The prettiest fräulein: Flashback to 1940s Berlin for Cate Blanchett and George Clooney..

George Clooney's new film about a group of art historians who saved paintings from Adolf Hitler's clutches has begun production in Berlin.
Monuments Men is based on factual events, and as well as directing the drama, George has also cast himself in the starring role. 
He was spotted on set, along with Cate Blanchett, who also has a pivotal part in the story.

In character: Cate Blanchett is starring in The Monuments Men with George Clooney

The Australian actress plays Rose Valland, a member of the French resistance, who was the manager of an art gallery that the Nazis used to store their valuable loot.
Rose secretly made a note of the 20,000 pieces of art that were brought to the Jeu de Paume Museum, and later her information was vital to the culture loving renegades' attempts to retrieve the stolen artifacts.
Cate was dressed in a stereotypical outfit of the era, a long grey skirt, brown brogues and a dowdy brown suede jacket with a white collar.

Devilishly handsome: George Clooney looked very suave with his moustache

Taking a break: Cate sipped a coffee between sets and huddled beneath a puffa jacket

Wearing glasses and with her blonde hair tied back away from her face, she looked every inch the stern art historian.
As she relaxed in between takes with a hot coffee, she was flanked by actors dressed in military uniforms.
Her son was also on set with her, experiencing a sort of live action history lesson as he was transported back to the war torn Germany of the 1940s.

Day with mum: Cate's son joined her on set, getting an unusual sort of history lesson

In character: Matt Damon was also seen on the set dressed in his military uniform

George looked devilishly handsome with his mustache, and some might say even looked slightly like Clark Gable.
He was dressed in jeans and a jumper, meaning he was probably directing and not acting.
It is an ambitious project for the 51-year old, as the battle scenes are said to require thousands of extras, all wearing military costume, and the filming schedule is due to run until the end of June.

Handsome man: George's grey hair was slicked back, as was typical of the time

Dressed down: George was wearing jeans and a jumper, so it is safe to assume he was in director mode

The making of the film will bring George, who is also starring as George Stout, and co-stars Daniel Craig and Matt Damon, to London for more history-inspired scenes.
The story is based on the non-fiction book by Robert M. Edsel, The Monuments Men.