December 7th (1943). US Navy Field Photographic Branch. Held by the Internet Archive; public domain.
December 7th
Toland's original hour-long treatment was rejected as too critical; the thirty-four-minute cut won the 1943 Academy Award. Both survive and both are here.
- Year
- 1943
- Made by
- US Navy Field Photographic Branch
- Directed by
- John Ford and Gregg Toland
- Free to use because
- A work of the United States government — no copyright, anywhere
The note
This is the rare case where the argument between a film-maker and his service is preserved in full. Toland's long version stages a debate between Uncle Sam and a sceptic, dwells on complacency in Hawaii before the attack, and was suppressed. Ford's short version is a straight account of the raid and its dead, and it won the Oscar. Hearing them in sequence is the closest this archive comes to watching a government edit itself. Federal work, no copyright.
December 7th, 1943. US Navy Field Photographic Branch. Directed by John Ford and Gregg Toland. This is the film’s soundtrack: narration, score and location sound, streamed from the Internet Archive’s master. No picture — the audio is the work. A work of the United States government, and therefore free of copyright anywhere it is used.
2 recordings
December 7th (1943). US Navy Field Photographic Branch. Held by the Internet Archive; public domain.