The Fighting Lady

The Story of a WWII Aircraft carrier--in Color--A Must-See
This 62-minute color DVD is taken from a war documentary done in 1944 and meant for Home Front theater audiences. It is absolutely superb. First of all, it is directed by Oscar-winning director William Wyler, who also did the 'Memphis Belle' news documentary. Second, it is carefully put together to give viewers a feeling for what life was like on a great American aircraft carrier in the Pacific in World War II. Third, the whole thing is in exceptionally good color. The film follows the 'Fighting Lady' (not her real name, because of the war and because it represented all the carriers) from the time the first planes arrive and land on her decks through a series of hard-fought campaigns, including Kwajalein, Truk and the 'Marianas Turkey Shoot'. The footage is excellent, whether showing the daily lives of men on the ship, from the captain to the pilots to the cooks and dishwashers, or showing actual combat footage taken from the gun cameras of American fighters and fighter-bombers...

The Fighting Lady
Released in late 1944, winner of an Academy Award as Best Documentary in 1945, William Wyler's THE FIGHTING LADY portrays life aboard a newly commissioned aircraft carrier as it wends its way southward from its eastern seaboard home port, crosses the Panama Canal, and streams westward to join the naval war in the Pacific theater of operations. Finally, we are on board planes and boat during a number of enemy engagements.

The War Office commissioned a number of these documentaries during the war. They were made by top-notch Hollywood directors, including John Huston, John Ford, and Wyler. Probably the best known of these is Frank Capra's early, five-part `Why We Fight' series, the first of which was released in 1942. I've read that audiences grew increasingly tired of them. War-weariness had set in, newsreels delivered much more current information, and the typical 60-minute run time was hard to fit onto a playbill. A Saint or a Boston Blackie or even a Blondie...

Stupendous
An outstanding example of the wartime documentary, in color no less. Not exactly politically correct, but what do you expect? We didn't start the damn war.

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