Customer Reviews

Report from the Aleutians

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Although the fighting in the Aleutian Islands ultimately proved to be a sideshow in the war in the Pacific, "Report from the Aleutians" offers dramatic and compelling visual testimony of how difficult air operations in the islands southwest of Alaska were. The film, produced by Hollywood great John Huston, set the geographic stage (lots of ice, wind, and rain!), and it demonstrated the difficulty of supplying operations from the island chain. The viewer first joins the planning for a bombing mission against the Japanese garrison at Kiska and then flies the mission with the crew. There are good operational scenes of B-24s, B-17s, P-39s, and P-38s -- and the takeoffs from PSP runways covered by inches of water are especially dramatic. As is common with many of the wartime documentaries, there are interesting sequences to show inter-service cooperation and the work of all the maintainers, bomb loaders, and other supporters including the Chaplain. There's even music -- a group of airmen singing the old service song borrowed from the Royal Air Force, "I've Got Sixpence." Yes, this is a film well worth watching.

-30-

Even after 60 years, John Huston's Academy Award winning documentary still holds up. The color film is beautiful and the bombing run over the island of Kiska is among the most dramatic you will see in a documentary about the war. And while it is clearly a one-sided piece of propaganda designed to boost morale back home, even that is interesting in its own way. Also, footage from his film pops up in just about every Aleutian Island documentary you will see, most recently the PBS film Red White Black & Blue and The History Channel's "Bloody Aleutians," which isn't on Amazon for some reason...

I was expecting a real documentary, hoping for some information for a book I am writing. It's set in the Aleutians during World War II and I was looking for geographical footage of Attu that would give me a better sense of the island. This was not that at all and it didn't help that the sound quality was so poor I had trouble understanding three words out of a dozen. Nor do I really understand why the other features were included. The Aleutian war was not a carrier war and jet technology was in the developmental stage. What did give me a good sense of how the war was up to and during the battle of Attu island was Brian Garfield's Thousand Mile War, an historical account that reads like a novel. (See my separate review for this.)

However, for what it was, Signal Corp propaganda to bolster morale back home, the editing and footage in Report From The Aleutians was well done. That it ignored 1) the Aleutian stare and the many other cases of mental illness that the truly horrible living conditions fostered in our troops, 2) such historical facts as our men not being issued cold weather clothing or boots, and 3) the extreme problems in communication that led to a number of rather tragic blunders, is something to be expected in a wartime production. What is sad about this is that measured against the truth of what our troops faced, their accomplishments were truly heroic.

I really appreciated getting this DVD which is superior to the videos I had purchased previously. It was clear, and in perfect condition. I was interested especially in this news item, because my father headed Bomber Command in the Aleutian theatre prior to his service in the Pacific. I would like to purchase other copies, if possible, for my children. Thank you.