Customer Reviews

The Fighting Lady

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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 action footage is amazingly good. Narration is provided by Robert Taylor, an actor who was a Naval Reservist during the war. It is first-class in every way. I recommend it for anyone interested in life on aircraft carriers in World War II, in good color combat footage, in watching planes take off and land on a narrow, pitching deck, or WWII naval history in general. This is a bargain at twice the price.

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 episode would have been a lot easier to sell than a war documentary depicting events that occurred over a year and a half ago.

That said, THE FIGHTING LADY is pretty good. The ship's real name is never revealed. I guess (wasn't told this, either) that it's a Yorktown-class carrier. The camera gets around fairly comfortably, imparting an idea of how enclosed and self contained life on an aircraft carrier was. Crewmen bake bread, shave steaks off whole quarters of beeves. The deck hangar is as huge as a cathedral. Early on the ship's captain exhorts the crew to greater efficiency, pilots are granted the luxury of pre-battle breakfasts of steak and eggs, and the mutt mascot wags around in a miniature life vest when the ship enters more dangerous waters. The approach is admiring, the tone (with voice-over narration by Robert Taylor) is determined, and the general impression, by 1943, is one of overwhelming material superiority. By 1945 the subject had changed from `why we fight' to `how we won.'

This is the first full color WWII documentary I've seen, and one of the few produced during the war. After the ship reaches the war zone we're shown a lot of footage of Japanese planes being shot out of sky by the ship's aak-aak guns, land and sea targets strafed and bombed via movie cameras strapped onto airplane guns, and that fellow with the flags on the flight deck guiding the planes in for the always hazardous deckside landings. Although cameras are smaller, lighter, and steadier today, TFL contains some of the supplest photography I've seen in a contemporary documentary. It's visually interesting, and not the worst of the lot by a long shot.

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.

this is a very good war movie of the american carrier, but disappointed in the print as it is poor clarity at the start, the color is very deep with a lot of pink showing. the sound is down in parts, but the narration id very good by Robert taylor, well directored and the score by Newman is good. I can only give this movie 2 star. it as a lovely cover annd a good story to it. however I shall look for a better copy if available in the future

I was glad that the identity of this carrier was unknown. It truly represented the pride of the whole fleet. From the inception of moving from the east coast to the open waters of the Pacific, it provided us with a glimpse into World War II past. The daily routine and the chaos of war was really brought forth for the viewer. We the Baby-boomers are able to look at our fathers and see what they lived through. We owe so much to the men and women who said "yes, I will go." An excellent film.

I knew going in that this was a documentary about WW2 aircraft carriers, more of a compilation than about one specific ship. I found it interesting to see some of the inner workings of a fighting ship. Remember that this was released while the war was still going on so it leans on the patriotic to a large degree. The price was too good to pass up adding this to my collection. Production quality is just ok.

A contemporary propaganda documentary from World War 2. The words above are taken from the film.

For security reasons the carrier remains unnamed - but it is aso the story of all carriers that fought in the Pacific. All footage is in colour and shows everything from the barbershops and bakeries to the captain of the ship that never leaves the bridge (even takes his meals up there).

The propaganda is smooth, not much Jap bashing but more a story of the boys and men, how a crew with about 75% fresh recruits in a company of 6000 men become one of the greatest weapons of war. The film takes you from their commission - on to their first fighting at Marcus Island and on finally cumulating in the Marianas 'turkey shoot'. All this in one hour. If there is a drawback it is that the DVD is in normal TV aspect ratio but as is obvious from the credits and a few sceens the films original was wider.

War film fans will be in for a ride of their lives since all the arial combat is taken from combat films from the planes that fought (through the later part of the war a film camera was fitted to combat aircraft and started to record when the gun triggers were activated.)

I have seen a few WW2 propaganda films and this is by far the best documentary, beaten only in the overall category by "Donald Duck in Nutzi Land by Walt Disney" (Walt Disney Wartime Classics). I recommend that as well :)

So far no reviews have named this ship and the brave crew who fought for what we hold so dear today... This film contains actual combat and other aspects of life aboard "The fighting Lady" CV-10 which was the second USS Yorktown. It was named after the Yorktown (CV-5) which was sunk in the Pacific two years ealier. This was one of the most modern carriers in WWII with the much feared "Hellcat" aircraft which spelled the begining of the end for the japanese empire. It presently sits in Charleston Harbor as a museum and tribute to our past. This is a great educational film and a rare glimpse of actual history as it unfolded.

As others have written, this is a great color movie from WWII of CV-10 U.S.S. Yorktown. However, the DVD is disappointing because it is generally off-color, mostly with a distinct yellow tint. Compared to the VHS tape of this same movie that I bought at the Yorktown's museum at Patriot Point, the color is significantly worse and the detail is no better. Further, the VHS tape has a nice addendum that tells more of the story. The DVD has the Good Times disclaimer that it's from an old movie, but I'm not sure why it should be of lesser quality than a VHS tape purchased in the last few years.

This is a William Wyler documentary filmed upon an aircraft carrier built and commission after Pearl Harbor. This hour plus long documentary filmed in color was screened in theaters in 1944 about a couple months or so after the operations had taken place. It shows life aboard this newly commissioned aircraft carrier as it sails southward from its eastern seaboard home port through the Panama Canal, as she was designed too do, and onto her destination, the Pacific Theater of Operations. This gray lady goes on to see much action in the Pacific theater of operations.

We see everything from daily life of preparing meals, doing laundry, to the pilots and crews who this great class of ship was built for. And you are aware that ever person on the ship also has a combat station with preassigned duties. The documentary has the first plane landing on the new floating runway through the many hard fought engagements that comprised the attacks on Marcus Island, Kawjalen, Truk, and Battle of the Philippine Sea known as "The Marianas Turkey Shoot." All footage if actual combat footage that was extremely well done.

Robert Taylor, USNR, does the narration and does an excellent job in explaining what is not only obvious but the feelings the crew felt at the time of the filming. Though his narration does not convey the stress and boredom that waiting for actual combat entails he does share these truths. The film though obviously edited for the American public does show even the loss of life and burial at sea of the men loss in warfare. Well done documentary made to inform and garner support for war bond drive. Well worth getting though it would have been even better if released in wide screen.