Midway

[Professor Brensec]

Watched the movie on DVD for the first time last night. It has alot of extras, not the least of which are interviews with Heston and the Director and producer.

There is alot of very interesting stuff said. One particular comment by Heston is that he credits the Battle of Midway (the winning of it) as being the turning point, not only in the Pacific, but also Europe. He justifies this by stating that, "If we hadn't scored so well at Midway, we certainly wouldn't have been at Normandy only 2 years later".

I suppose he may be right. But at the same time, I think the US had the resources still, to have continued the mainly 'defensive' role in the Pacific until they had the ships (which ostebsibly, were only a few months away), and still commit to Europe the way they did.

What say you?

(One dissapointing thing about the movie and the commentaries after. The producer and Director both 'pat themselves on the back' for putting together a film so well, that consists of so much 'actual' war footage, together with staged and 'model' action scenes. They say it had not been successfully done. They apparently had full access to all the Navy's film archives, which helped.
The dissappointment? I count more F6F's than I do F4F's during the entire film!!!! It may be 'actual footage' - But it's not of Midway!!

[Woodlouse2002]

Balls to it being the turning point in Europe. If we hadn't won the Battle of Britain and the Battle of El Alamein and if the Russians hadn't won Stalingrad or Kursk then the chances are the Americans wouldn't have even been able to get close enough to Europe to assist in the D-Day landings. Those four battles alone were the turning points in Europe.

Turning point in the Pacific: Yes.
Turning point in Europe: God no!

[denishc]

The dissappointment? I count more F6F's than I do F4F's during the entire film!!!! It may be 'actual footage' - But it's not of Midway!!

 Not to mention that the film substituted the Vought SB2U Vindicator for Douglas SBD Dauntless.  Would have been a better film if it was shot more like 'Tora, Tora, Tora'.  Loose the love story, keep to the facts, and spend some money on models.  Like to know where they got the Japanese scenes....some look like they were they shot in Hollywood, others look like they were shot in Japan, still others look like they were taken from other films.
 Still, if you overlook all that, its a good film on a historic battle.

[Scorpiоn]

Balls to it being the turning point in Europe. If we hadn't won the Battle of Britain and the Battle of El Alamein and if the Russians hadn't won Stalingrad or Kursk then the chances are the Americans wouldn't have even been able to get close enough to Europe to assist in the D-Day landings. Those four battles alone were the turning points in Europe.

Turning point in the Pacific: Yes.
Turning point in Europe: God no!

Aye.  In fact, I'd go so far as to say the turning point in Europe was the moment when Germany switched to attacking English cities rather than airbases in the BoB.  It was unwinnable after that.

[Professor Brensec]

Agreed. I hope you know I'm only reporting on Heston's words in the Interview (2001). I did say I suppose he was right, inso far as, the Yanks may not have been in Europe had it not been for Midway, but as for it being a turning point in 'Europe' itself, of course, NO.

I imagine, or at least I hope, he is speaking purely from an American perspective, in that, he means the turning point for America in Europe, i.e their involvement.

As for the Jap scenes, The Director says that they used film from Tora Tora Tora. The opening scene of the B25's taking off from the Hornet for the Doolittle raid are from the 50's film '30 Seconds Over Tokyo'. They changed it from B & W to sepia to make it fit better with the colour film.

There is some footage from the Japanese Navy (which he says they were given by the US Navy) which is supposed to be Zeros and Vals taking off for Pearl from one of the carriers in the original raid.

There is original footage used from Midway island (which was used in a number of other films too), that was taken by John Huston, who was on Midway when it was attacked.

It appears to me that most of the American footage is from the Marianas or Leyte Gulf. That same set of shots that they use in almost every doco and film.

Speaking of the quality of the 'Model' work. The diector mentions that it was all done for $50,000. Considering it involves virtually every explosion and resultant fire etc on three Jap carriers, it was very cheaply done.
They sho some stills of the models with helicopters filming from above and they look to be only about 6 feet long (a high altitude shot, obviously - the chopper is about 20 feet above).

Given the faults and the now discussed 'How we won the war in Europe at Midway', by Charlton Heston (although I'm sure, as I said, he's only referring to American involvemnet being affected), it's still a good film. I don't mind the romantic side plot. It's not too heavy and involved and also (as the Producer points out) it supplies a couterpoint to the heroic battle i.e. the shameful treatment by the US of Japanese Americans. Heston calls it "one of my countries most shameful moments in history".

Still and all, agood flick.  ;D

[Wing Nut]

Charleton Heston is not the most reliable source for historical facts...  ;)

"Scratch one Flat Top!"