The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress

1943 and the allied bombing campaign is at its peak. The Memphis Belle is a B-17 "Flying Fortress" bomber in the US 8th Air Force. Its crew have completed 24 missions - one more and they go home. A documentary film crew captured their 25th mission, from preparation on the ground onwards.

Superb documentary, directed by William Wyler. Captures very accurately the day-to-day lives of US bomber crews in Europe, including the dangers and sacrifices made. Good detail of the mission itself.

Great footage, shot specifically for the documentary. The lives of the documentary crew were also in danger...

Narration is stirring and brings home the importance of the bombers' roles, as well as how endangered the crews' lives were. Very sobering and emotional.

The documentary inspired the great 1990 feature film, Memphis Belle.

To really appreciate this documentary, one must also read "The man who flew the Memphis Belle", written by Bob Morgan the pilot of the memphis Belle, and find out what it was like to be over there. Not only did Morgan and his crew complete 25 missions over Germany with the Eight Air Force, but after a bond tour in the US, he then went to the Pacific theater where he completed 26 missions flying B-29s over Japan.

Thanks to Morgan, and men like him, we are free to see any movies we want, and give our opinions freely and in English, not German.

The pilot was 24-year-old Captain Robert K. Morgan from Asheville, North Carolina who was an industrial engineer before joining the Army in 1941; the co-pilot, whom Captain Morgan insisted was "the other pilot', was 25-year-old Captain James A. Verinis from New Haven, Connecticut, who was a business administration student at the University of Connecticut before entering the service in July of 1941; Captain Vincent B. Evans, the 23-year-old bombadier was one of the two married members of the crew, and was a fleet-truck operator in his home town of Fort Worth, Texas before enlisting in January of 1942; Captain Charles B. Leighton, from East Lansing,Michigan and a chemistry student at Ohio Wesleyan before entering the service, was the navigator. The engineer and top turret gunner was Technical Sergeant Harold P.Loch, a 23-year-old stevedore from Green Bay, Wisconsin who joined the service in November of 1941; Technical Sergeant Robert J.Hanson, a construction worker from Washington state and the other married crew member, was the radio operator. The 19-year-old "baby" of the Memphis Belle crew was waist-gunner Staff Sergeant Casimer A. Nastal who was a washing machine repairman from Detroit, Michigan with two confirmed fighter kills to his credit who thought he had more "but never had time to watch whether they went down"; Staff Sergeant Cecil H. Scott, a pressman for a rubber company in Rahway, New Jersey was the ball turret gunner and, at 27, the oldest member of the crew. One of the three cameraman was First Lieutenant Harold J. Tannenbaum, from Binghamton,New York, a World War I veteran who remained in the Navy until 1927. He re-entered the service in July,1942 when he received his commission in the Army Air Force. He was killed in action,age 46,in April of 1944 and received a posthumous Purple Heart.

Ever see paramedics resuscitate a dead man? If you have, it's impossible to take a medical drama seriously again. There is absolutely no drama in their actions. "The Memphis Belle" left me with same impression about soldiers. Although they worked in an inherently tense situation, a situation in which their lives could end on a whim, or an instant shift in kharma, it was their calmness that colored them the most. For two magnificent segments, director William Wyler plays taped intercom conversations over the already breathtaking photography. What we get are scenes that put those of ANY fictionalized war movie to shame. In the first, the camera is in the right place at the right time as he captures the waistgunner engaging a charging Messerschmidt. He lets his gun loose, and a stream of tracers goes sailing off into oblivion, wreathing the enemy plane. Then a few hit, then a few more and then the enemy fighter is engulfed in a cloud of black smoke. As he watches the plane drop with a sickening whistle, he hollers over the intercom in joy: "ha, ha, I got him, I got him." The Captain, annoyed, barks back: "don't yell on the damn intercom!" No joy, no bravado, just the grim realities of war. In the second, the camera captures a foundering B-17 turning on its side and slowly nosing down in a beautiful arc. Their response: {calmly} "a B-17 is goin' down at four o'clock" The crew chants in irritation "come on you guys, get out of there. What are you fellows asleep in there, get out!" Finally, two or three parachutes unfurl, closely resembling a Daffodil blooming. War turns out to be beautiful. Kurosawa's "Ran" and Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" argued this same point. But they were just movies. This film with its countless shots of the clear blue skies and the appealing flak patterns, proves it to anyone who dares to believe. In the film, there was not one patriotic utterance, or a single pean to heroic sacrifice, at least not from the men who flew the planes. These men were not heroes, nor were they warriors, or even soldiers in the sense that we portray those things. They were EMPLOYEES of the U.S. Army Air Corps. They did a job, and did it only because the "Boss" told them to. Even if they hated it (and you get the sense that they did), they did it. That impression never leaves me. The human species and its ability to accept any situation and get used to it. From now on, the passions of the soldiers in all the "blockbuster" war flicks will make me sick. Why dramatize that which is inherently full of tension. but we know most people that write war flicks have never been in jeopardy, so what do you expect. "The Memphis Belle" requires no histrionics or flowery dialogue to be the greatest war movie ever made.

William Wyler's Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress featuring rare color film of WW 2 is another outstanding Why We Fight Documentary showcasing a B-17 and it's crew on its final bombing run over Germany. In this brief doc Wyler not only captures some of the most harrowing air combat footage in history but also gives us an outstanding overview of what it takes to mount a bombing raid, recognizing the importance of all involved, the shared bond of a diverse group.

Some of the outstanding camerawork in the tight confines of the fortress puts you in the waist gunner position with a Messerschmitt, guns blazing roars at you while ominous flak explodes around "Belle" the chaos verbalized over headsets.

Well edited in displaying the might of the Allies and the stoic resolve and everyday courage of its military "Memphis Belle" is more than just propaganda and an outstanding document of WW2 but a gripping suspense with a lot more on the line than a fiction.