The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress (1944)
Directed by William Wyler

Plot Summary: Documentary about the 25th and last bombing mission of a Flying Fortress, the "Memphis Belle". The "Memphis Belle" took part in a bombing raid on the ship yards in Kiel, Germany. On their way they encountered heavy AA fire and interceptors.

Not to be confused with the dramatised film Memphis Belle made in 1990 this is a documentary film actually made under fire in 1944. Though it tells the story of the 25th & last mission of the Memphis Belle & her crew it was actually filmed during the last five missions & edited to look as if it was filmed on a single mission.

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 karma, it was their calmness that coloured 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 fictionalised war movie to shame. There is also something curiously moving about the transition from the smooth, controllable base footage to the elliptical chaos of the bombing and subsequent dogfight. We are told at the beginning that much of this footage was lost because of over-exposure. In the first, the camera is in the right place at the right time as he captures the waist gunner engaging a attacking Messerschmitt. 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 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 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 seem Contrived. 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 one of greatest war movies ever made.

Marvel at the sheer fact (not in a history book, or a film) of history in motion, before your very eyes. Mere statistics now walk and talk and smile like actual people.

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.

Memphis Bell Trivia: William Wyler was asked by the Captain of the Bell what alternate plans he had if the Bell should be shot down during filming. Wyler replied they had another Flying Fortress named "Hell's Angle's" as back up should this happen. Wyler lost the hearing in one ear and became partially deaf in the other due to the noise and concussion of the flak bursting around the " Memphis Bell". Some of the footage was lost and portions of the film are actually recreations shot over Santa Monica, California. Of the 36 planes that took part in the Bell's final mission only 21 returned to base, some severely damaged. For more detailed information click on Bell Missions Log .

In 2001 the United States Library of Congress deemed this film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

The crew of the Memphis Belle beat the odds with their 25th combat mission on May 17, 1943, against the naval yard at Lorient, France. Interestingly, this raid was the Belle's 24th combat mission--the original crew occasionally flew missions on other 91st BG (H) B-17s (and others took the Belle on some missions also). So, on May 19, the Memphis Belle flew its 25th combat mission on a strike against Kiel, Germany, while manned by a different crew.

Upon their return to the United States in June 1943, the Memphis Belle's crew flew the aircraft across the country on a three-month war bond and morale boosting tour. With the bond tour and the 1944 William Wyler documentary film titled The Memphis Belle -- depicting actual combat footage -- the aircraft and its crew became widely known and celebrated. In 1990 a major motion picture of the same name added to their fame.

William Wyler, who directed this film had his first unqualified success for Metro Goldwyn Mayer with "Dodsworth" (1936), an adaptation of Sinclair Lewis' portrait of a disintegrating American marriage, a marvelous film that still resonates with audiences in the 21st century. He received his first Best Director Oscar nomination for the film. The film was nominated for Best Picture, the first of seven straight years in which a Wyler-directed movie would earn that accolade, culminating with Oscars for both Wyler and "Mrs. Miniver" in 1942. "Mrs. Miniver", one of the all time movie greats, is the story of a middle-class English family at the start of the war when Britain stood alone. Made as a propaganda film to keep the moral of a beleaguered British Nation high, the film's subsequent success had a profound effect on American sympathy towards the plight of the British. "Mrs. Miniver" was the first movie to receive five acting nominations at the Academy Awards.

In 1946 Wyler would direct another movie great, "The Best Years of Our Lives" which takes an uncompromising look at the problems of three returning veterans from the war to small town America, having to deal with readjusting to civilian life, unemployment & broken marriages.

This historic aircraft has it's own web site at http://www.memphisbelle.com/

The documentary film The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress can be seen in it's entirety (running time 42 minutes) at http://www.guba.com/watch/3000003917.

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