Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This DVD has been taken from a early-forties era documentary film made with Stateside audiences in mind. It was probably shown in theaters before the main shows during the war years. One of the big pluses is that the film is in color, and that the color is strikingly good for a combat film. Directed by Academy Award winner William Wyler (best known for 'Ben-Hur' and the original documentary of 'The Memphis Belle'), the film depicts life--and death--in a P-47 Thunderbolt squadron based in Italy. It gives the viewer a good look at Italy, not just the base itself. The strafing runs are excellent, taken by a camera mounted in the planes on actual missions. For a wartime propaganda film, it is quite honest and deals with the suffering of noncombatants, showing bombed-out buildings, children playing near a burned corpse, and haggard, war-weary men and women. The aerial footage is excellent, the dialogue is good, and the quality of the picture is also good. The film also shows the tragic results of a Thunderbolt crash quite graphically, as if to remind the viewer that war is a dangerous game and that there is never any guarantee that the pilots will return from their missions. This color film runs around 45 minutes. It is well worth the price.