Credited cast: | |||
Leo Genn | ... | Narrator (voice) | |
Burgess Meredith | ... | American Soldier (voice) | |
Bernard Miles | ... | British soldier (voice) | |
![]() |
Jacques Duchesne | ... | Narrator (French version) / Récitant (voice) |
Rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
![]() |
Harold Alexander | ... | Himself (archive footage) |
Kenneth Anderson | ... | Himself (archive footage) | |
Omar N. Bradley | ... | Himself (archive footage) | |
![]() |
Alan Brooke | ... | Himself (archive footage) |
Winston Churchill | ... | Himself (archive footage) | |
![]() |
Mark W. Clark | ... | Himself (archive footage) |
![]() |
Alan Cunningham | ... | Himself (archive footage) |
![]() |
Andrew Cunningham | ... | Himself (archive footage) |
![]() |
François Darlan | ... | Himself (archive footage) |
Charles de Gaulle | ... | Himself (archive footage) | |
![]() |
James Doolittle | ... | Himself (archive footage) |
The Archive of World War Two is a series of original archive documentaries filmed under actual battle conditions by service and newsreel cameramen attached to American, British, French, Russian and enemy forces. NTSC - Black & White - 74 minutes Written by Anonymous
A lot has been written about this film.The latest being in the excellent book "Five Came Home".The British had already completed a documentary called "Africa Freed".However the US wanted to participate in this notwithstanding that they only had a relatively small number of troops in the campaign.Frank Capra came over from the States determined to remake the film which he was able to do.Much of the commentary was rewritten and scenes featuring the American army were inserted.It is clear that the cross talk between Burgess Meredith and Bernard Miles is inspired by John Ford's Battle Of Midway.Much of it is excruciating particularly the final section.The re enactments are fairly obvious and there is a credit card at the end stating this fact.Not surprisingly the film was slated by critics when it was finally released around a year after the end of the campaign.