REVIEWS
Our pick of the latest military history titles to hit the shelves
FULLOFEXTRAORDINARYFOOTAGERECENTLY
RESTORED,THECOLDBLUEBRINGSWWIIBATTLES
IN THESKIESTOLIFELIKENEVERBEFORE
COLD
BLUE
THE
Director: Erik Nelson
Distributor: HBO Documentary Films
Stars: William Toombs, John Doyle,
CatherineWylerReleased:Outnow
The first thing to say about Erik Nelson’s The Cold Blue is
the restored 4k resolution footage is nothing short of a
miracle. It puts the viewer right in there with Eighth Air Force
crews above the skies of Germany and the English Channel.
The effect is gripping, the level of detail now gleaned from
once faded and degraded 16mm Technicolor film stock
impressive and richly textured.
The Cold Blue springboards off Hollywood filmmaker
William Wyler’s acclaimed 1944 propaganda short, The
Memphis Belle: A Story Of A Flying Fortress. Fifteen hours’
worth of raw material was taken during its perilous production
in 1943 and forgotten about until discovered in the US
National Archives. From this, director Nelson put together
a touching tribute to the Eighth Air Force and their brave
endeavours helping win the war against the Third Reich.
Up in the air, Wyler and his cameramen captured the
entire show. Billowing black plumes of deadly flak launched
by the Wehrmacht, hundreds of planes flying in formation
against icy blue skies, enemy fighters going in the for kill,
hulking B-17s spiralling to their doom, the lucky ones making
it back to base in beleaguered aircraft peppered with bullet
holes and missing parts. Such intense imagery attains a
hyperreal or unflinching quality. We’ve all seen re-creations
of dogfights and air raids in movies, but there’s something
unnerving, something truly terrifying at work, when you see
it in the naked light of actuality. It hits home – these were
suicide missions in all but name. MC