Synopsis
The Battle of Midway is a stirring, beautiful, and poignant 1942 American documentary film short 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. The film begins with a male narrator (Ray Milland) explaining where Midway Island is and its strategic importance, and shows the PBY Catalina seaplane base (previously used by Pan Am for its flying boats). There are also P.T. boats seen in the harbor as well as Gooney Birds. At 3:40, a group of B-17 Flying Fortresses are seen on the island (these would later attack the Japanese fleet but without any apparent hits). About five minutes into the film the format changes somewhat, with more leisurely pictures of the G.I.s at work on the island, and then a female voice over. The female voice over (Verna Felton) takes the personality of a middle aged woman from Springfield, Ohio, who is a mother-type figure pointing out how she recognizes a boy from her home town. The boy is Army Air Force pilot William E. "Junior" Kinney. Then stock footage of the Kinney family back home is introduced. Abruptly the narrative turns to the battle itself with approximately five minutes dedicated to the defense of the island, the naval battle, and the aftermath. At 9:30 the carrier USS Yorktown is seen and its complement of dive and torpedo bombers as well as Wildcat fighters. At 13:40 the long task of retrieving USA…
Uploader's description on archive.org
Details
- Running time
- 18 minutes
- Language
- English
- Collection
- Ephemeral Films
Subjects on the Internet Archive
- Stock Footage