The Ghost Army

May 26, 2013

1h 8m

★ 8.0

Illusion was their ultimate weapon.

Overview

During World War II, a hand-picked group of American GI's undertook a bizarre mission: create a traveling road show of deception on the battlefields of Europe, with the German Army as their audience. The 23rd Headquarters Special Troops used inflatable rubber tanks, sound trucks, and dazzling performance art to bluff the enemy again and again, often right along the front lines. Many of the men picked to carry out these dangerous deception missions were artists. Some went on to become famous, including fashion designer Bill Blass. In their spare time, they painted and sketched their way across Europe, creating a unique and moving visual record of their war. Their secret mission was kept hushed up for nearly 50 years after the war's end.

Genres

Documentary

War

Production Companies

Plate of Peas Productions

The Ghost Army Trailers

Cast

Wesley Clark

Narrator (Voice)

Peter Coyote

Summer 1944, France. Racine is a carefree 19-year-old first-aid worker, his secret desire is to be able to sleep with Isabelle, the girl he's in love with. One evening they are about to take the plunge, but a resistance fighter comes to ask for help. Racine goes up to the maquis to impress the young girl and joins a group of fifteen immature boys. But up there, nothing goes as planned. The war catches up with them, brutally marking the end of an innocence and Racine finds himself caught in the crossfire.

7.9

My Way

Dec 21, 2011

During the invasion of Normandy the photograph of a slim Korean man in German uniform was found. It transpired that the man had served as a soldier in the Japanese, Russian and German armies. His incredible story inspired director Kang Je-Gyu to create this epic war drama.

7.2

Yesterday's Enemy

Sep 10, 1959

Set during the Burma Campaign of World War 2, this is the story of courage and endurance of the soldiers struggling at close quarters against the enemy. The film examines the moral dilemmas ordinary men face during war, when the definitions of acceptable military action and insupportable brutality become blurred and distorted.

5.4

Sundown

Oct 31, 1941

Englishmen fighting Nazis in Africa discover an exotic mystery woman living among the natives and enlist her aid in overcoming the Germans.

5.5

Tampico

Apr 10, 1944

A story of of the captain of an oil tanker during World War II, Captain Bart Manson, who rescues Katherine Hall when her ship is sunk by a German U-boat.

0.0

Film Documents of the Atrocities of the German Fascist Invaders

Feb 19, 1946

This Soviet-made film was screened on February 19, 1946 on the 62nd day of the Nuremberg Trial and submitted as evidence relevant to the indictment for "crimes against humanity." The one-hour film with voiceover commentary shows visual evidence of the extermination camps of Auschwitz and Majdanek and appeals to spectators' emotions by emphasizing individual victims. The central argument of the film is that the Germans were the executioners of peaceful Soviet citizens. At the time, it made a very strong impression on both the accused and press. The film is a re-edited compilation of footage collected by the Soviet film team over four years (primarily used for propagandistic ends in wartime Soviet newsreels and documentaries). It was prepared in emergency by the Soviet prosecution team and minister of cinema following the projection of Nazi Concentration Camps presented by the Americans on November 29, 1945.

7.0

Listen to the Voices of the Sea

Jun 15, 1950

This film is strongly anti-war film. The film is based on the collection of writings by Japanese student soldiers who died during World War II. The film is located to Burma. It shows the everyday problems of soldiers in contrast of their ideas and the cynicism of their commanders. Soldiers are also victims of military bullying by their commanders.

7.0

Absent Without Leave

Feb 20, 1993

In 1942 Wellington, Daisy Edwards, 16 and pregnant, relies totally on her just-wed husband, Ed, who is little older than she. Ed is suddenly drafted into the army and is to be sent overseas to battle while Daisy is sent to her father in Auckland. When Ed's leave is cancelled at the last minute he takes the dangerous decision to go absent without leave to be with Daisy on her journey home. As a deserter, Ed is hunted, captured and imprisoned. Life inside is bad enought without the worry of what is going on outside. The film is based upon a true story.

