel. Would the submarine crew on the run have made it further if they hadn't felt the need to kill everyone who was rude about Hitler? And what was the frankly appalling reason the US censor demanded so many cuts? We're joined by Terry Stiastny, author of Believable Lies: The Misfits Who Fought Churchill's Secret Propaganda War.Next week, we're storming the US embassy in Who Dares

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1:04:17

Is Paris Burning - with Karim Palant

War Movie Theatre | for Fans of Classic War Films and... ·

2025/10/09

Zut alors! This week we're popping over the Channel to watch the Frenchest war movie ever made, the true story of the frantic arguments on both sides about how to save - or destroy - the city. Featuring effortlessly cool members of the Resistance, battles of bicycles, and a furious Fuhrer. Rob and Duncan are joined by former Labour party policy man Karim Palant, whose entire street WhatsApp group was mobilised to find a cable that would let him watch his DVD. Next week, we're off to Canada to watch

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1:00:43

The English Patient - with Lucy Beresford

War Movie Theatre | for Fans of Classic War Films and... ·

2025/10/02

This week, a Booker-winning novel that becomes an Oscar-winning film. A tale of war and love in the desert, based, very loosely on a real World War 2 espionage mission. Rob and Duncan are joined by the author and psychotherapist Lucy Beresford, to talk about her relationship with war movies, why she loves this film, and whether it would have been better if the studio had got their way and cast Demi Moore in the lead. Watch War Movie Theatre discuss 1917 LIVE at the Imperial War Museum on November 1

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1:15:57

Fail Safe - with Mark Pack

War Movie Theatre | for Fans of Classic War Films and... ·

2025/09/25

A 1964 film about accidental nuclear war from a legendary director and featuring a German scientist with homicidal ideas? That's right, it's Dr Strangelove... hang on, no, it's Fail Safe. Overshadowed on release because of a lawsuit from a rival film (you can guess which), this parable from Sidney Lumet has come to be regarded as a classic, with fans including George Clooney.The Ocean's 11 star couldn't be with us to make the case for it himself, so we're joined by a man known to many as the Clooney

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1:19:08

Aliens - with Brian Raftery

War Movie Theatre | for Fans of Classic War Films and... ·

2025/09/18

Is this going be a bug hunt, or a stand-up fight? Rob is joined by Brian Raftery to talk about James Cameron's 1986 magnificent take on the Alien universe. Has there ever been a better sequel? Is it really a Vietnam allegory? And after all that time in hyper-sleep, shouldn't Ripley's savings be worth more?Next week, it's Cold War countdown Zero Hour.The podcast series by Brian mentioned in the show are "Do We Get To Win This Time?" and "Mission Accomplished", from Ringer podcasts.Watch War Movie

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1:00:33

Memphis Belle - both of them

War Movie Theatre | for Fans of Classic War Films and... ·

2025/09/11

Rob and Duncan have done their job for Uncle Sam. Now they're podcasting for themselves. This week we're watching the 1990 movie Memphis Belle and the 1944 documentary that inspired it: The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress. Is the crew going to finish its 25th mission? Which of them will go on to save Frodo? And would Eric Stoltz have had a better career if he'd realised Back To The Future was a comedy?You can watch the 19944 documentary here:

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1:06:28

Platoon - with Hugo Rifkind

War Movie Theatre | for Fans of Classic War Films and... ·

2025/09/04

An obsessed director, a cast of unknowns, and a country on the brink of revolution. Somehow these ingredients produced one of the great Vietnam movies. Hugo Rifkind of The Times goes further, making the case that Platoon is the greatest Vietnam movie of them all. Hugo's novel "Rabbits", about a different kind of teenage battle, is now out in paperback. Watch War Movie Theatre discuss 1917 LIVE at the Imperial War Museum on November 1! Tickets here: https://www.iwm.org.uk/events/podcast-liveHelp us

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