15 hours of footage from 1943's "Memphis Belle" was discovered & restored to make film about the Flying Fortress. Will be shown one night only.
15 hours of footage from 1943's "Memphis Belle" was discovered & restored to make film about the Flying Fortress. Will be shown one night only.
Oh, sweet Jesus.
Today is the 76th anniversary of the Belle's last mission, btw.
After the 23 May theatrical release, it will be shown on HBO beginning 6 June to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy.
Memphis Belle was of course the first B17 to complete its tour and return home (to much accolades and promotion). Do you know what the the backup plane was (same mission count)?
Hell’s Angels
Social history, and motorcycles gangs, would have likely been very different if the Belle didn’t make it.
Wow. I won't get to see it, but that's great.
Pic from a few years ago when my son and I saw the B-17 stop by in the Richmond area.
Thanks for posting this, it doesn't look like I'll be able to see it in a theatre up here but I'll find a way to watch it later.
The Memphis Belle has been restored and is on permanent display at the National Museum of the USAF in Dayton, if you're ever around the area it is worth setting a day aside to walk through their massive hangers and take in the incredible collection.
Adam
It was worth it. If all you remember is the muddy, faded film of Wyler's "Memphis Belle," it's worth it. The colors are absolutely crisp. There is a kick in the guts right at the end, however.
I'll second what Appleseed said. Definitely worth it.
I would not have even known about it were it not for this site.
In reply to Appleseed :
Crap, well I missed the ending since our theater royally screwed up the showing. They started 20 minutes late...they didn't even realize the film wasn't showing until my SIL went out to tell them...and as a result, the end of the film was cut off by the automated start of the ads for the next movie. Very unfulfilling situation, but not the fault of the movie itself, but the theater screwed up royally. Don't they have anyone monitoring the movies? I ended up getting a full refund for our tickets.
Regarding the movie, it had some really neat B-17 and crew original footage, but I think they actually overdid the restoration. The "new" colors and sharpened images kinda made me lose the fact that this was original footage. Leaving it a little unkempt might have been ok. Also, it certainly wasn't up to the quality of a Ken Burns National Parks video. I felt all of the tiny snippets they created on different topics really chopped up the movie and didn't tell a nicely flowing "story". I know this wasn't intended to be a blockbuster entertainment film, but even a documentary can tell a story. In a few words...I guess I expected more...
Went to see it last night with Tom Spangler. Absolutely worth seeking out if you can, especially on the big screen. The digital restoration technique they have now are truly amazing plus the added sound. It may be too late to see in the theater but really try and get it out on DVD or HBO if you have cable. A very good tribute to all those who served. One interesting snippet was before the film started they showed some recently uncovered Nazi propaganda news real from their perspective about their brave boys going to shoot down the Americans in their B17’s who were trying to destroy the home front moral. There’s a tearjerker ending about one of the surviving eighth Air Force members they interviewed for the film as well.
I have not seen it, but it sounds like the same technique as Peter Jackson’s They Shall Not Grow Old. That was WWI, had a VERY effective restoration technique and reveal. It also did a pretty good job of making a story out of it, especially the enlistment stuff.
If you like this one, you should probably look for They Shall Not Grow Old also.
It isn't. Jackson roto-scoped quite a bit if it, I'm told, making it look almost animated. They digitally restored the new footage frame by frame. The blue line, that is in every single print of Memphis Belle? Gone. The colors are absolutely beautiful. It almost looked fake, because I was so used to seeing the mud that the original print had become. When you see it, I hope they show the "making off" footage they presented at the end. Side by side comparisons are shown, just to let you see how bad the quality had become. It realy is night and day.
If you ever get the chance, go for a ride in a B-17. I've always been in awe of what these kids did, but actually going up in a drafty, noisy bomber skinned in aluminum not much thicker than a beer can really drove it home. There was very little to slow down the fighter and antiaircraft rounds as they passed through the plane and its occupants and visibility wasn't all that great. It's amazing how those guys were even able to see the passing fighters, much less get a shot off at one, especially when they were dressed in their bulky leather suits. We once passed 500 ft over the Collings Foundation's B-17 & B-24 while we were descending into our destination. We'd slowed to 250 knots (not quite 290 mph) and we still blew past them like they were standing still (they were actually doing ~130 mph). The thought of guys trying to fight off fighters going by at 300-400 mph was sobering, made more so when I got a chance to see the world from the inside of a B-17. I seem to get dust in my eyes every time I think about it.
In reply to BenB :
130 MpH is very slow for a B17 or B24, considering they had maximum speeds nearing (or surpassing) 300. Plus, the whole point of formation flying is to have the maximum amount of guns from multiple bombers on any attacking aircraft from most any angle.
The Flying Fortress was known to take an incredible amount of damage and still stay in the air.
The "All American" after being struck by a BF 109 whose pilot was killed while attacking the "fliegendes Stachelschwein" head on.
A pretty good feel for the missions flown can be found by reading the mission journals of some of the crew of #42-38050 B-17G "Thunderbird"
While uncommon, Lt. Vern L. Moncur was able to bring his crew home safely from all 28 missions, but not without some close calls.
This is a photo from one of the last missions of the original Thunderbird, with her ground crew. She was a good old bird...
Relevant:
Last weekend I went to the Mighty 8th museum in Savannah. They only have a few aircraft (one is a B-17, of course), but the museum as a whole is excellent.
aircooled said:Memphis Belle was of course the first B17 to complete its tour and return home (to much accolades and promotion). Do you know what the the backup plane was (same mission count)?
Hell’s Angels
Social history, and motorcycles gangs, would have likely been very different if the Belle didn’t make it.
Interesting, though not surprising. It was really the first plane able to make a tour, but that's not quite the message you want to tell on such a tour.
I will have to check, I read that in a rather respected book on the 8th Air Force bombing campaign, Masters of the Air. The book has a rather good analysis of the effects of the campaign at the end. Interestingly enough it is being made into mini-series (similar to Band of Brothers) with Tom Hanks involved (renamed The Mighty Eighth). The book did not have a lot of inter-personal stuff in it as I remember (mostly followed the campaign) so the series might just draw the historical timeline from it.
In looking up the book, it looks like the mini-series is on target, almost done, and has a $500 million dollar budget... that means it could be pretty impressive (hopefully as little CGI as possible) and is expected to be released this year:
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/featured/hbos-mighty-eighth-update-getting-close.html
Here is what appears to be a very preliminary teaser (I highly suspect the effects will be much better on release considering the budget):
In reply to aircooled :
The source material, Masters of the Air, is an excellent book. By far the best single-volume account of the 8th AF I've read.
You'll need to log in to post.
