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The Battle of Midway (1942 Documentary Film)
For anyone interested in the overview and details of the battle, there are quite a few online videos and articles available (not to mention actual books), that, benefitting from the luxury of time and hindsight, give a much more complete view of the fight.
Mr. Ford's documentary, with its on-the-spot footage and contemporary narration, gives us a view of the battle that more modern accounts can't quite duplicate, a glimpse of what our forebears, both those in uniform and those on the home front, were seeing in 1942.
18:30 min.
The Battle of Midway (1942 Documentary Film)
The Valor Vault
Jun 1 2025
The Battle of Midway is a 1942 American short documentary film directed by John Ford. It is a montage of color footage of the Battle of Midway with voice overs of various narrators, including Johnny Governali, Donald Crisp, Henry Fonda, and Jane Darwell.
When the United States Navy sent director John Ford to Midway Island in 1942, he believed that the military wanted him to make a documentary on life at a small, isolated military base, and filmed casual footage of the sailors and Marines there working and having fun. Two days before the battle, he learned that the Japanese planned to attack the base and that it was preparing to defend itself. Ford's handheld, 16mm footage of the battle was captured totally impromptu. He had been in transit on the island, roused from his bunk by the sounds of the battle, and started filming. Ford was wounded by enemy fire while filming the battle. Jack Mackenzie Jr. and Kenneth Pier assisted Ford in filming
Ford was worried that military censors would prevent the footage from ever being shown to the public. Ford spliced in footage of James Roosevelt, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's son and a Marine Corps officer, and when FDR saw the film in the White House, he told William Leahy: "I want every mother in America to see this film", thus protecting Ford from censorship
This film gave Americans their first real look at the Pacific War, and it recorded one of the few truly seismically decisive naval victories in recorded history.
[...]
The Valor Vault
Jun 1 2025
The Battle of Midway is a 1942 American short documentary film directed by John Ford. It is a montage of color footage of the Battle of Midway with voice overs of various narrators, including Johnny Governali, Donald Crisp, Henry Fonda, and Jane Darwell.
When the United States Navy sent director John Ford to Midway Island in 1942, he believed that the military wanted him to make a documentary on life at a small, isolated military base, and filmed casual footage of the sailors and Marines there working and having fun. Two days before the battle, he learned that the Japanese planned to attack the base and that it was preparing to defend itself. Ford's handheld, 16mm footage of the battle was captured totally impromptu. He had been in transit on the island, roused from his bunk by the sounds of the battle, and started filming. Ford was wounded by enemy fire while filming the battle. Jack Mackenzie Jr. and Kenneth Pier assisted Ford in filming
Ford was worried that military censors would prevent the footage from ever being shown to the public. Ford spliced in footage of James Roosevelt, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's son and a Marine Corps officer, and when FDR saw the film in the White House, he told William Leahy: "I want every mother in America to see this film", thus protecting Ford from censorship
This film gave Americans their first real look at the Pacific War, and it recorded one of the few truly seismically decisive naval victories in recorded history.
[...]
1 replies
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