Spent last night watching the documentary “George Stevens: From D-Day to Berlin.” Hollywood director George Stevens led the SHAEF Motion Picture Group from D-Day to the end of the war. The team were all Hollywood Pros, and 90% of the documentary footage you have seen of that campaign was theirs. Stevens also took his 16mm camera and 10,000 feet of Kodachrome film. He took the only color footage of the campaign, and this documentary was made from that by his son after he died. I saw it in a theater here when it first came out in 1994 for the 50th anniversary.
Thanks for the link, Tom. I worked as a lowly publicity person for Stevens at the old Culver City Desilu lot right after college on The Greatest Story Ever Told.” A perk was getting to know him. I once sat in a corner listening while he and David Lean swapped stories.
Thank you Tom; I have seen some of George Steven's color footage at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in DC but, never the completed documentary; George Stevens" From D-Day to Berlin".
The Dachau footage was or is (not certain now) an Exhibit at the U.S. Museum.
My understanding is that Stevens' color film of Dachau & Deben was used as Exhibits at the Nuremberg Trials. I am not certain but, perhaps more footage was used at Nuremberg under Film ID# 4291, #4292, #4293, 94, 95 & 96.
Thanks for bringing this up, Tom. I'm going to find today. I spent the 6th watching Spielberg's Private Ryan. The biggest nit I can pick with that film is that Tom Hanks and his men didn't make the "impossible" climb up Pointe du Hoc .
The only part of Private Ryan I can stand is the first act, on Omaha Beach, which had to be the most on-the-nose depiction of hell ever put on-sceen. Charles Durning, who was there on the beach at age 18, was invited to a screening of the movie by Spielberg; he ran out of the room 15 minutes in and refused to go back. The staging of the second act, the "search," is pure Hollywood WW2 movie, and I would have shot the coward in the face the first time he wouldn't pick up his gun and use it in the third act - the "urban battle." His cowardice got his own side nearly wiped out. I watched the whole movie once, when it first came out 26 years ago.
WOW. That was amazing. I didn't even know this existed. Random thoughts
--some of those soldiers were so YOUNG, particularly the German prisoners. I know that towards the end of the war some as young as 15 were drafted.
--Since D Day was a surprise, I wondered what happened to the civilians in those ruined buildings in Normandy. How long did it take them to get to safety? About 20,000 civilians died, Google tells me. About 3000 civilians during the Battle of the Bulge.
--some of the shots of young kids --toddlers--(at least in 1945) must have been born within months or weeks of me. I was born just a few days before D-Day. (No pictures of babies in 1944, thank god. )
--that Christmas tree with the grenade
--we have all been sheltered from the worst images of those concentration camp victims--that pile of bodies at Dachau. In color, much more real than anything in books. I've visited Dachau. It is sobering in the extreme even now. But that---no words.
As the film notes, much of Eastern Europe didn't really remain "free." The Cold War engulphed us all. And now the news says that the EU elections are going right wing. When will they ever learn, when will they ever, learn.
I'm not so sure...when I think of watching TV in the fifties, I remember a vast amount of very graphic concentration camp footage. Gabby Hayes and Disney are both close seconds, but it's those piles of bodies I remember most clearly.
me too. But the ones in the color film are much more shattering. I think it is true that color adds an immediacy that black and white doesn't. You can see it particularly on either "colorized" or "taken in color but printed in black and white" of pictures from a long time ago. Just scenes of the 1800s look like people, suddenly, not grainy dolls.
Truly amazing footage. The incredible destruction of structures throughout the European theater, including in German towns and cities, is a stark reminder of what we're seeing now in Ukraine. May Putin be defeated and rebuilding commence before too long in Ukraine as has been accomplished in the European towns, villages and cities impacted by fighting during WW II.
The terrifying thing is that the risk of a nuclear exchange goes up almost exponentially if Putin takes Ukraine and ends up at the borders of Poland and Romania, both NATO countries. The SOB does not "want" Ukraine - Ukraine is only the way stop to his real goal, the Vistula River and Warsaw, and the Bessarabian Gap in Romania's Carpathian Mountains - Putin and the Russians feel they must have these positions to defend Russia from attacks from the west. WE are fighting the cheapest war in our history in supplying Ukraine - 75% of what we have sent them is old stuff we have not planned on using for many years, and much of it was in storage pending disposal or destruction.....
Thank yoy Tom, that sounds fantastic. I was probably out in the middle of the Pacific all June and July of '94. I can't remember even hearing about it.
Thank you, Tom for this link, my intern et connection broke just before they entered Berlin, but that's ok as I have seen this repeatedly as we got newsreels shown in movie theaters. and later when television became "the thing" We are so fortunate to see history as it happened.
they showed it on TCM a few years ago. you're right about the effect the color has on a viewer. black and white aestheticizes everything, which (for me, at any rate) feels like its whole point. if you start to examine the whole issue, it seems remarkable how long it took some of the best directors to start using color, although a lot of that probably had to do with how cumbersome it was to shoot in Technicolor. speaking of Technicolor, there's also a really wonderful documentary called "Cameraman" about Jack Cardiff, who is still probably the best Technicolor DP. I've seen it on Netflix and it's also probably floating around YouTube.
I just checked...it's free on Prime and four bucks on YouTube. worth it, if you're a movie freak.
Thanks for the link, Tom. I worked as a lowly publicity person for Stevens at the old Culver City Desilu lot right after college on The Greatest Story Ever Told.” A perk was getting to know him. I once sat in a corner listening while he and David Lean swapped stories.
Lucky you!
my own sentiment as well...
