The Cold Blue

A fantastic tribute to all the brave and heroic men of the 8th Air Force. I would also recommend watching the History Channel Air War.

Its a monumental presentation of one of the most heiroic war machines ever made, the b-17 bomber ship,and the crews using them up in the cold blue, as presented by on scene documentary makers in 1944. its a historical document of high value, most of it in colour. its a must see if your into war history thinks the grumpy old man

Frankly, I often just listen to many docs as the background while commuting or doing chores. This movie disallows you to do that, both for the respect and empathy for guys and for the video and information load the movie is charged with. Atomizing the endevour in chapters is very useful as they get embedded into memory. Fume tales from engines warning Nazis 50 miles ahead the formation is approaching. The code of Americans flying in daylight (why? never gets explained here but you could find an explanation elsewhere) while Brits did it at night. FLAK mortal danger. Red flares on airfield approach signalling there is a wounded serviceman aboard. Frostbite as flying fortresses have not been pressurized. And ever increasing number of missions which sends you back to Catch 22. In a somewhat weird way, this two great movies - Cold Blue and Catch-22 - get intrinsically intertwined.

The amount of painstaking effort put into restoring this film is evident. Seeing these very old images in colour adds another dimension to it. My only beef; why do filmmakers still insist on using the Stuka sound effect? The original footage has no audio so sound effects are added. The Stuka sound effect (like the rifle bullet ricochet sound) is one of the most over-used sound effects in film history. I wish they hadn't used it in this film and gone for a more realistic approach. Otherwise, I quite enjoyed this film.

Weather you are a history buff or not, this is worthy of watching. The odds of surviving the required 25 missions was pretty slim. The old guys in the 10 man crew were barely 21 years old. More airmen of the 8th airforce died over Europe than our Marines who fought the brutal Pacific island campaign.

This documentary will not dissapoint