In Desperate Battle: Normandy 1944

Jan 26, 1992

1h 44m

★ 10.0

The Valour and the Horror

Overview

A documentary, using dramatization of fact, that examines the Battle of Verrières Ridge, where on July 25, 1944 and not long after D-Day, an inexperienced battalion of the Canadian Black Watch Regiment launched a doomed attack and was defeated with heavy casualties by veteran German SS troops. Part of "The Valour and the Horror" mini series.

Genres

War

Documentary

Production Companies

CBC

ONF | NFB

In Desperate Battle: Normandy 1944 Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Narrator

Terence McKenna

interviewer

Roman Jarymowycz

Self (Fusiliers Mont-Royal)

Jacques Dextraze

Self (Sherbrooke Regiment)

Sydney Radley-Walters

Joseph Le Boutillier

Patrick Goyette

Guy Simonds

Nicholas Campbell

German Officer

Adrian Hough

Donald Pearce

Wayne Robson

Kurt Meyer

Nigel Bennett

Harry Foster

Stewart Arnott

The retelling of June 6, 1944, from the perspectives of the Germans, US, British, Canadians, and the Free French. Marshall Erwin Rommel, touring the defenses being established as part of the Reich's Atlantic Wall, notes to his officers that when the Allied invasion comes they must be stopped on the beach. "For the Allies as well as the Germans, it will be the longest day"

8.5

Mariupolis 2

Nov 17, 2022

In 2022, Mantas Kvedaravičius went back to Ukraine, Mariupol, at the heart of the war, to be with the people he had met and filmed in 2015. Following his death, his producers and collaborators have put all their strength into continuing transmitting his work, his vision and his films. Also a PhD in anthropology, Mantas Kvedaravičius wished to testify as a filmmaker as far as possible from the agitation of the media and the politicians. With huge force and sensitivity, Mariupolis 2 depicts life as it continues amidst the bombing and reveals images that convey both tragedy and hope.

6.3

Tunnel Warfare

Jan 1, 1965

A small town defends itself from the Japanese by use of a network of tunnels during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

0.0

Havoc

Sep 27, 1925

A war drama produced only 7 years after the end of World War I. Based on the play by Henry Wallace it chronicles two Englishmen, Dick Chappell (George O'Brien) and Roddy Dunton (Walter McGrail) at the dawn of The Great War. Both men are in love with the same woman, Violet Deering (Margaret Livingston). Chappell, whose proposal has been accepted by Violet, enlists for the war in Europe hoping to distinguish himself and make his fiancé proud of him.

0.0

Mururoa 1973

Oct 8, 1973

In 1973 Alister Barry joined the crew of a protest boat (The Fri) to Mururoa Atoll, where the French Government were testing nuclear weapons. Barry records the assembly of the crew, the long journey from Northland, and their reception in the test zone; when The Fri was boarded and impounded by French military he had to hide his camera in a barrel of oranges.

6.2

Burning Blue

Jun 6, 2014

Two Navy fighter pilots find themselves in the midst of a forbidden relationship throwing their lives and careers into disarray.

7.1

We Were Soldiers

Mar 1, 2002

The story of the first major battle of the American phase of the Vietnam War and the soldiers on both sides that fought it.

4.2

War in the Highlands

Oct 7, 1998

La Guerre Dans le Haut Pays is a period piece set in the winter of 1797-98, during the six days leading up to the fall of Bern and the victory of Napoleon's army, when the Bern government is faced with mixed loyalties from its subjects. The population of the lower valley is divided, but the upper region remains loyal, since they have been given special autonomy and a favorable system of taxation. David, a postman, works between the two regions. His father, who is a hard-line conservative, does not approve of his relationship with Julie, who is from the lower part of the valley. Julie's father, on the other hand, is more open to the new ideas of liberation. As a result of his work, David is exposed to new ideas and becomes a believer in equality and justice.

8.1

Full Metal Jacket

Jun 26, 1987

A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the U.S.-Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.

5.5

Golden Years

Sep 13, 2017

The true story of a French WW1 deserter who, with the support of his wife, spends a decade in disguise as a woman.

6.6

Female Agents

Feb 8, 2008

May 1944, a group of French servicewomen and resistance fighters are enlisted into the British Special Operations Executive commando group under the command of Louise Desfontaines and her brother Pierre. Their mission, to rescue a British army geologist caught reconnoitering the beaches at Normandy.

8.5

D-Day: The Untold Stories

Jun 2, 2019

To commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day, this special presents the key events of the Allied invasion of Nazi-held Europe and the subsequent battles that captured the control of the Normandy coast. Some of the last surviving veterans recall in detail the terror, patriotism and drama from the frontlines of war. This special also honors the diverse backgrounds of all who served.

5.4

Fear and Desire

Mar 31, 1953

After their airplane crashes behind enemy lines, four soldiers must survive and try to find a way back to their battalion. However, when they come across a local peasant girl the horrors of war quickly become apparent.

7.5

Patton

Jan 25, 1970

"Patton" tells the tale of General George S. Patton, famous tank commander of World War II. The film begins with Patton's career in North Africa and progresses through the invasion of Germany and the fall of the Third Reich. Side plots also speak of Patton's numerous faults such his temper and habit towards insubordination.

5.8

Breakthrough

Mar 1, 1979

Starting in late May 1944, during the German retreat on the Eastern Front, Captain Stransky (Helmut Griem) orders Sergeant Steiner (Richard Burton) to blow up a railway tunnel to prevent Russian forces from using it. Steiner's platoon fails in its mission by coming up against a Russian tank. Steiner then takes a furlough to Paris just as the Allies launch their invasion of Normandy.

6.7

Overlord

Nov 1, 2018

France, June 1944. On the eve of D-Day, some American paratroopers fall behind enemy lines after their aircraft crashes while on a mission to destroy a radio tower in a small village near the beaches of Normandy. After reaching their target, the surviving paratroopers realise that, in addition to fighting the Nazi troops that patrol the village, they also must fight against something else.

3.3

Furtuna

Feb 4, 1959

Story depicting the national liberation struggle of the Albanian people against the Italian and German invaders during World War II.

7.7

Gaza Fights for Freedom

Jun 20, 2019

Gaza Fights for Freedom depicts the ongoing Great March of Return protests in the Gaza Strip, occupied Palestine, that began in 2018.

No Image Available

0.0

The Partisan

Sep 26, 2025

A Polish spy who works for the British during the Second World War. After a betrayal, she is compromised in Warsaw and finds herself in a murky world of treachery.

7.4

Enemy at the Gates

Feb 28, 2001

A Russian and a German sniper play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad in WWII.