6.0

Scars Of Nanking

Dec 12, 2017

During the brutal invasion of China in 1937 by Imperial Japanese forces, tens of thousands of civilians and prisoners of war are murdered and women raped in what is known simply as "The Rape of Nanking." This docudrama is a stirring account of a small band of courageous American missionaries who choose to stay in Nanking to try and protect a quarter million vulnerable Chinese civilians who are trapped in a city ruled by a savage, out of control army. Their stories are brought vividly to life through actual real-time letters and diaries as they bear witness to one of the worst wartime atrocities in history.

6.3

The Cross of Lorraine

Nov 12, 1943

French soldiers surrender to lying Nazis and are herded into a barbaric prison of war camp. From there they plan an uprising.

6.0

No Man Is an Island

Sep 20, 1962

The true story of George Tweed, an American sailor who became the only serviceman on the island of Guam to avoid capture by the Japanese during the early years of World War II.

4.8

War Pigs

Aug 3, 2015

A rag tag unit of misfits known as the War Pigs must go behind enemy lines to exterminate Nazis by any means necessary.

5.8

Wolves' Lairs

Dec 25, 1948

This drama from the times of Slovak National Uprising is situated in a small Slovak village. It is the tragical story of a widow and her four sons who fight alongside the partisans against the German occupants.

7.1

Contraband

May 11, 1940

During early World War II, a Danish sea captain, delayed in a British port, tangles with German spies.

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7.8

55 Socks

Aug 18, 2011

Based on a poem by Marie Jacobs, the animated short 55 Socks, by Oscar-winning director Co Hoedeman, pays tribute to the ingenuity of the Dutch people during a dark period of their history - the winter of hunger of 1944-45. It's the closing months of the war in occupied Holland and some women unravel a beautiful bedspread in order to knit 55 socks to barter for food. Reaching back into his childhood memories, Hoedeman has made a simple, poetic film of rare beauty.

6.0

Romeo, Juliet and Darkness

Apr 15, 1960

Pavel, a young student living in Prague in 1942, hides a Jewish girl in his apartment building's attic. Amidst the brutality of the occupying German army, love blossoms between the two. He is her only link to the outside world. Then the two are discovered by Pavel's mother, who forces the residents of the apartment building to decide whether Hana can remain.

5.5

Fortress

Apr 1, 2012

When the commander of the crew of a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber is killed in action in a raid over Sicily in 1943, his replacement, a young, naive pilot struggles to be accepted by the plane's already tight-knit Irish American crew.

6.2

WWII in 3D

Jan 24, 2012

For the first time, you will see dramatic moments of WWII that were captured in 3D with stereographs and then shuttered away in secret archives and attics, until now. This stunning collection of color 3D photos includes Allied reconnaissance photos, a trove of images that documents the rise and fall of the Third Reich, and photos secretly taken by a civilian in occupied France. WWII IN 3D also features an actual 3D motion picture film shot by the Nazis in 1943 and creates a fully immersive, three dimensional portrait of history's largest and bloodiest conflict.

5.5

Sorte Shara

Sep 29, 1961

Based on a true story from the fateful day of August 29, 1943, when the Germans disarmed the Danish army and navy. The minesweeper MS 1 plays the leading role in the film about the ship that refused to surrender. The commander, Captain U.H. Gad, camouflaged the boat as a tugboat under the name 'Sorte Shara'. With Sweden as its destination, the boat set sail and experienced hours of excitement as it approached the German observation posts.

6.6

The Butcher of Prague

Jun 2, 2011

Czechoslovakia, 1941. As the war continues, Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich arrives in Nazi-occupied Prague and establishes a regime of terror that will force freedom fighters to act. But the price to pay will be too high.

The Ghost Army

Overview

Genres

Production Companies

The Ghost Army Trailers