I originally was going to post this as a reply to a thread about the movie "1917" but got on a roll and didn't want to hijack the thread, so I'll post here instead:

As far as offbeat WWI productions go, I have to say I really enjoyed the entire WWI segment of the "Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" that was first aired in 1993.

If interested, note that spoilers are ahead. I am going from memory so I might not have all the details but a general overview.

A young Henry "Indiana" Jones (played by Sean Patrick Flannery of "Boondock Saints" fame) enlists in the Belgian army under the guise of Henri Defence since they have no age restrictions so that he can fight in the Great War. He begins as a motorcycle messenger and rises to the rank of corporal. Then he is sent to the front at Verdun where his unit is practically wiped out, so much that he is the ranking soldier in his unit as all officers and NCOs were killed. The remains of the unit is thus attached to a French unit led by a young yet battle-hardened lieutenant and his sergeant. This is where Indy gets an even closer look at the horrors of trench and chemical warfare, and when he naively volunteers to sneak deep across no man's land to eavesdrop on the Germans and discovers that a BIg Bertha is being sent to the theatre, things only get worse from there.

He does eventually survive a German onslaught, but again nearly everyone is killed, including the French officer and NCO, and he is captured along with a few Belgian soldiers. They are sent to a POW camp and on the way, Indy and a fellow Belgian soldier steal some French officer uniforms from some officers who died in captivity in order to get better treatment in the POW camp. They attempt to escape several times, the last time results in his Belgian friend getting killed. The Germans have had it with Indy and thus send him to the German version of Alcatraz, a POW prison situated on the top of a mountain used especially for "incorrigibles." There he meets French Army Captain Charles DeGaulle and together they start planning their escape along with some Russian prisoners.

After a few mishaps that resulted in a few deaths, Indy does eventually escape however DeGaulle is captured in the process. Indy makes his way back to friendly lines where some time later he is promoted to Captain. He is deployed to the Congo to lead a joint Belgian/Congo army against the Germans. Under the command of a strict and unforgiving Major, he goes against orders to help some Congo refugees escape the war zone. They are successful after some big losses, escaping via the river, but the harsh jungle conditions take their toll and most of them pick up malaria and ar ein danger of dying or are dead. Indy and his fellow Belgian soldier Remy, reunited for the first time since they were taken prisoner in Verdun, drift downstream with the refugees where they are found by Albert Schweitzer. Immediately, Indy distrusts the doctor because he is German, but along the lines learns some valuable lessons from the humanitarian.

Things work out down the line, and Indy, weary of battle and war, decides to try to end the war another way, using his language abilities in the intelligence service. He transfers to a Belgian military intelligence unit and is dispatched to Russia where he is to spy on the Bolsheviks and their activities. It is October 1917, and things are heating up. After his mission in Russia ends successfully, but at great loss to Indy, he returns to Africa for some intelligence missions there before leaving the service and returning to the US to start school at the University of Chicago.

Granted, this is a complete work of fiction, but as far as WWI movies/productions go which are not as many as WWII, especially at this time, I really enjoyed what I saw. All the other segments of "Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" were kinda eh, especially the 6 year old and 93 year old Indy parts. Although the 6 year old Indy segment made a great reference to the "Eye of the Peacock" jewel that became an obsession for Indy. He had first seen this jewel as a child, stolen away in Egypt, and during his years in the Belgian army had crossed paths with it until it was lost again. It doesn't turn up again until "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" where he finally tracked the jewel down to Lao Che's mafia gang.

The 93 year old Indy was horrible. He was the bookend of each episode, but he came across as a grumpy old man, spewing out stories in such a way that you wish you never had started a conversation with him. He had an eyepatch, and a huge scar to match and no backstory (which kinda ruined the whole Indy mystique for me). It was so bad that when Lucasfilm finally released the whole series, re-titled "The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones", they cut him out completely.

One thing of note: Harrison Ford did come back as Indy before "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." He reprised his role in an episode of the "Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" in a segment set in 1954, telling a story about his time as a student in Chicago. Harrison was just as cool as Indy in that episode as he'd been in the original trilogy, I loved it.

There is also mention of an episode of "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." When Indy at Mutt arrive in Peru, Mutt mentions that he has never heard that dialect of Spanish that Indy was speaking before. Indy says that he learned it when he was riding with Pancho Villa against a common enemy, and spits to show his disgust for him. This was a reference to an episode of the Chronicles when Indy, as a teen, was accidentally captured in Mexico by Pancho Villa and he inadvertantly (Stockholm Syndrome?) joins his cause.

It was also great seeing other actors getting their first roles here. Elizabeth Hurley, Daniel Craig, Ian McDiarmid...fun!

But I'm rambling, so, that's it....

v6,
boNes