D-day original newsreels: a pick of the best footage

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/06/d-day-original-newsreels-pick-footage

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While the most dramatic scenes from the invasion of Normandy are lost to memory, and left for Hollywood to imagine, there were many cameras rolling as the Allied forces crossed the channel and stormed the beach. The main store of the resulting footage resides in the US National Archives in Washington. Here’s a roundup of what is available online.

Narrated News of the Day footage

Key footage from the National Archives. Jack Lieb captured the invasion on silent film for News of the Day and later narrated over the film for the archives. “You notice, the men didn’t dash ashore after being aboard a landing craft for five solid days,” Lieb says. “They just walked slowly and cautiously, fearful of bombs and mines that were sown in the area. You notice they had their rifles wrapped in cellophane.” At 11:45 is one of the better-known scenes of the invasion, of two soldiers being shot on the beach.

George Stevens: D-day to Berlin

To document the war in Europe, General Dwight Eisenhower appointed a Hollywood director, George Stevens (Swing Time, Gunga Din), then serving in the army signal corps, to lead up a team of filmmakers. The team shot mostly 35mm black-and-white film, but Stevens also shot a personal diary using a 16mm camera and Kodachrome film, periodically sending the film boxes to his family home in north Hollywood. Scenes of the D-Day invasion shot by Stevens using color film were stored and then forgotten for decades before finally being screened for the first time in 1994. The video player below is timed to start with the invasion footage. Later footage includes the horrors the filmmakers documented upon arriving at Dachau.

Universal News reel: First Pictures, Invasion of France

June 12, 1944

This triumphal reel includes many of the iconic scenes of the invasion, including soldiers preparing to step out of Higgins boats and the scene of two soldiers being shot on the beach. “The cost of our initial landing was but a fraction of what our leaders expected,” the narrator boasts.

United News reel: D-day!

Another triumphal reel, heavy on the horns section. Scenes of the fleet under way begin at 5:39.

The True Glory (1945)

A victor’s propaganda film released at the end of the war, co-produced by the British and the Americans. With an introduction by none other than Eisenhower. The invasion footage begins at 17:30. The soldiers are in the boats at 20:50.

D-day Normandy 1944

A CGI-enhanced version of the invasion, narrated by Tom Brokaw. The film, written and directed by Pascal Vuong, was scheduled to screen at dozens of Imax theaters across the country on the anniversary. The trailer is below. It is not getting rave reviews.