The Battle of San Pietro
The Battle of San Pietro | |
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Directed by | Army Pictorial Service |
Distributed by | War Activities Committee of the Motion Pictures Industry |
Release date |
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Running time | 32 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Battle of San Pietro is a documentary film directed by John Huston about the Battle of San Pietro Infine, 60 mi (97 km) from Naples, during World War II. It was shot by Jules Buck. It was released in the US in 1945 but shown to US troops earlier.
Huston and his crew—which included the British novelist and screenwriter
Production
The film was made to be intentionally more realistic than other examples of its genre. One scene includes close-up views of the faces of dead soldiers as they are being loaded into body bags, a level of realism unheard of in both fictional portrayals as well as newsreel footage of the time. The
Huston quickly became unpopular with the Army, not only for the film but also for his response to the accusation that the film was anti-war. Huston responded that if he ever made a pro-war film, he should be shot.[4] The film was screened to U.S. troops in North Africa in 1944, where John Horne Burns described it in a letter as "almost more than any heart can stand".[5] Huston was no longer considered a pariah; he was decorated and eventually promoted to major.[citation needed]
Reception
In 1991, The Battle of San Pietro was selected for the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[6][7] The film was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2005.[8]
See also
- List of Allied propaganda films of World War II
- Treasures from American Film Archives
- The Battle of San Pietro. Radio play by Nick Perry, BBC, 27 April 2019
References
- ^ Thomson, David (4 May 2014). "The Best World War II Documentary Was Faked". New Republic.
- ^ Maslowski, Peter (1993). Armed With Cameras: the American Military Photographers of World War II. New York: The Free Press. pp. 83–94.
- ^ ISBN 0-02-923678-9.
- ^ Mankiewicz, Ben (8 September 2015). "Five Came Back". TCM Spotlight. Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
- ISBN 9781590515723.
- ^ Kehr, Dave. "U.S. FILM REGISTRY ADDS 25 'SIGNIFICANT' MOVIES". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2020-05-18.
- ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-05-18.
- ^ "Preserved Projects". Academy Film Archive.
Additional sources
- Aitken, Ian, ed. (2013). "The Battle of San Pietro". The Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film. p. 71. ISBN 9781136512063– via Google Books.
- Ambler, Eric (1985). Here Lies (Memoir) – via agorabooks.co.
External links
- Carter, Ed. "The Battle of San Pietro" (Essay) – via National Film Registry.
- Eagan, Daniel (2010). "The Battle of San Pietro". America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry. ISBN 978-0826429773.
- The Battle Of San Pietro is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
- The Battle of San Pietro at IMDb