The Recluse
The Real Story: 89 year old Torquay resident Eileen Nearne dies alone, only for family to discover she was a radio operator for the Special Operations Executive who endured Nazi imprisonment and torture without ever caving in.
Movie Version: A history-straddling weepie, contrasting young Eileen's daring exploits with her elderly version's quiet, secretive life by the seaside.
Directed By: Danny Boyle
Starring: Kate Winslet and Judi Dench reprising their young/old Iris Murdoch role.
The Bear
The Real Story: Private Wotjek, a bear adopted by the Polish Army's 22nd Artillery Supply Company, who helped lug weaponry around in the anti-Nazi fight. Don't believe us? Even The One Show has covered the story .
Movie Version: An R-rated Disney movie, in which the bear necessities turn out to be smoking, drinking beer and beating the crap out of Nazis.
Directed By: Terry Zwigoff.
Starring: A bear, possibly with Paul Giamatti as his human handler.
The Leg
The Real Story: King Charles 1's loyal soldier Sir Arthur Aston, captured by Cromwell's forces after the King's execution in 1649 and beaten to death with his own wooden leg.
Movie Version: A blood 'n' guts take on the English Civil War, from the viewpoint of the losing side, with a surreal, gory ending.
Directed By: Neil Marshall.
Starring: Sean Bean.
The Survivor
The Real Story: Maja Kazazic, a refugee who lost her leg after a mortar bomb during the Bosnian war, before being a successful businesswoman in America.
Movie Version: The Bosnian conflict has largely been ignored by Hollywood, so here's an inspirational, unusual take - especially as the recovering Kazazic learnt English from scratch watching Cosby Show reruns.
Directed By: Sam Mendes.
Starring: Natalie Portman
The Trumpet
The Real Story: Trumpeting soldier Jackie Roy Tuner bugles a love song while under threat from a German sniper. The next morning, he learns that the sniper gave himself up after the music reminded him of his family.
Movie Version: Tuner is entrusted by the military to 'tame' the Nazis by playing his songs, like some kind of military Pied Piper.
Directed By: Ang Lee.
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal as Tuner, Daniel Brühl as the sniper.
The Pig
The Real Story: In 1859, American settler Lyman Cutlar shoots Irishman Charles Griffin's pig, but since this happened on disputed territory on the American/Canadian border, the armies waded in. However, war was averted, and the only casualty was the pig.
Movie Version: A surreal black comedy about a diplomatic squabble, that doubles as a reminder to today's governments that you don't always need to shoot first and ask questions later.
Directed By: David O. Russell.
Starring: Billy Bob Thornton as Cutlar, Brendan Gleeson as Griffin.
The Objector
The Real Story: U.S. Marine Stephen Funk, court-martialled for being the first soldier to refuse to deploy to Iraq in 2003... and, as if that wasn't enough controversy, he came out as a gay man.
Movie Version: A tale of unpopular principle versus the state; and a liberal blast against the Iraq War.
Directed By: Gus Van Sant.
Starring: John Cho as Funk.
The PoW
The Real Story: Kenneth Bailey aka @POWKen , who kept a diary of his three-and-a-half years as a prisoner of war building the Burmese railway.
Movie Version: A realistic, Corporal's-eye-view of the events depicted in The Bridge Over the River Kwai.
Directed By: Terence Malick.
Starring: Andrew Garfield as Bailey.
The Defence
The Real Story: During the Battle of Stalingrad, four Russian survivors of a raid on a strategically vital apartment building not only held off the Nazis but killed hundreds from ideal sniping positions.
Movie Version: Sergeant Yakov Pavlov turns his troops into a killing machine, in a true-life Inglourious Basterds .
Directed By: Kathryn Bigelow.
Starring: Tom Hardy as Pavlov.
The Traveller
The Real Story: English soldier Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Fremantle's trip to America during the Civil War, based on his memoir, Three Months in the Southern States .
Movie Version: An outsider's eye-witness view of the war, including the Battle of Gettysburg, with plenty of twists as he continually switches allegiance based on his experiences.
Directed By: Ron Howard
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe as Fremantle.
There's a new Mummy movie on the way from the director of Evil Dead Rise and I just want to know if Blumhouse has called Brendan Fraser yet
Marvel Rivals made Jeff the Land Shark so stinkin' adorable that the MCU is bringing him on as an official hero: "We're all Jeff fans around here. Man is he fun to play"
