This week a trio of classics makes with some DVD releases, Two Four from the much respected "Fox War Classics", and the first from Warner Brothers....  None of which have reviews here on WMB...yet!

[EDIT: And a fourth I didn't notice until now!..see below]

[4/26 EDIT Number 2: And a fifth! That makes FOUR from the "FOX War Classics" Line! Go FOX!]

Fixed Bayonets (1951)

Starring: Richard Basehart, Gene Evans, Michael O'Shea and more.

The story of a platoon during the Korean War. One by one Corporal Denno's superiors are killed until it comes to the point where he must try to take command responsiblity.

Looks like this is a "second line" production, as I'd never heard of it until now, and doesn't seem to star any "big names" so to speak.  The few reviews up on Amazon look promising though.

Sailor of the King (1953)

Stars: Jeffrey Hunter, Michael Rennie, and more.

A British naval officer has a brief affair with a woman in England and never knows that she bears him a son. 20 years later the boy is on a ship under his command when he is tracking a German Raider. When the boy is captured after his ship is sunk, he finds a way to slow the German's progress while a lethal hunt for him goes on.

And from Warners: The Fighting 69th (1940)

Starring the venerable Jimmy Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Alan Hale, and more.

"The Fighting 69th" is a First World War regiment of mostly New York-Irish soldiers. Amongst a cocky crew, perhaps the cockiest is Jerry Plunkett, a scrappy fellow who looks out only for himself. The officers and non-coms of the regiment do their best to instill discipline in Plunkett, and the chaplain, Father Duffy, tries to make Plunkett see the greater good, all to no avail. Behind the lines or in the trenches, Plunkett acts selfishly and cowardly, eventually costing the lives of many of his fellow soldiers. A final act of cowardice leads to terrible consequences, but Plunkett sees in them a chance to redeem himself...if only he can.

For some reason I think I saw this a long long time ago, but can't recall the details.  Looks like this includes some wartime WB cartoons as well! Nice touch!

And, additionally....

Purple Heart (1944)

One of Hollywood's most striking films of World War II has very little war in it, yet it whips up a fearsome power. A U.S. bomber that took part in the Doolittle raid on Tokyo crash-lands in Japanese-occupied China afterward. Captured, the officers and crew are hauled before a Japanese court and tried for war crimes. The trial is illegal and stacked against the Americans from the outset. But that doesn't stop it from developing into a fierce duel of nerves and icy politesse, especially between the U.S. commander (Dana Andrews) and the Japanese general (Richard Loo), who is the chief architect of the strategy to break the Americans and learn how the raid was carried out.

Tonight We Raid Calais (1943)

Looks to be one of the more obscure ones out there, as I don't recognize any of the names, and there isn't a lot to be found....

British Intellengence dispatches Commando Geoffrey Carter (John Sutton) on a one-man raid to destroy a munitions plant that manufactures bombs in Nazi-occupied France.

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