The Battle of Midway

Battle of Midway, The (1942)

*** (out of 4)

Henry Fonda and Donald Crisp add narration to the battle scenes shot by John Ford where the director was even wounded by enemy fire. There's really no story being told in this documentary but instead we just see a part of history in beautiful Technicolor. God knows everyone has seen countless war films but there's something unique seeing real ones here. They certainly look a lot different than what we've seen in countless fake movies.

Ford's World War 2 shorts are out there in various forms ranging from public domain companies to the Ford at Fox set. Quality various but the version in the Fox set is the best.

This incredible compilation of footage won an Academy Award. It was shot by a crew of war cameramen that included John Ford, who I understand actually took some of the footage himself! While watching this, remember that you generally can effectively aim either a camera or a weapon at any one time, but not both and, as a cameraman has his eye to the lense while shooting, that means that he's exposed to all of the nasty stuff flying all around him with little or no cover! That's called "grace under pressure". They got an Oscar and deserved a medal! Highly recommended.

This Oscar-winning documentary – by one of the most revered American film-makers who would have celebrated his birthday on the day I watched this – is quite celebrated, having even been treated to a 2-page spread in the early 1980s British periodical "The Movies". However, the passage of time has not been at all kind to it: not only, at just 18 minutes, does it not dwell in sufficient detail on the famous conflict that purportedly changed the course of the Pacific War…but the whole is lent the director's typically homespun – read sappy – approach, which really dates it! The film obviously retains historical value for its rare colour footage of the battle (some of which was actually incorporated in the star-studded 1976 Hollywood rendition of these same events, MIDWAY!) and, for the record, Ford regulars Henry Fonda and Jane Darwell supply the intermittent narration.

This is a great, short (less than 20 minutes)film of one part of the key battle of the war in the Pacific. Keep it mind, the Battle of Midway was fought in early June, 1942. The darkest days of the Pacific War for America. Pearl Harbor, the Phillipines, Bataan, Corregidor, Wake Island; all American defeats. It is, indeed, a "propaganda" film. Or, at least it was turned into one after John Ford shot it. But the film of the combat itself is no propaganda piece. It took a lot of courage for Ford to stick his cameras out and film while hundreds of Japanese planes struck the island. Many Marines died in the bombing. Ford could easily have been killed. Of necessity, Ford could only film the land portion of the battle, which was an attempt by Japanese naval forces to reduce the island's defenses and then conduct a landing, possibly eventually putting Hawaii in jeopardy with a new, forward Japanese base on Midway. The major part of the battle was a naval battle between carrier forces. An "incredible victory" in the title of the Walter Lord book. Four Japanese aircraft carriers, miles from the filming on Midway itself, were sunk. It was the begging of the end of Japan. The stiff resistance put up by the Marines on Midway, captured by Ford, forced decisions by the Japanese High Command that ultimately led to the sinking of their carriers. Historically interesting film.

This documentary, "The Battle of Midway," is a short film shot during the actual combat on June 4, 1942. The Battle lasted from June 3 to June 7, but the air attack on Midway Island was on June 4. This shows the bombing of the U.S. airfield and positions on Midway. It also shows the defenders in action, and one Japanese plane trailing smoke after it was hit by ground fire.

What is most striking about this film is the concussion of the actual bombs, which have a horizontal spreading impact with huge destruction. What one sees in most movies in which battle scenes are staged, is ground explosions that blow up laterally and dissipate in the air with much less near damage.

Hollywood's John Ford was a Navy officer who directed this and other films for the Navy during WW II. Henry Fonda is the principal narrator. There isn't much by way of aerial combat or Japanese aircraft pictured here. Other Armed Forces photography would capture that. But this documentary earns its stars for the men who shot the film while under heavy enemy fire.