The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress (1944)

Director:

William Wyler

Writers:

Jerome Chodorov (writer)
Lester Koenig (writer)

Release Date:

13 April 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | History | War

Tagline:

Fly and Fight with the Crew on an Actual Bombing Mission Over Germany!

Plot:

Documentary about the 25th and last bombing mission of a B17, the "Memphis Belle". The "Memphis Belle"...

Plot Keywords:

Bomber | Propaganda | Aviation | Military | Public Domain

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Robert Morgan	...	Himself (pilot)
Vince Evans	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jacob L. Devers	...	Himself (commander, European theatre)
Ira C. Eaker	...	Himself (commander, 8th Air Force)
Haywood Hansell	...	Himself (USAAF)
Technical Sergeant Robert J. Hanson	...	Himself (radio operator on The Memphis Belle)
Eugene Kern	...	Narrator
King George VI	...	Himself (congratulates crew of Memphis Belle)
Captain Charles B. Leighton	...	Himself (Navigator on the Memphis belle)
Technical Sergeant Harold P. Loch	...	Himself (Engineer and top turret gunner on The Memphis belle)
Staff Sergeant Casimer A. Nastal	...	Himself ( 19 year-old waist gunner on The Mephis Belle)
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother	...	Herself (congratulates crew of Memphis Belle)
Staff Sergeant John P. Quinlan	...	Himself
Staff Sergeant Cecil H. Scott	...	Himself (turrett gunner and oldest crew member on The Memphis Belle)
Captain James A. Verinis	...	Himself (Co-pilot on The Memphis Belle)
Staff Sergeant Clarence E. Winchell	...	Himself - waist gunner on The Memphis Belle
Stanley Wray	...	Himself (group commander)

Also Known As:

The Memphis Belle (USA) (short title)

Runtime:

45 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

RAF Bassingbourn, Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire, England, UK

Company:

First Motion Picture Unit, United States Army Air Forces

Trivia:

Some of the footage was lost and portions of the film are actually recreations shot over Santa Monica, California.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Zomergasten: (#3.1)" (1990)

You'll never take war movies seriously again.

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 kharma, it was their calmness that colored 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 fictionalized war movie to shame. In the first, the camera is in the right place at the right time as he captures the waistgunner engaging a charging Messerschmidt. 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 beautiful 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 (and you get the sense that they did), 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 will make me sick. 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 the greatest war movie ever made.