Five Came Back 1.03

The Price of Victory

This episode follows the the five directors through the end of their service and into their civilian lives after the war.

Topics discussed include

• the D-Day landing (Stevens, Ford)
• Ford's service in the war comes to an end in disgrace
• the liberation of Paris (Stevens)
• the liberation of Rome (Wyler)
• Wyler's visit to the town where he was born in France
• Wyler's service in the war comes to an end with disability (deafness)
• the liberation of Dachau (Stevens)
• end of the war in Europe
• end of the war in the Pacific
• Liberty Films (Capra, Wyler, Stevens)
• the post war films of George Stevens

Movies made by the five directors that are discussed in this episode include

• Thunderbolt (Wyler)
• Nazi Concentration Camps (Stevens)
• Know Your Enemy: Japan (Capra)
• Let There Be Light (Huston)
• They Were Expendable (Ford)
• It's a Wonderful Life (Capra)
• The Best Years of Our Lives (Wyler)
• Treasure of the Sierra Madre (Huston)

This is a well made documentary. Quite often with documentaries it feels like the same footage is shown multiple times. That is not the case here. The documentary feels a little heavy handed in places. I wonder about the talking heads. Were they given those lines to say? How did they know so much about the directors they spoke about? Had they all read the book? Were they coached at all to make sure that they didn't make inaccurate statements?