Report from the Aleutians
About Report from the Aleutians
John Huston and Walter Huston narrate Army life on Adak in the Aleutians. The film shows harbor patrols, mess, mail call, a crash landing and a funeral, and a bombing run over Japanese positions on Kiska, with fire exchanged and every plane coming back. Shorter shots cover latrine digging and men smoking between jobs.
Cast & crew
More about Report from the Aleutians
The U.S. Army Signal Corps produced it. John Huston directed. Army reviewers objected to the latrine digging and the cigarette smoking. Huston kept both shots. Release was held for a couple of months and the film opened on 30 July 1943.
Themes
Background
Japanese forces had taken Attu and Kiska in 1942. The film was made while American squadrons were still flying from Adak against Kiska.
Making
Huston shot the waiting as carefully as the raid: news boards, mail, and the funeral of a pilot sit next to the bomb run.
Music
Dimitri Tiomkin's uncredited score sits under the narration by John Huston and Walter Huston.
Preservation
The Signal Corps film survives at its original 47 minutes.
Notes
- Dimitri Tiomkin wrote the score and is uncredited.
- Missions leave Adak for Kiska rather than for a staged battle.
- The opening maps the 1942 Japanese move toward Midway and Dutch Harbor.
- It was nominated for Best Documentary at the 16th Academy Awards and did not win.
Scenes
- A pilot crash-lands and the unit holds his funeral.
- Bombs fall on Kiska and the crews count the planes back in.
Also available
- Internet Archive (Report_From_The_Aleutians)
