Beachhead to Berlin is a 21-minute Technicolor film about the Normandy landings, a Vitaphone short produced by Warner Bros. and released on December 15, 1944.[1][2]
The film makes extensive use of documentary footage of preparations and the beach landings shot by U.S. Coast Guard photographers.[2] The fictionalized framing device is a Coast Guard chaplain's voice-over narration of a V-mail letter home.[3] The film has been preserved and was digitized by the U.S. National Archives.[3] Some of the beach landing footage was recorded by USCG Chief Photographer's Mate David T. Ruley at Omaha Beach in the vicinity of Easy Red sector,[4] at about the same time as Robert Capa took his D-Day photos first published in Life magazine.[5]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Liebman, Roy (2003). Vitaphone Films: A Catalogue of the Features and Shorts. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 284. ISBN 978-0786446971.
- ^ a b "Beachhead to Berlin". The New York Times. 1944-12-16. Retrieved 2023-04-05.
- ^ a b "[Beachhead to Berlin] | C-SPAN.org". www.c-span.org. Retrieved 2023-04-05.
- ^ "Ruley, David T., FILMING NORMANDY D DAY, Movie Makers 20:6 June 1945, pp. 213, 228–230" (PDF). nearbycafe.com.
- ^ "Guest Post 24: Charles Herrick on Capa's D-Day (e) « Photocritic International". www.nearbycafe.com. Retrieved 2023-04-05.