Five Came Back
                       
Director: Various
Year: 2017
Rating: 8.0
This is an absolutely terrific documentary that combines history, biography and cinema. When America entered into WW 2 to fight the Axis powers, the country mobilized. Millions enlisted, women went to work in the factories and Hollywood joined in the war effort. Many in the Hollywood community went off to war like Jimmy Stewart and Clark Gable, others like Hope and Marlene Dietrich entertained the troops and sold war bonds. It seems to take war for this country to come together. This documentary focuses on five directors who volunteered to film the war giving up their careers for a few years and endangering their lives. All of them were the cream of the crop at the time. This is in three-parts for 3.5 hours.

 

William Wyler was at the top of his game after directing since 1925 with Jezebel (1938), Wuthering Heights (1939), The Letter (1940), Little Foxes (1941) and Mrs. Miniver (1942). When he received the Oscar for Mrs. Miniver, he was in England flying with crews in bombers to make Memphis Belle. He was Jewish and felt it was something he had to do. He then went to Italy and filmed the surrender of Rome. Next, he filmed B-25 bombers and lost much of his hearing. He then was forced to go home.

 

John Huston finally reached the director's chair with The Maltese Falcon and Across the Pacific before he first headed to the Aleutians and filmed the soldiers stationed there, then off to Italy to recreate the battle for San Pietro and after the war made Let There Be Light about the soldiers recuperating from the war. The military would not let it be shown till 1981 because they found it so distressing.

 

John Ford was an institution in Hollywood and was coming off Grapes of Wrath, How Green Was My Valley and Young Mr. Lincoln. He was at Midway and produced The Battle of Midway. He was on the beaches during D-Day and the slaughter broke him down. He went on a three-day bender and they had to send him back to the states.

 

George Stevens was with Ford on D-Day. He stayed with the military to the very end. Went ahead to Paris to be there when the allied army came it, through the Battle of the Bulge and then Dachau. The film of Dachau will make you want to cry. Before the war, Stevens was known primarily for comedies - Swing Time, A Damsel in Distress, The Talk of the Town and The More the Merrier. After seeing what he saw, he said he could never make another comedy.

 

Frank Capra had a number of classics already under his belt - It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Lost Horizons, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and You Can't Take it with you. He was the organizer of the war films - handing out assignments and produced a series of films called Why We Fight.

It is in its way a remarkable story, getting into the nitty gritty of battling the military in what could be shown, their desire to be part of something so big and record it. They saw lots of death and courage. Caught it on camera. When they came home, they had to prove themselves again as directors. There were no welcoming committees.


Wyler's first film back is one of the greatest in my opinion, The Best Years of Our Lives, Huston directed The Treasure of Sierra Madre, Ford made a war film, They Were Expendable, with Robert Montgomery who had been a PT boat captain. Stevens began a comedy with Ingrid Bergman, but had to give it up. I can't make comedies anymore. Instead, he went on to direct A Place in the Sun, Shane, Giant and The Diary of Anne Frank over the next ten years. Capra was perhaps the saddest story. He directed It's a Wonderful Life about the importance of every single life. It flopped and pretty much ended his career he was so depressed.  This is packed with information and clips with some of today's directors telling the story along with narrator Meryl Streep. They are Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Lawrence Kasdan, Guillermo del Toro and Paul Greengrass giving their thoughts. This is simply great and hits some real emotional moments that will surprise you.