John Ford Goes to War
When World War II broke out, John Ford, in his forties, commissioned in the Naval Reserve, was put in charge of the Field Photographic Unit by Bill Donavan, director of the soon-to-be-OSS. During the war, Field Photo made at least 87 documentaries, many with Ford's signature attention to heroism and loss, and many from the point of view of the fighting soldier and sailor. Talking heads discuss Ford's life and personality, the ways that the war gave him fulfillment, and the ways that his war films embodied the same values and conflicts that his Hollywood films did. Among the films profiled are "Battle of Midway," "Torpedo Squadron," "Sexual Hygiene," and "December 7."
Cast
Kris Kristofferson
Narrator (voice)
Peter Bogdanovich
Self - Interviewee
Oliver Stone
Self - Interviewee
Andrew Sarris
Self - Interviewee
Leonard Maltin
Self - Interviewee
F. X. Feeney
Self - Interviewee
Storyline
When World War II broke out, John Ford, in his forties, commissioned in the Naval Reserve, was put in charge of the Field Photographic Unit by Bill Donavan, director of the soon-to-be-OSS. During the war, Field Photo made at least 87 documentaries, many with Ford's signature attention to heroism and loss, and many from the point of view of the fighting soldier and sailor. Talking heads discuss Ford's life and personality, the ways that the war gave him fulfillment, and the ways that his war films embodied the same values and conflicts that his Hollywood films did. Among the films profiled are "Battle of Midway," "Torpedo Squadron," "Sexual Hygiene," and "December 7."
Recommended
Why We Fight: Prelude to War
1942
The Battle of San Pietro
1945
Night Will Fall
2014
Five Came Back
2017
Nazi Concentration Camps
1945
The Bloody Hundredth
2024
Directed by John Ford
1971
The Soviet Story
2008
The Battle of Midway
1942
The War on Democracy
2007
The Atomic Cafe
1982
For Sama
2019
More Like This
Libere
2017
The Mauthausen Resistance
2021
Eyewitness: D-Day
2019
The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened?
2015
Peter Eisenman: Building Germany's Holocaust Memorial
2009
Liberators Take Liberties, part 1
1992
Inside a Nazi Mind: The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell
2023
Visions in the Dark: The Life of Pinky Thompson
2017
Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki
2017
Fritz Lang, le cercle du destin - Les films allemands
2004
The Smuggler and Her Charges
2016
Francisco Boix: A Photographer in Hell
2000