THE MEMPHIS BELLE & SAN PIETRO
1:00 6:30
Monday, June 9
Introduced by author Mark Harris
Memphis Belle (1944, William Wyler): “All aerial combat film was exposed during air battles over enemy territory.” Ostensibly the 25th and final mission of the crew of the eponymous B-17, but actually edited together from five different flights Wyler took with them, the director taking hair-raising risks to get the right shots. Print courtesy Academy Film Archive.
San Pietro (1945, John Huston): The grueling attrition battle for a village in the Appenines halfway up the Italian boot, with combat footage so graphic that a War Department spokesman accused Huston of making an anti-war film. Aka The Battle of San Pietro. Print preserved by Academy Film Archive.
Both films will be introduced by Mark Harris, author of Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War.
Approx. 97 min. 35mm.
