''The Battle of San Pietro'' is a

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

directed by John Huston about the

Battle of San Pietro Infine The Battle of San Pietro Infine (commonly referred to as the "Battle of San Pietro") was a major engagement from 8–17 December 1943, in the Italian Campaign of World War II involving Allied forces attacking from the south against heavily fo ...

, from Naples, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. It was shot by Jules Buck. It was released in the US in 1945 but shown to US troops earlier. Huston and his crew—which included the British novelist and screenwriter

Eric Ambler Eric Clifford Ambler OBE (28 June 1909 – 22 October 1998) was an English author of thrillers, in particular spy novels, who introduced a new realism to the genre. Also working as a screenwriter, Ambler used the pseudonym Eliot Reed for book ...

—were attached to the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

’s 143rd Regiment of the 36th Division. Unlike with many other military documentaries, it was claimed Huston’s cameramen filmed alongside the infantrymen as they fought their way up the hills to reach San Pietro. However, Huston's claim that the film was made during the battle was proven false by the research of Peter Maslowski in his 1993 book, ''Armed With Cameras''.

Production

The film was made to be intentionally more realistic than other examples of its genre. One scene includes close-up views of the faces of dead soldiers as they are being loaded into

body bag A body bag, also known as a cadaver pouch or human remains pouch (HRP), is a non-porous bag designed to contain a human body, used for the storage and transportation of shrouded corpses. History In the United States, the apparent first docum ...

s, a level of realism unheard of in both fictional portrayals as well as newsreel footage of the time. The

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

delayed its release to the public because it showed dead GIs wrapped in mattress covers; some officers tried to prevent soldiers in training from seeing it, for fear of damaging morale. General

George Marshall George Catlett Marshall Jr. (December 31, 1880 – October 16, 1959) was an American army officer and statesman. He rose through the United States Army to become Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Chief of Staff of the US Army under Pre ...

came to Huston and took the film's defense, stating that because of the film's gritty realism, it would make a good

training film A training film is a form of educational film – a short subject documentary movie, that provides an introduction to a topic. Both narrative documentary and dramatisation styles may be used, sometimes both in the same production. While most ...

. The depiction of death would inspire soldiers to take their training more seriously. Huston quickly became unpopular with the Army, not only for the film but also for his response to the accusation that the film was anti-war. Huston responded that if he ever made a pro-war film, he should be shot. The film was screened to U.S. troops in North Africa in 1944, where John Horne Burns described it in a letter as "almost more than any heart can stand". Huston was no longer considered a pariah; he was decorated and eventually promoted to major.

Reception

In 1991, ''The Battle of San Pietro'' was selected for the United States

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The film was preserved by the

Academy Film Archive The Academy Film Archive is part of the Academy Foundation, established in 1944 with the purpose of organizing and overseeing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ educational and cultural activities, including the preservation of m ...

in 2005.

Notes

Additional sources

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External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Battle Of San Pietro, The 1945 films American documentary films American World War II propaganda shorts Black-and-white documentary films 1940s English-language films Films directed by John Huston Films scored by Dimitri Tiomkin Italian Campaign of World War II films United States National Film Registry films 1945 documentary films Films with screenplays by John Huston Articles containing video clips American black-and-white films 1940s American films

Production

Reception

See also

Notes

Additional sources

External links