WORTHY OF PROMOTION.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

THE SECOND world war may have been fought by the greatest generation, but it certainly hasn't made for the greatest war movies. Maybe when Quentin Tarantino gets around to shooting his epic ``Inglorious Bastards,'' we'll have the sprawling war film that the European theater deserves. Meanwhile, each of these movies (listed alphabetically) work quite well in their own area of expertise:

Das Boot (1981): Wolfgang Petersen's thrilling masterpiece follows a German U-boat on a single mission in the North Atlantic - and you are there, thanks to the brilliant camera work that captures the claustrophobia and clamor of life undersea.

Saving Private Ryan (1998): Steven Spielberg's D-Day movie was so critically praised that revisionists have taken to arguing that ``Ryan'' isn't much once you get past the landing at Omaha Beach. Wrong. Better than any movie, Spielberg shows the duty and sacrifice of the citizen soldier - ordinary men doing extraordinary things, mostly because they simply want to go home.

Stalag 17 (1953): That Billy Wilder's caustic prison-camp comedy inspired ``Hogan's Heroes'' isn't exactly a lasting legacy, but the film still has its pleasures, particularly Bill Holden's Bogie-like turn as the slick, soft-living schemer who incurs the suspicions of his comrades after a botched escape attempt.

To Be or Not to Be (1942): More than a half-century before ``Life Is Beautiful,'' the great Ernst Lubitsch walked the line between horror and laughter in this complex comedy/thriller/melodrama that riled audiences who thought the German-born Lubitsch had somehow misplaced his sympathies. There's nothing misplaced in this movie, one of the great war satires of all time.

The Young Lions (1958): Featuring that trio of dedicated Method actors - Brando, Clift and, um, Dean Martin - this admittedly overlong film follows a Nazi (Brando), a GI Jew (Clift) and a show-biz gold-bricker (Martin) whose paths eventually cross at a concentration camp. War is pointless, yes, and sometimes so is this movie, but the performances are never less than interesting.

Bonus late-show double bill: Von Ryan's Express (1965) and Where Eagles Dare (1969): If you are of a certain age (late 30s and older), you grew up watching goofball war movies like these, either in the theaters or on television. The Nazis are always stupid, the action absurd, but if you're up at, say, 2 in the morning, and catch the sight of Sinatra or Eastwood going through their heroic paces, they're still eminently watchable, provided they're accompanied by some quantity of alcohol.

Bonus scene: The Straight Story (1999): If there is a legitimate criticism of ``Saving Private Ryan,'' it's that Spielberg didn't quite nail the two scenes featuring the now-aged Ryan that bookend the movie. To see how it could have been done, watch ``The Straight Story.'' David Lynch captures the lifetime of pain that war can bring in a wrenching, five-minute scene between two vets that's superbly shot and gracefully put forth by Richard Farnsworth and Wiley Harker. For my money, it's the best WWII-related sequence in film history.

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com

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Alvin (Richard Farnsworth, left) and Verlyn (Wiley Harker) reflect on the war in ``The Straight Story.''