A history of World War 2 in Movies - 1942
Follow the course of WW2 in movies, all of which depict or can be taken to represent an actual event. They are organised chronologically by month so that you can follow the course of the War. My other lists cover the other years. Only drama movies are included - no comedies, horror, musicals etc. Only movies in the English language or with English subtitles are featured. Enjoy!
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- DirectorTay GarnettStarsRobert TaylorGeorge MurphyLloyd NolanIn 1942, in the Bataan peninsula of the Philippines, a ragtag American unit commanded by Sergeant Bill Dane attempts to blow-up a bridge in order to slow the Japanese advance.Battle of Bataan January 1942
- DirectorVal GuestStarsStanley BakerGuy RolfeLeo McKernIn World War II, during the Japanese invasion of Burma, the lost remnant of a British Army Brigade HQ, led by the ruthless Captain Alan Langford, escapes through the jungle toward the British lines.Burma campaign begins January 1942
- DirectorCharles ChauvelStarsGrant TaylorPeter FinchChips RaffertyTells the story of three men--Bluey, a tough two fisted drover (Taylor), Milo, a laconic dingo trapper (Rafferty), and Pete, an intellectual English "new chum" (Finch). Together they serve in North Africa, fighting against the forces of Rommel in what has now become one of Australia's greatest wartime legends--The Rats of Tobruk.Invasion of New Guinea January 1942
- DirectorFrank PiersonStarsClare BullusStanley TucciSimon MarkeyAt the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942, senior Nazi officials meet to determine the manner in which the so-called "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" can be best implemented.Wannsee conference January 1942
- DirectorJean NegulescoStarsClaudette ColbertPatric KnowlesFlorence DesmondDuring Word War II, American author Agnes Newton Keith is imprisoned by the Japanese in various POW camps in North Borneo and Sarawak.Occupation of Borneo February 1942
- DirectorRichard ThorpeStarsSpencer TracyJames StewartValentina CorteseNewspaperman Royer convinces government officials of a plan to obtain rubber by smuggling it out from under the Japanese. Carnahan is let out of prison to help.Occupation of Malaya February 1942
- DirectorElem KlimovStarsAleksey KravchenkoOlga MironovaLiubomiras LauceviciusAfter finding an old rifle, a young boy joins the Soviet resistance movement against ruthless German forces and experiences the horrors of World War II.Dirlewanger Brigade deployed to Byelorussia February 1942
- DirectorTerence YoungStarsAlan LaddLeo GennSusan StephenIn 1940, an American claiming to be Canadian volunteers for the British Army's paratroop school.Operation Biting February 1942
- DirectorAaron WilsonStarsKhan ChittendenMorning Tzu-Yi MoYoshi YamamotoSingapore, February 1942. An Australian fighter pilot is shot down over the jungle and must find his way back to Allied lines, through Japanese-held territory.Fall of Singapore February 1942
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsGlenn CloseFrances McDormandPauline CollinsA group of women who are imprisoned on the island of Sumatra by the Japanese during World War II use music to relieve their misery.Banka Island massacre February 1942
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsGary CooperLaraine DaySigne HassoWhen the U.S. forces withdraw from Java, ahead of the Japanese invasion, U.S. Navy doctor Corydon M. Wassell coordinates the remaining wounded servicemen and leads them to safety towards the last Allied evacuation points.Battle of Java Sea February 1942
- DirectorBaz LuhrmannStarsNicole KidmanHugh JackmanShea AdamsIn 1939, an Englishwoman inherits a sprawling ranch in northern Australia and reluctantly makes a pact with a stockman to drive 2000 head of cattle over unforgiving landscape.Bombing of Darwin February 1942
- DirectorRoland EmmerichStarsEd SkreinPatrick WilsonWoody HarrelsonThe story of the Battle of Midway, told by the leaders and the sailors who fought it.Marshalls-Gilberts raid February 1942
- DirectorAlan ParkerStarsDennis QuaidTamlyn TomitaSab ShimonoThe passionate romance between an Irish-American man and a Japanese-American woman is threatened when the Pearl Harbor attacks happen and the woman is forced into a prison camp because of her ethnicity.Internment of Japanese Americans February 1942
- DirectorPaul WendkosStarsLloyd BridgesAndrew KeirSue LloydDuring World War II, a commando leader named Major Jamie Wilson leads a group of soldiers on a suicide mission to destroy a Nazi naval stronghold on the French coast.St Nazaire raid March 1942
- DirectorJohn FordRobert MontgomeryStarsRobert MontgomeryJohn WayneDonna ReedA Navy commander fights to prove the battle-worthiness of the PT boat at the start of World War II.General MacArthur evacuated from The Philippines March 1942
- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsFrank SinatraGina LollobrigidaPeter LawfordDuring WW2, the American OSS mounts covert operations with the native Kachin against the Japanese army in the jungles of Burma.OSS Detachment 101 formed April 1942
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsSpencer TracyVan JohnsonRobert WalkerIn the wake of Pearl Harbor, a young lieutenant leaves his expectant wife to volunteer for a secret bombing mission which will take the war to the Japanese homeland.Doolittle’s raid April 1942
- DirectorJohn HendersonStarsKenneth CranhamLeo BillDerek JacobiComedy drama based on the true story of two British Army dentists who in 1942, eager to see action, go A.W.O.L. and invade occupied France on their own.The ‘amateur commandos’ land in France April 1942
- DirectorJohn Llewellyn MoxeyStarsJames Robertson JusticeAdrian HovenNiall MacGinnisA German Agent in Libya is allowed to get back to Rommel with false information.Operation Salaam April 1942
- DirectorEdward DmytrykStarsJohn WayneAnthony QuinnBeulah BondiIn 1942, after the fall of the Philippines to the Japanese, U.S. Army Col. Joseph Madden stays behind to organize the local resistance against the Japanese invaders.Bataan death march April 1942
- DirectorPaul WendkosStarsCliff RobertsonGia ScalaTeru ShimadaIn 1942 submarine commander Jeff Conway secretly photographs Japanese aircraft carriers in the Coral Sea but his submarine is damaged and he's forced to surrender.Battle of the Coral Sea May 1942
- DirectorMichael PowellStarsLeslie HowardLaurence OlivierRichard GeorgeA World War II U-boat crew are stranded in northern Canada. To avoid internment, they must make their way to the border and get into the still-neutral U.S.Battle of St Lawrence begins May 1942
- DirectorZoltan KordaStarsHumphrey BogartBruce BennettJ. Carrol NaishAfter the fall of Tobruk in 1942, during the Allied retreat in the Libyan desert, an American tank picks-up a motley group of survivors but they face advancing Germans and a lack of water.Battle of Gazala May 1942
- DirectorBoris SagalStarsChristopher GeorgeLaraine StephensJ.D. CannonA U.S. Air Force colonel convinces the Allies during World War II that a daylight bombing raid of Germany will bring a quick end to the war.First thousand bomber raid over Germany May 1942