Thunderbolt (1947)

A WW2 documentary on the P-47 Thunderbolt fighter/bomber pilots in missions (Operation Strangle) from their base in Corsica to Northern Italy in 1944, destroying railroads, bridges, trains, vehicles and hard targets.

Directors:

John Sturges (as Capt John Sturges), William Wyler (as Lt Col William Wyler)

Writer:

Lester Koenig (as Master Sergeant Lester Koenig)

Stars:

James Stewart, Lloyd Bridges, Eugene Kern

Cast

Cast overview:
James Stewart	...	James Stewart

Storyline

A documentary series on the operations of the 57th Fighter Group in 1944. Stationed in Corsica, their missions largely consisted of low-level attacks on the Italian mainland, far behind the front-line. Their targets were German supplies and the infrastructure carrying it. This was part of Operation Strangle, the idea of which was to weaken the German front-line forces through depriving them of supplies, thus helping the Allied offensive through Italy. The 57th Fighter Group flew one of the greatest fighter-bombers of the war, the iconic Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.

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Plot Keywords:

aerial attack | fighter pilot | republic p 47 thunderbolt | u.s. military | strafing | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Short | History | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

Filmed in 1944, not released until 1947.

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Connections

Edited into Federal Follies - Volume 5 (1987)

User Reviews

Why the truth is always better.

Often times film making from the war slips into propaganda and flag waving. This film instead shows the cold hard truth of a fighter group working out of Corsica in 1944. The personal, humanized glimpses of real men instead of lantern jawed actors as they go on about their days, living their daily lives worrying about who won't come back. The shooting style is from on board cameras from several points on the planes and shows so many real mission realities from a normal fighter sweep over Italy including coldly shooting up innocent farmhouses in search of one that's not so innocent and plowing any thing that moves in the daylight.

At some point as you watch this you go through so many emotions from the shock of realizing just how young these pilots are to being mystified about how they can be so cold as they light up the Italian country side to a sad understanding as director William Wyler shows you what would never be shown in a Frank Capra's "Why We Fight" movies, the charred body of a Jug pilot being pulled from the burning wreckage of his fighter with a hook. The end scene of the pilots and crews falling over drunk makes complete sense.

This film is much more poignant than Wyler's later film "Memphis Belle" which while good shows the touch of war time censors. Released in 1945, after the war in Europe was over, "Thunderbolt" drives home the very human

costs of war.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 July 1947 (USA)

Also Known As:

Colpo di fulmine

Filming Locations:

Corsica, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Carl Krueger Productions, U.S. Army Air Corps

Technical Specs

Runtime:

44 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1