Thank you Tom; I have seen some of George Steven's color footage at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in DC but, never the completed documentary; George Stevens" From D-Day to Berlin".
The Dachau footage was or is (not certain now) an Exhibit at the U.S. Museum.
My understanding is that Stevens' color film of Dachau & Deben was used as Exhibits at the Nuremberg Trials. I am not certain but, perhaps more footage was used at Nuremberg under Film ID# 4291, #4292, #4293, 94, 95 & 96.
Super Link 🙏🏻
Yes, it was used at both. Seeing a concentration camp and the aftermath in color is totally different from B&W, which can "distance" the viewer.
Thanks for bringing this up, Tom. I'm going to find today. I spent the 6th watching Spielberg's Private Ryan. The biggest nit I can pick with that film is that Tom Hanks and his men didn't make the "impossible" climb up Pointe du Hoc .
Keep up your good work, my friend.
The only part of Private Ryan I can stand is the first act, on Omaha Beach, which had to be the most on-the-nose depiction of hell ever put on-sceen. Charles Durning, who was there on the beach at age 18, was invited to a screening of the movie by Spielberg; he ran out of the room 15 minutes in and refused to go back. The staging of the second act, the "search," is pure Hollywood WW2 movie, and I would have shot the coward in the face the first time he wouldn't pick up his gun and use it in the third act - the "urban battle." His cowardice got his own side nearly wiped out. I watched the whole movie once, when it first came out 26 years ago.
Today I started watching Band of Brothers. When it came out, I didn’t have HBO, but it’s now on Netflix.
It's the ten best war movies ever done. The one show I have ever seen where everything was done right, to perfection.
Thanks for this - the first time around, I didn’t appreciate it as much as now - too much personal junk slapping around. I look forward to watching!
WOW. That was amazing. I didn't even know this existed. Random thoughts
--some of those soldiers were so YOUNG, particularly the German prisoners. I know that towards the end of the war some as young as 15 were drafted.
--Since D Day was a surprise, I wondered what happened to the civilians in those ruined buildings in Normandy. How long did it take them to get to safety? About 20,000 civilians died, Google tells me. About 3000 civilians during the Battle of the Bulge.
--some of the shots of young kids --toddlers--(at least in 1945) must have been born within months or weeks of me. I was born just a few days before D-Day. (No pictures of babies in 1944, thank god. )
--that Christmas tree with the grenade
--we have all been sheltered from the worst images of those concentration camp victims--that pile of bodies at Dachau. In color, much more real than anything in books. I've visited Dachau. It is sobering in the extreme even now. But that---no words.
As the film notes, much of Eastern Europe didn't really remain "free." The Cold War engulphed us all. And now the news says that the EU elections are going right wing. When will they ever learn, when will they ever, learn.
I'm not so sure...when I think of watching TV in the fifties, I remember a vast amount of very graphic concentration camp footage. Gabby Hayes and Disney are both close seconds, but it's those piles of bodies I remember most clearly.
me too. But the ones in the color film are much more shattering. I think it is true that color adds an immediacy that black and white doesn't. You can see it particularly on either "colorized" or "taken in color but printed in black and white" of pictures from a long time ago. Just scenes of the 1800s look like people, suddenly, not grainy dolls.
Truly amazing footage. The incredible destruction of structures throughout the European theater, including in German towns and cities, is a stark reminder of what we're seeing now in Ukraine. May Putin be defeated and rebuilding commence before too long in Ukraine as has been accomplished in the European towns, villages and cities impacted by fighting during WW II.
The terrifying thing is that the risk of a nuclear exchange goes up almost exponentially if Putin takes Ukraine and ends up at the borders of Poland and Romania, both NATO countries. The SOB does not "want" Ukraine - Ukraine is only the way stop to his real goal, the Vistula River and Warsaw, and the Bessarabian Gap in Romania's Carpathian Mountains - Putin and the Russians feel they must have these positions to defend Russia from attacks from the west. WE are fighting the cheapest war in our history in supplying Ukraine - 75% of what we have sent them is old stuff we have not planned on using for many years, and much of it was in storage pending disposal or destruction.....
Nice gift. Thank you.
Netflix has "Five Came Back" about five Hollywood movie makers who enlisted to record the war. Well worth one's time.
yeah, it's an EXCELLENT series. and the book it's based on is also very, very worth one's time.
Thank yoy Tom, that sounds fantastic. I was probably out in the middle of the Pacific all June and July of '94. I can't remember even hearing about it.
Thanks for the tip!
Thanks! Will download it.
Thank you, Tom for this link, my intern et connection broke just before they entered Berlin, but that's ok as I have seen this repeatedly as we got newsreels shown in movie theaters. and later when television became "the thing" We are so fortunate to see history as it happened.
they showed it on TCM a few years ago. you're right about the effect the color has on a viewer. black and white aestheticizes everything, which (for me, at any rate) feels like its whole point. if you start to examine the whole issue, it seems remarkable how long it took some of the best directors to start using color, although a lot of that probably had to do with how cumbersome it was to shoot in Technicolor. speaking of Technicolor, there's also a really wonderful documentary called "Cameraman" about Jack Cardiff, who is still probably the best Technicolor DP. I've seen it on Netflix and it's also probably floating around YouTube.
I just checked...it's free on Prime and four bucks on YouTube. worth it, if you're a movie freak.
One interesting sequence shows the Americans meeting the Soviets, on quite friendly terms.
Torgau-on-the-Elbe was probably the most tightly-staged event in the entire war.
I don’t know, I understand the MacArthur landing in the Philippines had quite a few takes before they got the splashes right.
Four, but it only involved 10 people and they all spoke English.