Combat Zones
The story of the exploits of the five film directors continues in this episode. The story picks up where it left off and goes up to just before D-Day in 1944. The same talking heads that appeared in the first episode are also in this one. Once again there are archival interviews the five directors at the center of this story.
Topics discussed include
- difference between war in the movies and the reality of war
- use of animaiton in the Why We Fight series and in the Private Snafu shorts
- Wyler's abortive role in making a movie about Black soldiers in the US Army
- the spill over from Ford's civilian working relationship with Daryl Zanuck
- the 1943 Academy Awards handed out for Best Documentary Feature
- most of the documentaries they made were not box office hits
- some documentaries include recreations and some did not
- the success of Mrs. Miniver in England
- differences between the way Germans and Japanese were portrayed on screen
- Stevens felt left out but that was about to change
Movies made by the five directors that are discussed in this episode include
- Capra - Why We Fight: Prelude to War
- Huston - Across the Pacific
- Huston - Report from the Aleutians
- Ford - The Battle of Midway
- Wyler - Story of the Memphis Belle
- Capra - Why We Fight: The Battle for Russia
- Ford - December 7th
- Capra - Why We Fight: The Negro Soldier
- Huston - Battle of San Pietro
Once again this is very well done. The big advantage over reading the book is getting to see footage of the movies as they are talking about them.
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