The best Torin Thatcher’s war movies

Writer Harry Street reflects on his life as he lies dying from an infection while on safari in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro.

In the 13th century, Walter of Gurnie, a disinherited Saxon youth, is forced to flee England. With his friend, Tristram, he falls in with the army of the fierce but avuncular General Bayan, and journeys all the way to China, where both men become involved in intrigues in the court of Kublai Khan.

A German submarine is sent to the Orkney Isles in 1917 to sink the British fleet.

A widowed doctor of both Chinese and European descent falls in love with a married American correspondent in Hong Kong during China's Communist revolution.

Richard Burton plays a Scottish Army officer put in charge of a disparate band of ANZAC troops on the perimeter of Tobruk with the German Army doing their best to dislodge them

When a neutral Danish merchant ship is forced to put into port after trying to evade British wartime contraband control, its captain becomes involved in a beautiful British Naval Intelligent agent's efforts to capture a group of German spies operating from a London cinema.

Year 1856, British India. Capt. Jeffrey Claybourne is severely punished after disobeying an order. Feeling unworthy of his fiancée Vivian Morrow, the daughter of his superior officer, Claybourne leaves the army until he could regain his reputation. When the Rajah Karam launches an attack on the British forces in India, Claybourne finds a chance at redemption.

This early, influential propaganda film blends documentary and studio footage to show the valiant efforts of the Royal Air Force to defend the British people against the Nazis.

It's war time London and the Crazy Gang (Flanagan & Allen, Nervo & Knox, Naughton & Gold) are doing their bit for the war effort by running a fish and chip stall using their platoon's barrage balloon for advertising. Their Sgt Major is not happy about this and orders them to take the balloon down, but a freak heavy wind accidentally carries the gang away to Nazi Germany. They are captured and placed in a detention camp where they meet an elderly prisoner named Jerry, who possess a map for the location of a secret weapon which will win the war! Fortunately Teddy Knox's impersonation of Hitler lands him the spot of pretending to be the Fuhrer at a gala dinner and the gang are allowed out of the camp. However the Nazis have other ideas for their substitute leader.

Wartime propaganda piece giving the warning "Be like Dad, Keep Mum". A gossipy housewife is overheard talking about what her son is doing by a Nazi spy.

Stationed in Scotland, Maj. William Darby and the men under his command are trained by British commandos, becoming the U.S. Army's 1st Ranger Battalion. Their drilling period is rigorous, but the men find time to romance local women before being deployed to fight the Nazis. U.S. forces battle from French North Africa to Italy, but when a surprise attack decimates the 1st and 3rd Battalions at the Battle of Cisterna, Darby and the 4th Battalion must come to their aid.

Determined, independent Bridie Quilty comes of age in 1944 Ireland thinking all Englishmen are devils. Her desire to join the IRA meets no encouragement, but a German spy finds her easy to recruit. We next find her working in a pub near a British military prison, using her sex appeal in the service of the enemy. But chance puts a really vital secret into her hands, leading to a chase involving Bridie, a British officer who's fallen for her, a German agent unknown to them both, and the police...paralleled by Bridie's own internal conflicts.