Tag Archives: World War II

Walter Cronkite Dies at 92

I’m sorry if it seems that, in the last few months, the Pop Culture blog has become more of the Dead Celebrity blog, but we have lost so many great personalities. Today, we lost another as Walter Cronkite died at the age of 92. It sometimes seems as if there wasn’t a new story from the twentieth century that Cronkite didn’t cover. World War II? Check. Nuremberg Trials? Check. First man on the moon? Check. Assassination of President John F. Kennedy? Check. Watergate? Check. Not only was Cronkite there for the pivotal times of our last century, he covered each … Continue reading →

A Holocaust Hero Passes Away

Posted on by

The other day, I was blogging about the movie The Pianist and how at the end, a Nazi officer actually helped Jewish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman right before the war ends. There were many Holocaust heroes during that time – people who risked their own lives to save others. One of them, Irena Sendler, has just passed away recently at the age of 98. Irena was a Polish social worker during World War II. Irena began offering Jewish families food and shelter in 1939. Soon, her job as a social worker would allow her to help more Jews. Saying she was … Continue reading →

Sniff, Sniff…the Best Tearjerker Movie List – Part 3

Posted on by

I saved the best for last. These are the movies that turned me into a big sobbing, crying, wailing mass of blubber. 3. Saving Private Ryan My little sister and her best friend wanted to see some girly movie at the theater. Not being in the mood, I took them anyhow, but went to see Saving Private Ryan alone. Most people who saw this would say the ending scene, in which Captain John Miller (played by Tom Hanks) dies after having tromped over half of Europe to find Private Ryan, was the tearjerking part. After all, Captain Miller and his … Continue reading →

Author Interview: Sandra Grey, Part Two

We are joined again by LDS author Sandra Grey, author of “Traitor.” If you missed yesterday’s installment, click here. Sandra, in your exciting new LDS historical novel, you go into quite a lot of detail about code encryption. Was it difficult to find and then relay this information? Mr. Leo Marks, head of Communications at Special Operations Executive (SOE) in Britain, wrote an incredible memoir of his experiences during the war entitled “Between Silk and Cyanide” (HarperCollins 1998) – over six hundred pages long and more exciting to me than “Harry Potter.” I read every word even the appendages. Marie’s … Continue reading →

Traitor – Sandra Grey

“Traitor” by new author Sandra Grey is one of the best LDS historical fiction novels I’ve ever read, and I have to tell you, I’m hard to impress. Because I myself write in the LDS historical fiction genre, I’m overly critical when it comes to analyzing the work of other authors. Sandra Grey is amazing. Marie Jacobson is a young woman of French ancestry who wants to do her part for the cause during World War II. Her fiancé, Felix, is working with the Resistance in Europe, and Marie is eager to see him again after a long separation. A … Continue reading →

The Clock (1945)

Imagine for a minute that a world-class chef comes and knocks on your door, volunteering to make you a nice meal, whatever you want. Do you ask him to make you a peanut butter sandwich? Of course not. Anyone can make a sandwich – it would be demeaning to his talents to ask him for something that anyone could make. This is exactly the case with “The Clock,” starring Judy Garland and Robert Walker. Anyone could have been in this movie. Judy’s talents were not showcased at all – it was demeaning to her. She stars as Alice Mayberry, a … Continue reading →

Remembering Pearl Harbor

There is a sadness in certain events that, like it or not, have become a part of our lives. For the younger generation, it is September 11th and for the older generation it is December 7th, the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor. I don’t remember the Pearl Harbor attack and I don’t think it was until I experienced September 11th that I could really understand the horror my grandparents must have felt on that day. In the attack, two Navy battleships (the USS Arizona and the USS West Virginia), one minelayer, and two destroyers were sunk. Three cruisers, … Continue reading →

Saboteur – Dean Hughes

Dean Hughes is one of my favorite LDS authors, as I have proven by repeatedly acting like an idiot whenever I’ve had chance to meet him. “Saboteur” is his 2006 release, a story of espionage, danger, and love set during World War II. Andy Gledhill’s mother is French and he speaks the language well. When he decides to leave his hometown of Delta, Utah, and become a paratrooper, his skills catch the eye of the Office of Strategic Services, and they ask him if he’d be willing to undertake an unusual assignment. They want to drop him into France to … Continue reading →

I Was a Male War Bride and His Girl Friday

Cary Grant stars as Henri Rochard, a French officer, in “I Was a Male War Bride,” made in 1949 and set in Germany just after World War II. Henri has worked quite a bit with Lt. Catherine Gates (Ann Sheridan) throughout the war, and as they are being shipped home, they realize they are in love with each other. He wants to come home to America with her, but it all presents a problem. They want to bring him home on Army transport, but he can’t travel with Catherine because she’s supposed to be sailing on a ship full of … Continue reading →

Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)

I was raised in a household where witchcraft was an absolute no-no. Any form of magic was frowned on. I can understand this – it’s natural for parents to want to protect their children from anything that smacks of the Occult. But there are some forms of magic I think are just fun, and “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” is one of them. Angela Lansbury stars as Eglantine Price, a single woman who lives in a secluded house. This separation from the rest of the English village of Pepperinge Eye is perfect for her purposes – you see, she’s taking a correspondence … Continue reading →