Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2021 May 18

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May 18

Not many US World War I films/TV shows (1970s-2000s)

Unlike the ones about World War II, why aren't there many 1970s-2010s World War I films/TV series' told from the American perspective (1917-1918)? You see, the only ones I picked out were...

1. Once an Eagle (miniseries) - 1976 miniseries about two US Army officers, from the outbreak of World War I to the aftermath of World War II.
2. Legends of the Fall - Brothers from Montana serving in the 10th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force.
3. Truman (1995 film) - President Truman's involvement in the war.
4. In Love and War (1996 film) - Ernest Hemingway and Agnes von Kurowsky.
5. The Lost Battalion (2001 film) - The Lost Battalion, which was cut off and surrounded by German forces in the Argonne Forest during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive of 1918.
6. Company K (2004 film) - A veteran's service in a Marine company he was in.
7. Flyboys (film) - US pilots in the French Air Force unit called the Lafayette Escadrille before the United States' entry. 81.108.193.196 (talk) 01:55, 18 May 2021 (UTC)

Well they turned up rather late for a start. The rest of us have two-and-a-half more years of hell to work with. DuncanHill (talk) 02:01, 18 May 2021 (UTC)

[WAG alert] First, World War I on the western front was not as dynamic/exciting, and as DuncanHill has indirectly indicated, American involvement was shorter: about a year and a half vs. about three over four. The Americans were also not the biggest of the WWI allies in military terms, so not the leaders. Next, WWI vets would have been in their late 60s and older, not as big a potential audience as WWII participants. Clarityfiend (talk) 02:47, 18 May 2021 (UTC)

WAG? I should like to point out that Clarityfiend is neither my wife nor my girlfriend. DuncanHill (talk) 02:56, 18 May 2021 (UTC)

Duncan is being rather generous to our Allies; "the first major American battle and offensive of World War I" was the Battle of Cantigny in May 1918, only about five months before the end of a four year war. The real contribution of the US to the Allied victory was the provision of food, fuel and weapons to Britain and France, combined with the threat that they would have an enormous army in Europe by 1919 which helped persuade the Germans to throw in the towel. Alansplodge (talk) 13:24, 18 May 2021 (UTC)

You missed Johnny Got His Gun (film), maybe others. As noted, the US was not as deeply involved in WW1, and what veterans there were would have been dying out by the period in question - limiting the market for their stories. Conversely, most of the people calling the shots in Hollywood in the 70's would have lived through WW2 and many of them would have served in it - making it easier to get those stories told. Also, there are more angles open to you for a WW2 film. You can make a "war is hell" movie, but you can also make a "our brave boys defeating the Nazis and making the world safe for freedom and the American way" movie if you want to. That's a lot more difficult to do with WW1 given the way things panned out. Chuntuk (talk) 20:19, 18 May 2021 (UTC)

There's also Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero. It's surprisingly mature for a cartoon about a dog. --Khajidha (talk) 13:15, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

• Oddly, no one has mentioned Sergeant York, a hugely popular blockbuster film that won several Oscars. It is outside of the time frame noted, but that is largely a function of the dates in question. Most of the really big, famous WWII films came out in the 1950s and 1960s, by the 1970s the Korean War and the Vietnam War had become the major war as a film subject, this was true through the 1980s, and by the early 2000s, the first Gulf War became a fodder for historical war films. Of course, any past war could be used as a film subject, but for the most part, you'll find that the wars that the major players (screenwriters, producers, and directors) remember from their youth become the film subjects of that generation. By the 1970s, anyone who even remembered WWI was already at retirement age. They aren't going to be the major film-making or film-consuming audience. --Jayron32 16:25, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

The OP specified films made in the 1970s-2010s. Clarityfiend (talk) 21:28, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

They did, which is why I said "It is outside of the time frame noted." Apparently that was confusing to you. What I meant by that was that it is outside of the time frame noted. I hope that clears things up for you. --Jayron32 11:16, 20 May 2021 (UTC)

Yeah, I didn't read past the first sentence. No need to be rude. Clarityfiend (talk) 23:44, 20 May 2021 (UTC)

• There was also All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film) and All Quiet on the Western Front (1979 film). ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:40, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

But neither was "from the American perspective" specified by the OP above (it was written by a German about German soldiers). Alansplodge (talk) 22:45, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

Interestingly, there are several Zapata Westerns reflecting Americans in the Mexican Revolution from (what Italians and Spaniards think is) an American point of view.

--Error (talk) 01:26, 21 May 2021 (UTC)

lip balm

is there an effective lip balm that is recommended in this article?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lip_balm — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:8003:7417:5a00:6ce6:8ff7:3474:5f81 (talk • contribs)

Sorry, Wikipedia is not a place to get product recommendations. Instead, go to Google and enter "what is the best lip balm" or something like that, and do some research on your own to make that determination. --Jayron32 14:31, 18 May 2021 (UTC)

Pace Jayron, I have no problem with giving product recommendations on this ref desk. I would recommend Labello products. --Viennese Waltz 07:18, 21 May 2021 (UTC)