TJFF 2014: From Hollywood to Nuremberg – John Ford, Samuel Fuller, George Stevens (2012)

May 15, 2014 | By

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I managed to catch several films at the 2014 Toronto Jewish Film Festival (TJFF), and the first review is From Hollywood to Nuremberg: John Ford, Samuel Fuller, George Stevens (2012), Christian Delage’s excellent chronicle of three major Hollywood directors whose involvement with the creation and execution of the U.S. Army’s First Motion Picture Unit resulted in the only colour cinematography of the D-Day landing and France’s liberation, and colour footage of Nazi concentration camps.

Like Khrushchev Does America (2013), which recently screened at the 2014 Hot Docs Film Festival, Delage’s narrative relies exclusively on archival material, and he’s mined several important resources to balance backstory, facts, and rare footage. Running just 53 mins., it’s as long as it needs to be, and like the Khrushchev doc, proves filmmakers can tell compelling stories without attention-deficit editing and elaborate sound montages (or a music score, for that matter).

The next wave of updates will be interpolated with more TJFF reviews, including notable actors (Claire Bloom), writers (Sheldon Leonard), and a slice of local history (Toronto’s Spadina Avenue).

 

 

 

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com

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Category: EDITOR'S BLOG

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