Five Came Back

In active service, the directors pursue their cinematic vision while dealing with government bureaucracy.

Mouse over thumbnail for slideshow

Or scroll and see one by one:

{\an8}[narrator] In September,

#2

{\an8}[Coppola] Eventually, he was sent to this Aleutian outpost

#3

{\an8}That is, of course, ex-dirt farmers, ex-bookkeepers, ex-college men.

#4

{\an8}Listen, Dale, this is your first time up. Don't try to win this war all by yourself.

#5

{\an8}volunteers for his greatest role:

#6 #7

{\an8}but from the War Department directly,

#8

{\an8}[Greengrass] Ford didn't help Wyler in London

#9

{\an8}But Zanuck had his own car, his own entourage, his own rules.

#10 #11

{\an8}-Here are the keys. -Where are you going?

#12

{\an8}and, in some ways, the most impactful for history.

#13

{\an8}[uplifting music]

#14

{\an8}The American people should not see this picture.

#15

{\an8}with Ford being a quintessential American filmmaker,

#16

{\an8}and four took home Oscars.

#17

{\an8}the Japs offer no formal resistance to the establishing of beachheads.

#18

{\an8}before Hollywood features.

#19

{\an8}[narrator] Desert Victory not only made the American filmmaking effort in the war

#20

{\an8}[narrator] Stevens was still in Algiers when he received orders to take a crew,

#21

{\an8}this was real filmmaking.

#22

{\an8}But ammunition alone was shipped 520 different times.

#23

{\an8}324th Squadron, 91st Heavy Bombardment Group.

#24

{\an8}Wyler's wife Talli accepted on his behalf from Frank Capra.

#25

{\an8}So high you can't be seen from the ground with the naked eye.

#26 #27 #28 #29

{\an8}becoming the first movie in history to be reviewed

#30

{\an8}He was now working closely with director Anatole Litvak

#31

{\an8}one of the most fascinating things that is created is Private Snafu.

#32

{\an8}To work on scripts for the shorts, he enlisted an editorial cartoonist

#33 #34

{\an8}"I am not only concerned with these films helping us survive the war.

#35

{\an8}and I think he believed that he could,

#36

{\an8}and they'll come over here and blow that bastion of military might

#37

{\an8}he chose to spotlight a diverse selection of men.

#38

{\an8}[del Toro] As they go along, I think Moss becomes the backbone of the project.

#39

{\an8}This book was written 20 years ago.

#40 #41

{\an8}We got to the threshold of Liri Valley,

#42 #43

{\an8}We were attached to them.

#44

{\an8}And finally, we got down to colonels.

#45 #46

{\an8}[Coppola] I myself am less critical of the fact

#47

{\an8}and the adventure connected with combat,

#48

{\an8}and which was the most top-secret operation of the war,

#49

{\an8}[Greengrass] It was the largest combined operation in history at that point.

#50